For Flyers’ Versatile Winger Owen Tippett, Left is All Right

Owen Tippett, a natural right winger, has spent most of the Philadelphia Flyers’ training camp on the left side.

Coach John Tortorella made the move because he has an abundance of quality right wingers, and Tippett says the position switch is no big deal.

“I feel really comfortable,” Tippett, 24, said last week. “I’ve talked to Torts about it, and I think right from the start of camp, it’s been good to get comfortable over there. Long term, it’s going to open some stuff up.”

Tippett played sparingly at left wing in 2022-23. He was mostly on the right side as he had a breakout season with 27 goals. It was his first full season with the Flyers, having been acquired in the Claude Giroux trade with Florida during the previous year.

“There’s benefits to playing both sides,” Tippett said, “but I am feeling comfortable on the left.”

At the Philadelphia Flyers’ last practice, Tippett was at left wing on a line with center Morgan Frost and right winger Cam Atkinson. The line figures to be intact in Thursday’s opener in Columbus.

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“There are a couple changes you have to make throughout the game with different reads and where you get the puck in different situations,” Tippett said about the position switch. “For the most part, it’s the same position on the other side of the ice, so once you get used to knowing where guys are going to be, it makes it a lot easier.”

There is a chance rookie Tyson Foerster, 21, also makes a switch from right to left wing, depending on how he and Bobby Brink are used. Both seem to have secured roster spots.

The Flyers were off Sunday and will not practice Monday. They are taking part in players-only bonding activities.

Opening-night lines and pairings?

Here were the lines and pairings at their last practice:

• Sean Couturier centering Joel Farabee/Foerster and Brink.
• Frost centering Tippett and Atkinson.
• Noah Cates centering Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny.
• Ryan Poehling centering Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway.
• Defense: Cam York and Travis Sanheim; Marc Staal and Sean Walker; Nick Seeler and Rasmus Ristolainen, and Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula.                                                                                                                                                  Phantoms rally for win                                                                                                                                                                   Tanner Laczynski’s goal 40 seconds into overtime Sunday gave the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a 4-3 comeback win over Hershey in their final preseason game.  Adam Ginning, Alexis Gendron and Evan Poli also scored for the Phantoms, and Cal Petersen stopped 20 of 23 shots to notch the win.