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Flyers 5, Devils 4: Race for the last roster spots

Three power play goals and three fights made for a surprisingly entertaining exhibition game finale as the Flyers beat the Devils 5-4.

The Flyers played the Devils Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center while the Devils will face off with the Sabres tomorrow in a regular-season game in Prague. Confused? Get in line. Regardless, the exhibition season finale saw a few fights, three power play goals (not a typo), and a few players who knew they had something on the line.

The basics

First period: 4:00 — Olle Lycksell (Anthony Richard, Oliver Bonk), 10:35 — Ryan Schmelzer (Mikael Diotte, Jack Malone)

Second period: 1:28 — J.R. Avon (Rodrigo Abols, Oliver Bonk) (PPG), 18:36 — Kevin Labanc (Daniil Misyul, Justin Dowling), 18:52 — Emil Andrae (unasssisted)

Third period: 3:58 — Anthony Richard (Emil Andrae, Erik Johnson) (PPG), 11:19 — Kevin Lebanc (Justin Dowling, Mike Hardman) (PPG), 18:34 — Noah Cates (Anthony Richard, Emil Andrae), 19:49 — Kevin Lebanc (Cam Squires, Andy Welinski)

SOG: 29 (PHI) — 22 (NJD)

Some takeaways

Bonk better

Oliver Bonk looks like he’s heading to juniors, but he ended his stint of exhibition games on a high note, getting two assists through two periods and primarily looking strong on a pairing with Hunter McDonald. Although he was called out by John Tortorella for his pace not being quite up to snuff in game action, Bonk persevered through the camp and probably had one of his strongest games (16:53 minutes of ice time) of the camp. If nothing else, it should be a confidence boost when he returns to Lehigh Valley knowing he played well. Not great, but well.

Another power play goal! And another after that!!!

Yes, it might have been scored by a Phantom, but a power play goal is a power play goal, right? Right! Winger J.R. Avon made a nice play on the fly before putting it in for the second Flyers goal to make it 2-1 early in the second. While it’s still exhibition and it’s not a sign of things to come, it’s no longer a fantasy to think the Flyers could score on both sides of special teams.

In the third period Anthony Richard buried one on a pass from Emil Andrae to put the Flyers up 4-2. Then Noah Cates got in on the action for his first of the preseason. So if you’re counting that’s eight power play goals in the exhibition season, or just 23 fewer than the entire 82-game 2023-24 season!

Lycksell lights it up … as does Richard

During the first intermission, Garnet Hathaway summed up the game in a nutshell. “People are working for a job and working for each other,” he told NBC Sports Philadelphia. That was exemplified by Flyers hopeful Olle Lycksell. Lycksell had one last audition with this final exhibition game to make the Flyers, or at least prove he belongs. And he started things off on the right foot with a goal four minutes into the game. The double-edged sword of sorts for Lycksell was the fact Anthony Richard, perhaps the biggest rival to Lycksell in terms of landing the last forward roster spot, got an assist on the goal and ended up with three points on the night (goal, two assists).

The Flyers spent a lot of time in the Devils zone, outshooting them 12-4 in the first and had more quality chances.

Hunter becomes hunted, Boulton bolted once but not twice

Hunter McDonald has a bit of edge to his game that Keith Jones has loved for a long time and that Flyers fans are warming up to. McDonald dropped the gloves roughly halfway through the first but the tussle was just that, no bombs landing on either participant and fortunately no injuries to McDonald’s hands or nogging.

Sadly, the same might not have been said for Sawyer Boulton. Boulton, who had thrown his weight around and played a heavy game throughout the exhibition season, dropped the gloves early on against the Devils’ Samuel Laberge. Boulton got about three body shots in but then took a heavy punch that connected flush on the face, knocking him down in a short bout and leaving him with a bloody lip. Sadly Boulton looked woozy on getting up and then fell down shortly thereafter, leaving the linesman to correctly send Boulton to the bench, first for repairs and then hopefully for concussion protocol. Boulton was on the bench to start the second period having logged 25 seconds of ice time.

Boulton and Laberge tied up for another fight in the second, this one mainly Boulton wanting to avenge what happened. A few punches from both didn’t do much damage as Boulton ended up with 17 minutes in penalties. It didn’t stop Boulton from inquiring if Laberge wanted a third fight in the third period.

Fedotov fair, Kolosov … OK

Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov got the nod to start Thursday night, a bit of a surprise considering many suspected Alexei Kolosov would get the start. Fedotov had a great save on Mike Hardman in close but started to look a bit shaky. Although he let two pucks in the opening period, the referee’s whistle negated one of them. The other was a three-on-two that fooled Fedotov who didn’t look great. Fortunately he didn’t have a lot of traffic overall.

Alexei Kolosov took over nearly exactly halfway through the second (and halfway through a penalty kill). It didn’t take long for Kolosov to be beaten as a Hardman one-timer went in but the Flyers challenged the call. The referees called the play offside, negating the goal. Following that, he settled down and looked decent, giving up a late second-period goal that saw a lot of bodies in front of him. He flubbed what should have been a stoppage in play early in the third but the Flyers eventually got the puck out of their zone. Unfortunately, a few late ones probably didn’t help his confidence but he wasn’t a sieve, which, given this team’s history in net, is a good baby step.

Andrae’s A-game

Emil Andrae would be the blueliner to make if the Flyers decided to surprise most and use eight defensemen to start the season. And he did nothing on Thursday night to disprove that notion, with a goal and two helpers. Tied with Helge Grans with 12:40 minutes of ice time after two periods, Andrae looked solid throughout and even had a shot against Devils goalie Isaac Poulter in the first. He did himself one better in the second with a quick reply to the Devils tying goal, scoring on a wrister.

He also made a fantastic stretch pass early in the second to Garnet Hathaway who failed to score on the mini-breakaway. Despite the lack of talent on the opposition it was clear Andrae didn’t get too over-confident or lose focus, having far more better shifts than bad ones.

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