Flyers vs. Islanders preseason: Preview, game time, live stream, lineup and more
The Flyers will take a closer look at their depth decisions on Tuesday night when the club plays the Islanders in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
It marks the Flyers’ fifth preseason game out of six on the exhibition slate. The team wraps up its preseason Friday when it visits the Capitals (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Let’s get into the essentials for Tuesday night’s game.
- When: 7 p.m. ET
- Where: Webster Bank Arena
- Live stream: NewYorkIslanders.com
The Flyers are getting a look at plenty of their candidates for the 13th forward and seventh defenseman jobs.
It’s also possible a center role is still available in their season-opening lineup. Has Morgan Frost shown enough to nail down a job among the Flyers’ 12 forwards for Oct. 15? It’s a fair question, one the Flyers perhaps believe hasn’t been answered just yet.
But Connor Bunnaman, German Rubtsov, Jackson Cates and Linus Sandin are all trying to prove they can help when needed. The Flyers’ extra forward spot is up for grabs and Bunnaman could be the favorite to secure it. Bunnaman, Rubtsov and Cates are candidates to push Frost for playing time, as well, as Kevin Hayes opens the regular season recovering from abdominal surgery.
Tyson Foerster and Isaac Ratcliffe are young winger prospects to keep an eye on, too. They’re potential sleepers.
On defense, Nick Seeler, Cam York and Adam Clendening are options to be the Flyers’ extra defenseman. Seeler looks like he’s in the driver’s seat for the role. York had a solid preseason debut and is set to play his second exhibition game. However, the Flyers will want him playing big minutes at AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley to open the 2021-22 season and be ready to answer the bell if injuries hit the big club’s blue line.
As expected, the Flyers made cuts following Monday’s night 2-1 OT preseason win over the Bruins.
Samuel Ersson, Logan Day, Samu Tuomaala, Mason Millman, Maksim Sushko, Wyatte Wylie, Max Willman and Matthew Strome were all loaned to the Phantoms on Tuesday, while Elliot Desnoyers was sent back to his QMJHL club Halifax.
Expect more cuts this week following Tuesday night’s game and before Friday night’s preseason finale.
Excluding the Flyers’ injured players, the club’s training camp roster is currently at 34.
The Flyers must be at a maximum of 23 by the Oct. 15 regular-season opener and may carry only 22 (one extra forward, one extra defensemen) for salary cap reasons.
The Flyers did not hold a morning skate, so the line combinations at forward and pairs on defense are unknown. With the club’s game roster featuring 13 forwards and seven defensemen, two players will sit.
Here’s the game roster.
Below is our best educated projection for Tuesday night’s lineup.
Updated lineup, 7:26 p.m. ET:
Projected lineup
Forwards
Scott Laughton-Derick Brassard-Tyson Foerster
Connor Bunnaman-Nate Thompson-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Isaac Ratcliffe-Cal O’Reilly-Gerry Mayhew
Garrett Wilson-German Rubtsov-Linus Sandin
Defensemen
Travis Sanheim-Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York-Justin Braun
Nick Seeler-Adam Clendening
Goalies
Martin Jones
Felix Sandstrom
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