Kolosov sharp in preseason debut, Flyers fall to Islanders with 51 seconds left

Kolosov sharp in preseason debut, Flyers fall to Islanders with 51 seconds left originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Five days ago, the thought of Alexei Kolosov wearing a Flyers jersey this preseason would have seemed far-fetched.

On Monday night, he was between the pipes and giving a taste of his flashy ability to make saves.

The Islanders cracked him with under a minute left to hand the Flyers a 4-3 exhibition loss at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. Kolosov, a 22-year-old prospect, had stopped the prior seven shots after coming on in relief a little over midway through the game.

Anthony Richard, Brendan Furry and Rasmus Ristolainen scored the Flyers’ goals. Erik Johnson had two assists.

Assistant coaches Darryl Williams, Brad Shaw and Rocky Thompson and skills coach Angelo Ricci led the club’s bench for a third straight game.

The Flyers are 3-2-0 in the preseason. They have two games remaining and John Tortorella will make his way down to the bench for both of them.

• Kolosov is considered an athletic goalie who moves really well in the crease. Just by watching the 6-foot, 185-pounder a bit in practice last Friday, you got a sense of his mobility and quickness.

The Belarusian showed some of his strengths in his first-ever NHL game action. Only 1:14 minutes into his preseason debut, Kolosov denied Mathew Barzal. He then converted four impressive glove saves in the third period. On the first two, he had to work around bodies in front before snagging the shot.

With 51 seconds left, Kyle Palmieri scored the game-winner for the Islanders, who had an NHL-laden lineup.

All in all, solid stuff from Kolosov. We’ll see where everything goes from here. A saga stemming back to May resulted in Kolosov not attending rookie camp and missing a week-plus of main camp. Last season, he played on loan in the KHL, Russia’s top pro league.

“I don’t really know him at all, I’ve just seen some clips just from past games in Russia and stuff,” Joel Farabee said Monday after morning skate. “Obviously he’s a pretty exciting prospect, I think it’s great that we got him over here.”

Ivan Fedotov started in net and made 13 saves on 16 shots. Two of the goals he surrendered were on New York power plays and the other came off a turnover. He also didn’t have the Flyers’ top four defensemen or eight forwards who could be in the club’s season-opening lineup.

Fedotov, the Flyers’ projected backup, has made 48 saves on 55 shots through six and a half exhibition periods.

• It definitely looks like Emil Andrae has the edge on Adam Ginning in the battle of depth defensemen.

Both are vying to be the eighth blueliner if the Flyers decide to carry two extras on their season-opening four-game road trip or the first call-up for whenever opportunity opens on the club’s back end.

The 22-year-old Andrae picked up his second assist of the preseason when he skillfully maneuvered the blue line before sending a shot into traffic on Furry’s second-period goal. He has a plus-3 rating through three exhibition games.

Ginning made a good defensive play early in the game but had a turnover on the Islanders’ second goal. He got the puck in a tough spot and New York pushed him off it to take a 2-1 lead during the middle stanza.

The 24-year-old wasn’t happy with his performance in the Flyers’ 3-2 overtime win Saturday.

“I just felt that I was a little bit on the wrong side too many times,” he said Monday, “and missed some passes there that I should have done better.”

Typically a steady guy, Ginning has had issues with the puck on his stick and owns a minus-3 mark in four preseason games.

• The Flyers are right back at it Tuesday when they visit the Bruins for a puck drop around 7 p.m. ET. They’ll hold a morning skate at 10 a.m. ET in Voorhees, New Jersey, while the non-game group will practice on the adjacent rink.

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