Flyers must make a decision about their forwards soon. Nikita Grebenkin made it a bit easier on Saturday.

The Flyers wrapped up the first week of preseason games on Saturday with 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins at their newly minted home, the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

There were positives, like Cam York’s confidence as he was reunited with Travis Sanheim; the effectiveness of the line of Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras, and Christian Dvorak; and the Flyers scoring two power-play goals — one by Sanheim and the other by Zegras. There were negatives, too, like Adam Ginning getting caught up ice and Helge Grans getting burned like he did Thursday in Hershey, each leading to Bruins goals.

But it is a preseason game, so the spotlight tends to tilt toward the battle for jobs. There appear to be two roster spots open among the forwards for the Flyers and the four front-runners — Alex Bump, Nikita Grebenkin, Jett Luchanko, and Rodrigo Ābols — were all in the lineup against the Bruins.

» READ MORE: Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov, and Christian Dvorak are connecting seamlessly on the Flyers’ line

Ābols, the elder statesman, seems to have the leg up on one of those spots. Skating in his fourth preseason game, he wasn’t as noticeable as he was in the first period against the New York Islanders last Sunday or the entire game against the Washington Capitals on Thursday, but just being steady is sometimes more important.

Entering the night, he had two points (one goal, one assist) and was tied for fifth in the NHL with seven shots on goal. On Saturday, Ābols didn’t add to that total, but he did have one shot attempt blocked, threw a hit, and split the difference on the two faceoffs he took across 10 minutes, 57 seconds of ice time. A projected fourth-liner or depth forward, the 29-year-old was on the ice for a goal against; however, he was in on the forecheck and Grans got flat-out beaten by Jeffrey Truchon-Viel after the Bruin was sprung by an outlet pass.

So with Ābols projected to be in, that leaves three guys with 11 NHL games between them battling it out.

For Luchanko, the only center among the trio who broke camp last season with the Flyers and played in four NHL games, the road is narrow. Because he is under 20 years of age, the NHL-CHL agreement says he cannot play in the American Hockey League, so he either makes the Flyers or heads back to Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League.

“The intelligence and the speed is tough to teach, right? He’s got that,” coach Rick Tocchet said Saturday morning when asked what he needed to see from Flyers’ 2024 first-rounder that night. “I think he gets antsy once he gets in the offensive zone; [he] wants to get rid of it. I want him to keep it or and not afraid to make a play, or challenge a D. ... So can he make a play off time and space plays. That’s the next level for him.”

Although at times he has shown his speed and agility, Luchanko hasn’t been a standout in any of his three games to guarantee his spot. Against the Bruins, the 19-year-old played 13:21, including 2:17 while the Flyers were shorthanded, and had one shot on goal, one hit, one giveaway and one blocked shot. Luchanko won just three of his nine faceoffs, and while he made a nice play to get the puck out in the first period, other than that didn’t have much.

The inside track for Luchanko, however, is that with Dvorak skating on the line with Michkov and Zegras, it does open up a spot down the middle. Ābols can play center or wing but has been on the wing the last two games.

So that leaves Bump and Grebenkin, with the latter stating his case with authority for the last roster spot among the forwards on Saturday.

Bump started off well, skating on the left wing of the No. 1 line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. But after 20 minutes, he was skating on the fourth line with Ābols and Jacob Gaucher. And, despite being one of the few pure goal scorers on the roster, Bump was not on the ice when the Flyers needed a tally late in the third period.

“I think I’m capable of playing anywhere in the lineup,” Bump said postgame. “I would like to play up, but, I mean, wherever they need me, I think I’m able to play.”

The 21-year-old winger played 11:18, including 72 seconds on the power play in the first period; he was on the ice for Sanheim’s opening marker off a cross-crease pass by Dvorak. But, he had the biggest miscue of the night when misplayed the puck by the Flyers net allowing Johnny Beecher to tap the puck past Sam Ersson with 0.6 seconds left in the opening frame.

“I just tried to settle the puck down,” said Bump, who noted that his teammates told him not to worry about it. “Funny bounce on me, funny roll. Unfortunate, yeah, but whatever, it’s over now.”

Added Ersson: “That’s such a [bad] bounce, it’s not his fault and it’s weird in so many ways. It’s preseason, so it’s kind of lucky that stuff happens now and not during the regular season.”

Across three preseason games, Bump, who was on the ice for the last goal too, has a plus-minus of minus-6 and five shots on goal. The Minnesota native does go through spurts when he doesn’t get on the scoreboard — like during the Frozen Four — but is still active and involved, and doing the little things to make goals happen. On Saturday, that didn’t happen.

For Grebenkin, that did happen — and more. The Russian winger, skating in his third game, was the most effective he’s been all preseason.

Although he started on a line with Luchanko and Owen Tippett, Grebenkin found himself skating on the top line in Bump’s spot by the start of the second period.

“This game [was] my first game not after [a bus ride]; every time after bus, [I didn’t feel] great,” said Grebenkin, who played on Long Island and in Hershey, each involving two-to-three-hour bus rides. “But today, morning skate, and I [slept] and I feel good today.”

Grebenkin showed that on the ice. He played just over 12 minutes and had four hits and five shot attempts, including two shots on goal. One shot found the back of the net in the second period, while skating a shift with Zegras and Michkov. After Zegras backhanded the puck wide off Michkov, it popped up — looked like York did it, but he was not credited with an assist — allowing Grebenkin to bat the puck into an open left side.

The 22-year-old was forechecking effectively and putting pressure on the Bruins — three of his hits were in the offensive zone and the other in the neutral zone — while also playing well along the wall. In the third period, this led to a chance with the score tied at 3, as he got the puck and passed over to Konecny, who just missed connecting with Couturier on the doorstep.

According to Natural Stat Trick, when Grebenkin was on the ice during five-on-five, the Flyers out-chanced the opposition by 11-7, had 71.43% more of the scoring chances, and had four high-danger chances to one by the Bruins. The winger alone had three scoring chances, two from high-danger spots.

His puck pressure and swarming of the net all night also earned him a penalty shot later in the second. Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei’s stick broke as he was playing the puck near the right face-off circle, allowing Grebenkin to swoop in. He headed to the crease and shot, but it came as Lohrei threw the broken shaft at the Flyers winger. Grebenkin made a nice move on the penalty shot, but while he had Michael DiPietro beaten, he hit the right post.

“He’s a sticky guy, he comes up with loose pucks — that’s what we need,” Tocchet said. “He finds the pressure and he goes to it, he’s not shy. There are really good parts of his game. We’ve got to clean up some stuff, a lot of turnovers at the center ice he has got to clean up. Other than that, though, I thought he had a good game for us.”

The Flyers held a moment of silence for Bernie Parent, who died last Sunday at the age of 80. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, the goalie led the Flyers to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. ... Jamie Drysdale played a game-high 22:28 and played more than five minutes on the power play. ... Couturier won 66.7% of his faceoffs. ... Dvorak, according to Natural Stat Trick, led the Flyers in shot attempts (six), scoring chances (six), and high-danger chances (four). ... Ersson played the whole game and stopped 23 of 27 chances. The four goals he allowed all came from high-danger areas, with one on an odd-man rush and another that looked like the first attempt by Dalton Bancroft went off the stick and face of Nick Seeler.

After an off day on Sunday, the Flyers head to Boston to face the Bruins again on Monday (7 p.m., nhl.com/flyers).