Ellis, Yandle, Atkinson Debut As Flyers Drop 3-2 OT Decision To Islanders

The first chapter of the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2021 preseason story had some positives, but also left room for improvement.

Egor Zamula and Maksim Sushko scored the goals as the Flyers dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the New York Islanders in front of 12,600 fans at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.

Adam Pelech and Noah Dobson scored in regulation for New York, then Anthony Beauvillier ended the game 22 seconds into the extra frame. He skated the puck down the ice, then converted a quick return feed from Dobson to beat Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson.

Bird's-eye view of Beauvillier's winner! pic.twitter.com/URWHi0HlAQ

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 29, 2021

In net, Carter Hart played the first two periods. He looked sharp in the first period, getting plenty of work as the Islanders outshot the Flyers 12-5. Hart saw six shots in the second, when Pelech’s shot beat him over the blocker on the short side.

“It was nice to get back into a game and just get into that game mentality,” Hart said afterward. “It’s been awhile. I think, like, five months since the last game. So it was nice to just get back out there. It was nice to see the fans here cheering us on.”

Ersson, a 21-year-old from Sweden, made his North American pro debut when he took over for the third period. He stopped nine of 11 shots and was perfect in even-strength action. Dobson’s goal came on the power play and Beauvillier’s at 3-on-3.

Lindblom’s Back

After so many offseason changes, perhaps it’s not surprising that the Flyers looked somewhat sluggish in the first period. Sean Couturier, familiarly, started the game between Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny. Behind them, coach Alain Vigneault deployed a new-look second line that saw Derick Brassard centering Oskar Lindblom and Cam Atkinson.

It was an effective night for Lindblom, who set a strong screen in front of Islanders netminder Cory Schneider for Zamula’s goal, which opened the scoring at 5:14 of the second period.

🚨 GOAL! 🚨

Top 🧀 from Z.#BringItToBroad | #NYIvsPHI pic.twitter.com/QHYkYczJxF

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 29, 2021

Earlier in the week, Vigneault informed the media that a recent follow-up screening confirmed that Lindblom remains cancer-free, more than one year after recovering from Ewing sarcoma.

“His test results, conditioning-wise, were pre-cancer,” Vigneault said. “That’s a real positive sign he’s physically back to when we tested him my first year. What he did on the ice and off the ice, he’s back to that.”

With 11 goals in 30 games, Lindblom was the Flyers’ leading scorer before he received his diagnosis in December of 2019. He completed his treatment in time to return for two games in the playoff bubble in September of 2020, then tallied eight goals and 14 points in 50 games last season.

Perhaps more importantly, Lindblom’s game looks like it’s returning to the robust style that made him successful before his illness. On Tuesday, he had three shot attempts, two hits and a block in 16:10 of ice time, nearly three minutes more than his average from last season.

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New Faces Finding Their Form

In the middle, Lindblom’s linemate Brassard recorded a stellar 13-for-19 record in the faceoff circle, taking nearly a third of the draws in the game and also chipping in three hits and the lone assist on Zamula’s goal. Atkinson’s four shot attempts and six shots on goal were both tops among Flyers forwards.

“I mean, it was the first game for everyone,” said Brassard. “I feel like we had some looks.”

On the back end, Vigneault rolled out two pairings that we’re expecting to see when the regular season begins: newcomer Ryan Ellis with Ivan Provorov and NHL Ironman Keith Yandle with Justin Braun.

With Provorov and Ellis deployed on both power-play and penalty-killing duty, they were the only Flyers skaters to exceed 20 minutes of ice time. Ellis led the team with 11 shot attempts, with six on net. The pair combined for a total of nine blocked shots, and both players earned assists on Sushko’s third-period wraparound.

.@Sushko_Maksim71's late tally forced OT in our 2021 preseason debut.#BringItToBroad | #NYIvsPHI pic.twitter.com/RS8Ra8rHaw

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 29, 2021

Ice time was split pretty evenly among the other four defensemen. With Yandle on power-play duty while Braun killed penalties, their pairing was broken up for special-teams assignments.

Zamula and Nick Seeler formed the third pair. And while it’s only preseason, Zamula’s goal was his first in a Flyers jersey. “It is feeling great, but it fast game,” he said.

The 21-year-old Russian, who was signed as a free agent out of the WHL in 2018, was pointless in his two-game audition with the big club late last season.

The Lineup Puzzle

On Tuesday, Vigneault’s lineup was mostly comprised of the players from his training camp practice Group A. However, forward Tanner Laczynski missed the game after suffering an injury during camp sessions, as did defenseman Linus Hogberg.

Up next, the Flyers will face the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday (7:30 p.m., TNT). Expect to see a lineup composed mostly of players from training camp Group B, including Morgan Frost between James van Riemsdyk and Joel Farabee, Rasmus Ristolainen with Travis Sanheim, and Martin Jones and Felix Sandstrom sharing the net.

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