Kevin Durso

The Seattle Kraken and former Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol come into Philadelphia with a 1-1-1 record through three games. The Flyers will be in search of their first win of the season.

While the Flyers didn’t win the game, you certainly sensed the new energy with so many new faces. But you also got another sign of how chemistry may be instantaneous among teammates off the ice, but can take some time on it. It’s only one game, and there’s no reason to overreact to anything that happened until the patterns persist.

The Flyers trailed by two late in the third before rallying back for two goals in 65 seconds to tie things up. They ultimately fell in the shootout, 5-4, to the Vancouver Canucks in Friday’s season opener.

The Flyers open things up on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center going against the Vancouver Canucks. After last season, it’s already refreshing for the Flyers to be facing a team from the Western Conference that they haven’t seen in quite some time. It also marks the first chance for this new group of players to make their mark on the team and start the season off on a positive note.

Before the puck drops on the Flyers 2021-22 season, their busy offseason and several new faces bring about a number of storylines. Let’s take a look at 10 storylines that are worth watching this season for the Flyers.

Alain Vigneault announced on Thursday that Rasmus Ristolainen and Patrick Brown will miss Friday’s season opener for the Flyers. In their place, Nick Seeler will play and Max Willman will make his NHL debut.

The Flyers claimed forward Zack MacEwen from the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. To make room for MacEwen on the roster under the salary cap limit, the Flyers placed Kevin Hayes on long-term injured reserve.

The Flyers claimed center Patrick Brown off waivers, putting the final piece into the puzzle for the 2021-22 opening-night roster. The Flyers final roster consists of 20 healthy players, the minimum 12 forwards, six defensemen, and two goalies.

GM Chuck Fletcher had called the week between the preseason finale and the regular-season opener a critical one on Thursday. For the Flyers, the final preseason game showed a lot of areas that need to be worked on in the upcoming week and just how critical it will be for them to be ready.

The Flyers suffered a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals in the preseason finale on Friday night, finishing with a 2-3-1 record in the preseason.

The Flyers return to the ice on Friday night for one final tune-up ahead of the regular season against the Washington Capitals.

Chuck Fletcher spoke on Thursday morning and explained the decision to send Morgan Frost to the minors. The Flyers also announced two new inductees to the Flyers Hall of Fame.

On Wednesday, the Flyers made 10 roster cuts, bringing the roster to 24 healthy players and 32 overall. Five players were assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, headlined by forward Morgan Frost. Four more, including Connor Bunnaman, were placed on waivers.

The Islanders struck for two goals in the first period and had a pair of power-play goals in the game to claim a 3-0 win over the Flyers.

On Tuesday night, it will be more of a ‘B’ team lineup for the Flyers against the Islanders, as cuts have started to begin, but another chance to see some new faces like Derick Brassard, Rasmus Ristolainen and Martin Jones. 

Monday’s win for the Flyers over the Bruins required overtime, despite Boston icing their ‘B’ team. Part of that was quality goaltending. But the Flyers also showed that they are still a work in progress in some areas as the preseason draws closer to an end.

It required overtime, but Ivan Provorov scored the deciding goal to give the Flyers a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center. 

The Flyers will have more of a veteran lineup again, though not the potential opening-night lineup in its entirety, as they experiment with some new line combinations for the first time this preseason.

The Flyers defeated the Capitals on Saturday night, but it was more than just the team winning a game for the first time this preseason. It was the players that really stood out and the coming together of a bunch of new faces to show signs that this season could be different in terms of the mood around the team.

The Flyers top power-play unit got on the board and some newcomers made contributions in a 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals.

Saturday night will present the next opportunity for players to put the drills and systems worked on in camp to the test. As the Washington Capitals come to town, the Flyers will ice a more experienced lineup. Game time is 7 p.m.

You can imagine how the result looked when the Boston Bruins, playing in their first preseason home game, took the opportunity to load up with roughly 90 percent of the NHL roster. It’s hardly a way to evaluate how one team looks against another. It did present some early warning signs that need to be addressed and cleaned up with exactly two weeks remaining until the regular season opener.

The Bruins came away with a 4-2 win over the Flyers in the second game of the preseason for the Orange and Black.  

The Flyers will face the Boston Bruins, playing in their third preseason game so far. They split the first two decisions, both on the road. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Thursday’s lineup in Boston for the Flyers second preseason game will feature a bunch of new players who did not suit up on Tuesday night. Only two players will return to the lineup: veteran defenseman Nick Seeler and prospect Tyson Foerster. Foerster had a solid rookie camp and has turned heads so far, clearly drawing the eye of Vigneault to include him among the regulars.

With more time on the ice and in game settings, things like timing and chemistry can come. In the preseason opener, you just want to see signs that improvement could be on the horizon after the dismal season from a year ago. With that, let’s dive into the Flyers 5 takeaways from Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders.

Following a sloppy first period, the Flyers managed to get on the board first. They eventually had to rally back for a late goal in the third period, before falling to the New York Islanders in overtime, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center. 

Following an off day from on-ice activities on Monday, the Flyers will take the ice on Tuesday night for their first preseason tilt on home ice against the New York Islanders at 7 p.m.

The competitive juices were flowing with the first scrimmage of Flyers training camp, as the team looks to build more chemistry ahead of the preseason opener on Tuesday.