Sam Morin, battling for roster spot, helps Flyers beat Rangers

Sam Morin has been upstaged by his good buddy, Travis Sanheim, in a Flyers training camp that has earned a slogan: The Kids Are All Right.

On Tuesday, however, it was Morin's turn to show he belongs with the Flyers to start the season.

In the first period alone, the 6-foot-7, 225-pound defenseman delivered a jarring hit to Gabriel Fontaine, won a fight with Bobby Farnham, and scored a goal in the Flyers' 4-3 exhibition win over the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Travis Konecny scored on his own rebound with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in overtime to give the Flyers the victory.

Earlier, rookie Oskar Lindblom deflected Andrew MacDonald's shot past Ondrej Pavelec with 14:33 left in the third to put the Flyers ahead, 3-2. But Michael Grabner tied it with 2:21 left in regulation.

Morin has had a solid camp, but so have Sanheim and Robert Hagg, three rookies trying to earn roster spots.

"I really don't put pressure on myself. I know I belong here," said Morin, a first-round selection (11th overall) in the 2013 draft. "I think I'm ready for the NHL, to be honest. I just have to keep working hard and show those guys I can make it."

With the Flyers in a 2-0 deficit, Claude Giroux  — who again played left wing on Sean Couturier's line — raced into the right circle, pirouetted, and dropped a pass to the on-charging Morin in the high slot. The big defenseman put a wrist shot behind Pavelec with 1:24 remaining in the first.

"I just saw 'G' had the puck and when he has the puck you have to be ready for the pass," said Morin, who barely missed scoring a second goal when his backhander from the doorstep went wide midway through the third period. "I was coming from the bench and I just shot the puck toward the net and sometimes the puck goes in."

As for his fight with Farnham, Morin said, "He kind of jumped me there" — after the defenseman leveled Fontaine with a clean hit — "so I really didn't have a choice. But hitting is part of my game and I want to keep doing it."

Morin had a team-high four hits Tuesday.

The Flyers tied the score at 2-2 at 2:44 of the second as Scott Laughton finished off a two-on-one with Michael Raffl with a tap-in. Laughton, who has built a good chemistry with Raffl in the preseason, has been solid on the penalty kill and appears to have nailed down the fourth-line center spot.

The Flyers have five rookies with a legitimate chance to earn roster spots, including defensemen Sanheim, Morin, and Hagg. Two other rookies, center Nolan Patrick and Lindblom, look like locks to make the team.  Rookies Mike Vecchione and Taylor Leier have looked good in camp, though they will probably be sent to the AHL's Phantoms because of a logjam of forwards.

Vecchione is waiver-exempt, but Leier would have to clear waivers to go to Lehigh Valley.

The emergence of the rookies is putting pressure on several veterans — defensemen Brandon Manning and MacDonald, and winger Matt Read, to name three — as they battle to keep their spots.

"It's a little anxiety-riddled," Read acknowledged after the morning skate. "I'm trying to have a stoic attitude, but obviously there's a little nerves to go with it."

Read was not in the Flyers' lineup. They know what he can do. They wanted to find out about some of their younger players, such as Leier and Lindblom. Curiously, Vecchione, who had a goal while playing in just two preseason games, was not in the lineup, a clear sign he is Allentown-bound.

Breakaways. David Desharnais stole the puck from Sanheim behind the net in a sequence that set up the Rangers' first goal…..Couturier's turnover led to New York's second goal, scored by Desharnais….Lindblom was back on the first power-play unit…..The power play continued to struggle as it went 0 for 5, and is 0 for 19 in the last three games…..Leier was denied by Pavelec on a point-blank chance late in the second period…..The Flyers (2-1-3), who have gone into overtime in five of their six games, have two preseason contests remaining, both at home, as they face Boston on Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Islanders on Sunday at 5 p.m.