Flyers prospect Bobby Brink gains momentum in preseason push

VOORHEES, N.J. — Bobby Brink answered the bell Friday night at TD Garden against the Bruins.

The Flyers are going to see if he can do it again Saturday night, rewarding the 22-year-old prospect with another game.

And a challenge.

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After the Flyers went the distance to beat Boston, 4-3, in a shootout, Brink will be the only player from the victory to suit up again tonight. The team starts the second half of its six-game exhibition slate by welcoming the Devils to the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).

Back-to-back sets with travel are not easy for younger players, especially amid a tough training camp that featured a grueling skating test and six combined scrimmages. Brink will be playing in his third preseason game. He also played in both rookie games before main training camp started.

The Flyers kept Brink off the ice Saturday morning.

"He has some momentum going right now," Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson said after morning skate. "It'll be a little bit tiring, he played a lot of minutes last night, so it will be good for us to identify how he can do in those situations being a smaller player. He was battling hard, he was strong on pucks and we expect him to be able to do that tonight."

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Against the Bruins, the 5-foot-8 winger recorded an even strength goal, a power play assist and scored in the shootout.

"He was good on the power play, which we've kind of known that, but the 5-on-5 game up until yesterday, some positive moments and some not-so positive," Thompson said. "I thought he was good consistently. ... He played well, he was backchecking hard — those were definitely things we were looking for."

The 2019 second-round pick entered training camp as a dark horse to make the Flyers' season-opening roster. Brink's 2022-23 campaign with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley didn't start until January after his lengthy recovery from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip.

Brink has displayed some of his biggest playmaking strengths, which are his smarts and vision. He's competing against Tyson Foerster, Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski, among others, for a spot in John Tortorella's season-opening lineup.

Foerster, arguably the top prospect in camp, has an assist and a shot through two preseason games.

"I think the last couple of games he has fought the puck a little bit, things that he can execute," Thompson said. "He kind of bobbled a few things. Sometimes it's like bad luck, bad ice. And then sometimes it's like, no, you have the puck on your stick and he can make the play. But he's all right, he's a very mentally tough kid, which is good. I don't anticipate him not being able to work through those types of things."

Cuts coming

The Flyers had a noticeably smaller non-game group on the adjacent rink at Flyers Training Center. As we noted Friday night, more roster cuts are expected to be announced at some point today.

As expected, Flyers made some more cuts today. Prospects Elliot Desnoyers and Helge Grans have been sent to Phantoms. Jordy Bellerive and Jacob Gaucher have been released from their PTOs and will report to Phantoms. Roster is at 40.
— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) September 30, 2023