Friday Forecheck: Fine Debut for Foerster

Thursday night's 1-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh was not a particularly memorable one in many regards.

On the positive side, the Flyers spent much of the game in bend-but-don't-break mode. Philly blocked 22 shots and generally avoided odd-man rushes while minimizing turnovers in dangerous areas of the ice. The Flyers did a good job of recovering from an early Carolina power play goal and killed two subsequent first period penalties. Felix Sandström was quite strong in goal for the Flyers.
Beyond that, however, there weren't many standout moments for the Flyers. Philly rarely had the puck against the NHL's top-ranked possession team. When the Flyers did have it, Carolina often smothered them and killed plays in quick succession. The Flyers generated a mere five high-danger scoring chances for the game and, when they did, were unable to solve Pyotr Kochetkov (19-save shutout).
Overall, there weren't a lot of standout performances from Flyers' players. One big exception: 21-year-old rookie right winger Tyson Foerster had a rock-solid NHL debut for the Orange and Black.
The Flyers' 2020 first-round pick (23rd overall) skated 13:51 of ice time. He blocked three blocked shots, fired two shots on goal, had one scoring chance and had a couple of solid backchecking plays. Foerster's scoring chance was a first period rebound opportunity off a Scott Laughton shot. On a night where the Flyers' nearly season-long offensive struggles were on display, Foerster was one player who was able to make some plays against one of stoutest defensive clubs in the league.
"I thought he was one of the better players with the puck. Against a tough team like this, it's encouraging. I think he was one of the better players offensively," Flyers head coach John Tortorella said after the game.
However, Foerster's most notable contribution in his debut came at 15:27 of the second period. A neutral zone turnover had the Flyers in a dire situation, as Carolina pressed the attack. Finally, the puck went to the deadly Andrei Svechnikov below the right dot. Sandström had no chance of getting over, and the right half of the net was open. Foerster blocked the shot, saving a goal in the process.

With Flyers forwards Wade Allison and Brendan Lemieux sidelined for Thursday's game with respective day-to-day injuries, the Flyers recalled Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers under emergency conditions: the emergency being that Philly otherwise would have only had 10 available forwards even with Kieffer Bellows dressing for the game.
An emergency recall does not burn up any of the four standard recalls every NHL team is allotted for the rest of the regular season after the trade deadline. However, once the NHL roster has enough healthy bodies to ice a full lineup, the club must either return the emergency recall to their AHL farm team or, alternatively, keep the player in the NHL via using a regular recall.
The Flyers return to action in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon. The statuses of Allison and Lemieux have yet to be determined. Meanwhile, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms face a 3-in-3 gauntlet this weekend, playing on the road on Friday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and then at home in Allentown on Saturday against the Belleville Senators and Sunday afternoon (4:05 p.m.) against the Utica Comets.
The Flyers organization has prioritized getting AHL stretch drive and Calder Cup playoff experience for prospects such as Foerster, Desnoyers, goalie Sam Ersson and defenseman Ronnie Attard above late season NHL games while Philly being out of the playoff chase.
Foerster, who played in the American Hockey League All-Star Game this season along with Phantoms teammate Attard, is tied with Desnoyers for Lehigh Valley's overall scoring lead (38 points). Two-way forward Desnoyers leads the club with 20 goals, while Foerster is second with 18 tallies.
The top six teams in the eight-team Atlantic Division will make it to postseason play. The Phantoms (28-22-6) are currently in fifth place in the division, two points behind the fourth-place Springfield Thunderbirds, two points ahead of the sixth-place Bridgeport Islanders and four points ahead of the seventh-place Hartford Wolf Pack (who would miss the playoffs if the season ended today). Only the last place Penguins, who are three points behind Hartford and seven points behind Lehigh Valley are currently a "comfortable" distance in the Phantoms' rearview mirror.
As such, the Phantoms very much need both Desnoyers and Foerster back in the lineup as soon as Allison and Lemieux are ready to play again for the Flyers.
Foerster, a player whose shooting ability is his main calling card but also has underrated passing skills, is a player who was widely knocked for deficient skating in his draft year. He's worked very hard on his skating and, while no one will ever confuse his feet for those of the game's elite skaters, he's improved significantly enough to where it shouldn't hold him back from an eventual NHL career.
Foerster has also worked very hard to develop his off-puck game. He set a goal going into his NHL debut to not be on the ice for any Carolina goals, and he made that happen through determination and self-sacrifice on the shots he blocked.
It was a good start for Foerster. He's fully healed from the shoulder surgery that cost him most of the 2021-22 season. He'd like to be a little less streaky in his goal-scoring -- he's tended to score in bunches, then endure droughts that go a little longer than ideal, and eventually get hot again, Overall, though, the current season has one a nice step forward in Foerster's development. He can now add a generally successful NHL debut game to his list of accomplishments this season.