Preseason 5 Things: Flyers @ Islanders

Playing their fifth of six preseason games, the Philadelphia Flyers (1-3-0) are in Elmont, NY, on Sunday evening to take on the New York Islanders (0-2-0). Game time at UBS Arena is 7:00 p.m, EDT.

The game will not be televised. The Flyers' radio broadcast is available on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online sulmcast on
Flyers Radio 24/7
. The game will be
live streamed here
.
Here are five storylines to track in this game:
1. Tortorella's "debut" game.
Sunday's game will be the first for the Flyers with new head coach John Tortorella behind the bench. He has watched each of the first four preseason games from the press box, with Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere serving as acting head coach in the first two preseason games and Flyers assistant coach Brad Shaw in that role in each of the last two games.
2. Search for resiliency.
In each of the last three preseason games, the Flyers have played decent to very good first periods. However, the team has been severely outplayed in second periods and, to a lesser extent, third periods. Second period woes -- and large-scale ups and downs on a period-to-period basis -- were a chronic problem for the Flyers in 2021-22.
The Flyers' lone win of the preseason to date was the exhibition opener against the Boston Bruins' in a 2-1 victory. In that game, the Flyers were outplayed in the first period and took an excessive number of penalties but received strong goaltending from (the now-injured) Felix Sandström until they settled in.
The nature of hockey is for teams to adjust and counter-adjust and it's hardly unusual for a team that got outplayed in the first period to turn the tide in the second. However, the degree to which the Flyers got dominated and the amount of difficulty they had in trying to re-stabilize games was excessive last season. Thus far in preseason hockey, the same tendency has been present.
The 2021-22 Flyers, to put it bluntly, were not a resilient hockey team. If the team is to fulfill Tortorella's pledge of being harder to play against and disproving skeptics through actions and work ethic rather than words, there remains a lot of work to be done.
3. Goals -- and puck possession -- needed.
Coming off Saturday afternoon's 4-0 shutout loss in Boston, the Flyers have scored a mere four goals combined through the first four preseason games. The goals have been so sparse that they can be easily listed and succinctly described.
Sept. 24 vs BOS (2-1 win)
Noah Cates (Frost, Foerster) 1;42 of the 2nd period
The rebound of a Tyson Foerster shot went to Morgan Frost near the left post. Frost made a backhanded pass across to Noah Cates for a slam dunk. The goal gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
Jackson Cates (Zamula, Hodson) 15;20 of the 3rd period
With the score tied at 1-1, Hayden Hodgson's forechecking work helped get the puck out to Egor Zamula at the left point. From the mid-slot, Jackson Cates deflected Zamula's shot into the net for the game-winning goal.
Sept. 27 @ BUF (2-1 loss)
Travis Konecny (vanRiemsdyk, Frost) 14:42 of the first period
This was the Flyers only goal of the preseason scored off the rush. Good puck movement from Frost to James van Riemsdyk to Konency through the neutral zone enabled the Flyers to gain the attack zone with speed. On a nicely executed give-and-go with JVR, Konecny finished it off from the bottom of the right circle. The tally tied the score at 1-1.
Sept 28 vs. WSH (3-1 loss)
Kevin Hayes (Tippett) 3:44 of the third period.
He didn't get an assist on the play, but Wade Allison made the sequence possible. On the forecheck, Allison forced a Washington turnover along the left side boards. Tippett claimed the puck and the Flyers now had a mini 2-on-1. Tippett made a nice cross-ice feed to Hayes, who finished it into the open right side of the net.
That's it. Four goals in 240 minutes of hockey. A 1-for-15 mark on the power play thus far. Beyond the paucity of goals, the Flyers have struggled to generate high-quality chances or even shots on goal at a healthy volume. In each of the last three games, the Flyers have been held to 21 shots on goal. They simply haven't had enough puck possession or puck movement,
Yes, it's only the preseason. Yes, they've only had one day of systems work in camp so far. No, it's not reasonable to expect overnight miracles. Nonetheless, the Flyers ranked 31st in the NHL in goals per game last season and also ranked poorly in puck possession metrics.Injuries aside, a string of 21-shot games with one or zero goals in the cash register at the end of the game is a concern even in exhibition play.
4. Flyers lineup
The Flyers had an optional morning skate at the FTC in Voorhees on Sunday morning. Owen Tippett, Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Tanner Laczynski, Jackson Cates, Cam York and Egor Zamula are all listed on the game roster for the fourth in five games. Scott Laughton is slated to play for the second time in the preseason. Samuel Ersson and Pat Nagle are the listed goaltending duo. The full game-day and non-game rosters are below.

5. Behind enemy lines: New York islanders
The Islanders opened their preseason slate this past Monday with a 4-1 loss at Madison Square Garden to the archrival New York Rangers. Trailing 4-0 in the second period, Robin Salo got the Islanders on the board. They drew no closer.
One night later in Newark, the Islanders were downed by the New Jersey Devils, 4-1. This time, the Islanders grabbed an early lead. Nikita Soshnikov took a stretch pass in transition from William Dufor. Skating to the top of the left circle, the Russian forward wristed a rising shot that found the net glove side.