Owen Tippett and Noah Cates back in action, Cole Knuble strong again in Flyers’ preseason loss to Bruins

Playing their second preseason game in as many nights and again facing a stacked NHL team while fielding a lineup missing most of their regulars, the Flyers lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins.

Nothing to fret over, as preseason scores are virtually irrelevant. As Owen Tippett told the team’s website after the game, “You try not to worry too much about the score and just focus on details.”

Coach Rick Tocchet said in Hershey Monday night his focus is on concepts and guys showing they can play tired — 11 players played both ends of the back-to-back games. They did get tired as the game wore on, with Tocchet telling the Flyers website in Boston that he thought the team played OK in the first period, better in the second, and struggled in the third.

» READ MORE: Flyers goalie Dan Vladař leaves preseason debut with an unspecified injury

The biggest story line Tuesday night in Boston was Flyers goalie Dan Vladař leaving the game with an upper-body injury in the first period. Here are five more things we noticed:

In Monday’s game against the Washington Capitals, Knuble showed his high-motor, high-pressure game, leading to a goal and an assist. Despite taking a bus back to Voorhees and then hopping on a plane less than 24 hours later, he looked fresh as a daisy on Tuesday.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the 22-year-old forward led the team in individual scoring chances (seven) — six at five-on-five — individual high-danger chances (two), individual expected goals (0.51), was the only player with a rush attempt, and tied Jack Studnicka in individual scoring chances (four) and Danila Klimovich in takeaways (two).

He had two giveaways but generated a ton of offense, notably when he came off the bench in the third period, smartly went down the pipe before stepping into a pass from Noah Cates out of the corner. Less than a minute later, Knuble drove to the net with Carl Grundström but couldn’t beat Boston’s Jeremy Swayman.

“[Knuble’s] a really good, tenacious player, is good with the puck, not afraid to take the puck to the net,” Tocchet said after the game. “There’s definitely a lot of growth in that guy’s game.”

His line, with Jett Luchanko and Grundström, generated offense with 11 shot attempts to the Bruins’ nine, outshot the opposition 7-4, had two more scoring chances (7-5), and had three high-danger chances while not allowing a high-danger chances to NHLers David Pastrňák, Pavel Zacha, Morgan Geekie, and JJ Peterka, who were playing for Boston.

Jacob Gaucher doesn’t want to be forgotten. Typically not mentioned among the center depth, Gaucher scored a nifty goal to tie the game 1-1.

» READ MORE: Flyers defenseman Cam York looking to build on strong foundation: ‘Offensively, there’s a lot there for me still’

The Quebec native got the puck in the Flyers’ end, carried it up the left side wide, cut around defenseman Maxence Guenette — his former teammate with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League — and buried it past Swayman. Gaucher won 50% of his faceoffs (6-of-12) but was on the ice for two goals against.

“Trying to make an impact, showing what I can do,” Gaucher told the Flyers website.

Cates and Tippett, who each had their seasons cut short due to injury — Cates suffered a foot injury in the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes, and Tippett missed that entire series with an “internal bleeding issue” and an unrelated sports hernia — got their first game action of the preseason.

“Good to get back into it,” Tippett told the team’s website. “Obviously it’s the first one of many. So, it’s nice to get the reps in and get my legs back under me.”

Tippett brought his speed and physicality across 14 minutes, 25 seconds of ice time. He had two shots on goal and five individual shot attempts. Cates played 15:36, lost 12 of 18 in the faceoff dot, had one shot on goal and two individual shot attempts.

They played on a line with Alex Bump and, while the trio allowed more shot attempts (6-14), shots (4-7), and scoring chances (2-7), they did not allow a goal against.

» READ MORE: Tyson Foerster is ready to roll after last year’s injury setback: He ‘could score 40 goals in this league’

Originally slated to play the third period, Aleksei Kolosov came in for Vladař with under seven minutes left in the first and had a strong showing until the third. He finished with 14 saves on 18 shots. Vladař had looked sharp before leaving, stopping five of six. … Defenseman David Jiříček played a team-high 22:46 and blocked a game-high four shots. … The Flyers still have to clean up their defensive game. Brian Halonen made it 3-1 from atop the crease on the rebound of a point shot with Hunter McDonald nearby; Elias Lindholm buried the puck on a quick shot from the slot despite being surrounded by Flyers; and the Flyers overcommitted to the left side of the ice, giving Michael Eyssimont space to fire home the puck from just inside the right circle.

The Flyers finish their preseason schedule with two home games, beginning with a rematch against the Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP). They close out the slate on Saturday when the Capitals visit (5 p.m., NBCSP).