Flyers focused on solidifying their own identity, not their opponents, ahead of three-game road trip

Over the weekend, the Flyers polished off the New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks at home to start the season a perfect 2-0. But this week, the temperature turns up, both as it relates to the climate and the talent level of their opponents.

The NHL scheduling overlords orchestrated a thorough test of a first road trip for the Flyers, with stops at the Tampa Bay Lightning (51-23-8 in 2021-22) on Tuesday, the Florida Panthers (58-18-6) on Wednesday, and the Nashville Predators (45-30-7) on Saturday.

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For three straight games, the Flyers will be tasked with limiting some of the most skilled players in the league. They will face off against five players that finished among the top 20 scorers in the NHL last season — Lightning center Steven Stamkos (106 points), Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk (104, formerly of the Calgary Flames), Predators defenseman Roman Josi (96), Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (88), and Predators center Matt Duchene (86).

But in practice on Monday, the Flyers weren’t hyper-fixated on their upcoming foes, choosing to focus inward rather than trying to strategize to the max.

“There’s not a lot of adjustments that we’re going to make from team to team, because we’re so concerned about trying to get our team being who we should be,” coach John Tortorella said. “The identity that we want.”

That identity, as Tortorella has reiterated over and over again, centers on the Flyers being a hard team to play against. In their film session on Monday, Tortorella said he focused on showing clips that would help the team iron out its identity. The key to the Flyers’ success in their first game of the trip against the Lightning (1-2 ) is hard, decisive checking — “We won’t win if we don’t check,” Tortorella said. “We’ll have no chance against Tampa if we don’t check.”

Center Kevin Hayes has been in the league long enough that he knows who its top players are. When those skaters are on the ice, he said it’s important to be aware of them and be smart with the puck, especially at each blue line. If they make careless mistakes and turn the puck over, feeding their opponents’ transition games could spell disaster for the Flyers.

Even though the Flyers are still trying to solidify an identity, Hayes said the team has laid the right kind of groundwork at home that can be built upon in these next three games.

“We have a mindset in here where we’re going to outwork teams and that’s kind of our bread and butter here, where we work harder than their team,” Hayes said. “It gives ourselves a better chance to win.”

When the Flyers hit the road for their first game in Tampa, one of their top four defensemen won’t be available to play.

The Flyers placed Rasmus Ristolainen (lower body) on injured reserve on Monday morning retroactive to last Wednesday. Ristolainen, 27, left Wednesday’s practice early with an apparent injury and missed the first two games. He appeared in only two preseason games and dealt with what was considered a minor injury late in training camp. It is unclear if the two injuries are related.

However, Ristolainen will travel with the team on the three-game road trip, so he could be available to play later in the week.

With Ristolainen out of the lineup, the Flyers have replaced him with Justin Braun on the second pairing alongside Travis Sanheim. The Flyers will bring insurance on the road for the week, calling up defenseman Louie Belpedio and forward Zack MacEwen from the Phantoms to be the seventh defenseman and the 13th forward, respectively.

Ristolainen played 66 games for the Flyers last season (two goals, 14 assists, minus-9) and registered important minutes at five-on-five (roughly 18 minutes per game) and on the penalty kill (roughly two minutes per game).

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Winger Cam Atkinson (upper body) did not participate in Monday’s practice and will not travel with the team this week. He has been considered “day to day” since Sept. 25. ... Goalie Felix Sandström was activated off the injured, non-roster list on Tuesday and will be available on the road trip. He could be a candidate to play one of the back-to-back games on Tuesday or Wednesday. With Sandström healthy, the Flyers sent goalie Samuel Ersson down to the Phantoms.