Tonight, the Philadelphia Flyers host the New York Islanders. They’ll complete their 2023 NHL Preseason at the Wells Fargo Center. Then, the attention changes to preparing for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first game of the 2023-2024 season.
John Tortorella doesn’t have a finalized opening night lineup. The crowded room and competition for a space in the NHL lineup is healthy, especially when the emphasis is on playing the youth. Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster crowd the room with Wade Allison, all of whom could contribute, but there’s only a select number of spots. Then, waiver status plays a role because a rebuilding franchise wants to hold assets. Confusion about how the lineup could look on opening night is great because no one feels safe; everyone is alive.
“Confusion is good when you’re in a process. We’ve just got to unconfuse it sometime by Monday.”
John Tortorella; 10/4/2023
Earlier this preseason, the Islanders were victorious on Long Island, 2-1. Instead of Ian Laperriere on the bench, Tortorella remains.
New York Islanders
Both teams played on Monday, but only the Flyers were victorious. The Islanders competed with the New Jersey Devils but washed out in the second period, losing 6-5.
“Anybody who’s fighting for a position has to continue doing what they do. Play their game, don’t overthink things; just control what you can control.”
Lane Lambert; 10/4/2023
Julien Gauthier likely jumps into the top six. He will skate with Pierre Engvall and Brock Nelson. Kyle Palmieri is not in the lineup, but he was a full participant in practice yesterday:
“The number one goal is to try to get healthy and stay healthy. It’s something that hasn’t been the easiest year for me, injury wise. Going back, the stuff I dealt with last year, and then missing the first part of camp; it’s not ideal, it’s tough. [I] need to take it day-by-day, you can’t worry about the past.”
Kyle Palmieri; 10/4/2023
Here’s the tentative lineup for the New York Islanders, per Stefen Rosner:
Holmstrom-Barzal-Horvat
Engvall-Nelson-Gauthier
Lee-Pageau-Wahlstrom
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
Pelech-Dobson
Romanov-Pulock
Aho-Mayfield
Sorokin
(Varlamov)
Philadelphia Flyers
Yegor Zamula, Emil Andrae, Brink, and Allison are all out of the lineup. Foerster will play on the top line with Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee.
“They’ve [Zamula, Andrae, Brink, Allison] all had good camps. I’ve got to get Walker back in, I wanted to get Staalsy [Staal] back in. We’ve seen enough of everybody as far as how we’re going to go about it.”
John Tortorella; 10/5/2023
Tortorella puts Foerster into an offensive situation with Couturier and Farabee. He wants Foerster to continue playing his brand of hockey. Scoring will find him, but there isn’t pressure from Tortorella that if he doesn’t score tonight, he’s on the outside looking as far as a Flyers roster spot concerns him.
“He’s [Couturier] an unbelievable player, just from watching him here. We’re going to start with the puck a lot because he wins a lot of draws.”
Tyson Foerster; 10/5/2023
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers, per Charlie O’Connor:
Farabee-Couturier-Foerster
Laughton-Cates-Konecny
Tippett-Frost-Atkinson
Deslauriers-Poehling-Hathaway
York-Ristolainen
Staal-Sanheim
Seeler-Walker
Hart
(Ersson)
Game Information
You can watch the Flyers host the Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center to complete their 2023 NHL Preseason on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The broadcast is available on 97.5 the Fanatic and Flyers Radio 24/7. The puck drops at 7pm.
(Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire)
