ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Ian Laperriere had a question as he made his way to the postgame press conference table.
"Do you want the BS or you want the honest truth?" the head coach asked.
In the second of two rookie games at PPL Center, the Flyers didn't exhibit the same juice or edge they had Friday night against a Rangers team featuring some towering prospects. They also didn't have 2023 first-round picks Matvei Michkov or Oliver Bonk. But they hung in there and found a way to win in overtime Saturday night, 3-2, splitting the weekend series at the home of AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
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Laperriere, the Phantoms' bench boss who runs Flyers rookie training camp, felt his team played better the night before when Michkov had all eyes on him and didn't disappoint. The Flyers lost, though, in a shootout, 4-3.
"We looked afraid tonight," Laperriere said. "I hate to say it. Some of the guys didn't, that fourth line, they showed up physically. [Jett] Luchanko did, too. [Elliot Desnoyers] did, too. Other guys, they need to realize that it's pro hockey and if they want to play for me or they want to play for the next guy above me, they're going to have to be a little bit braver I guess."
Samu Tuomaala flushed the OT winner off a great feed from Emil Andrae. Luchanko started the sequence by using his speed to make a play toward the net. The burst was commendable considering he looked a bit tired from Friday night.
Matteo Mann and Sawyer Boulton scored the Flyers' other two goals. Ironically, on Friday, the two were practicing some grappling techniques after morning skate. A night later, they were producing offensively.
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The fourth line of Boulton, Zayde Wisdom and Jacob Gaucher made a nice connection to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead in the second period. Gaucher, a Phantoms forward, had a two-assist night.
• A strength of Andrae is his stick-to-itiveness. He wasn't perfect this weekend but he just kept going, kept battling. And those are qualities you want in a defenseman. It's a position with high minutes, high pressure. Mistakes will be made, but how do you respond the next play?
With the Flyers up 2-1 in the second period and just starting a five-minute power play, Andrae turned the puck over, which led to a game-tying shorthanded goal for the Rangers. However, he was at his best in the final frame and overtime.
The 2020 second-round pick made a strong defensive play in the third period to quell a Rangers threat and get the puck going the other way for the Flyers.
"That's Emil for you," Laperriere said. "He'll make mistakes but he'll never stop trying, which I like that about him. We just need to cut down on the mistakes a little bit.
"He does shake off the mistakes that he makes. But it's my job as a coach to make sure he cuts down on mistakes. Because you make that many mistakes, you can't play at the next level. That's the honest truth. We worked with him last year, he's a hell of a kid. What I love about him is his compete level is through the roof, so I'll work with guys like that any day of the week. I'm a big fan of his, he'll be all right."
In overtime, Andrae displayed excellent patience to set up Tuomaala's game-winner.
"The first and second periods were a little bit so-so," the 22-year-old said. "I feel like in the third, we kind of took over as a team. I feel like I played better in the third and it was nice to set up Samu there for his goal. I had some bad shifts and some good shifts. Just learn from that and keep going."
The 5-foot-9 blueliner has been likened to Kimmo Timonen. Andrae opened last season with the Flyers and played four games, but the big club's picture on defense will be tougher to crack to start 2024-25. He's not far from the picture.
"Just going to be the best I can during the camp," Andrae said, "try to play as good as I can and try to be the player that they want to bring up when there's an opening."
• After watching the film of Friday night's game, Laperriere was even more impressed by Luchanko. The 2024 first-round pick is a speedy center that showed all-situation upside alongside Michkov.
"If you ask me, Michkov or him? I was impressed with Michkov, he made all those plays and he's the buzz of training camp, but Jett [was] not too far behind yesterday," Laperriere said. "I was very pleased and impressed by his game."
Based off his draft ranking by various public scouting services, Luchanko being taken by the Flyers at No. 13 overall this summer was viewed as somewhat of a reach. Before Saturday night's game, Laperriere scoffed when he was asked about draft pundits pegging Luchanko lower than No. 13.
"I'll trust our staff with [assistant general manager] Brent Flahr way before anybody," he said. "They know the game, they watch, they know what we need. So far they've been doing a hell of a job."
• Carson Bjarnason started in net Saturday night and converted 14 first-period saves after playing the full game Friday.
With the precarious Alexei Kolosov situation, many eyes have turned to the 2023 second-rounder Bjarnason and 2023 third-rounder Egor Zavragin, whose KHL season is underway.
As the 22-year-old Kolosov didn't report to camp, Bjarnason became the guy this weekend.
"I've never met him but I heard he's a great guy and great goalie," Bjarnason said of Kolosov. "I haven't thought too much about it, it's just kind of go out there, play my game and play the way I can."
The 19-year-old is set for his fourth season of junior hockey with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings. He wants to continue working on the mental aspect of his position.
"It's every day," Bjarnason said. "Your brain's a muscle, too, and you have to train it. You have to tell yourself what you want to think and obviously if you put bad thoughts in, that's what's going to come about. That's a huge part of my game, I started taking it pretty serious I'd say two or three years ago. It has definitely come a long way but I've got a lot further to go with it."
Camp invite Sam Hillebrandt played the final two periods Saturday night and stopped 22 of 24 shots.
• The Flyers are scheduled to have three more days of rookie camp in Voorhees, New Jersey.
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