Tortorella shows he’s about winning … even for another loss

PHILADELPHIA » Stuffed between his declaration that the playoffs are out of the question and before the NHL trade deadline, John Tortorella Wednesday night would confront an obligation. For that, he would structure the Flyers’ lineup to provide the maximum chance to defeat the New York Rangers — and at whatever risk of injury or diminished value to the players likely to be traded by Friday.

“James is playing, Brauner is playing, Kevin is playing,” Tortorella said. That listing of James van Riemsdyk, Justin Braun and Kevin Hayes — three veterans with appeal in the market — may have spoiled any Chuck Fletcher deadline surprise. But not only is Tortorella ever willing to stay real, he was doing what he is paid to do, even late in a lost season.

And if that meant playing soon-to-be Flyers

alums over any commitment to a building plan, he wouldn’t care.

“As a coach, you get in a game and you’re trying to win that game,” he said. “It’s after the game when you start thinking about how much ice time players have gotten. Again, I’m going into each and every game trying to win.”

That plan aside, the Flyers lost for the eighth time in nine games, 3-2, when Vladimir Tarasenko blasted the game-winner past Carter Hart at 2:32 of overtime.

The trade deadline is Friday, and plenty could change, not including Tortorella’s urge to win games.

“There may be some different lineups with some different players, if we want to look at them,” Tortorella said. “I’m not sure how it’s all going to work after the deadline. But I still go with the same mindset: Once you go into the game and those guys are in the lineup, I owe it to them right now to try and win each and every game that they play.”

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As expected given geography and the opposite directions of the programs, there was vocal Rangers support Wednesday.

Tony DeAngelo, who grew up in South Jersey as a Flyers fan but had five productive years with the Rangers, understands the dynamic.

“Obviously I was on the other side of it much longer than I’ve been on this side of it,” DeAngelo said. “But from a fan’s perspective, I was always on this side against the Rangers and hated the Rangers. Then I had to go to the Rangers and hate the Flyers for a bit. But now I am back to where I wanted to be.

“It’s a good rivalry, and it’s been even a bigger rivalry for myself personally. They booed me in New York, they boo me here, they booed me in Carolina. Their fans travel very well. So it’s always a fun game to play against them. They’ve been on the winning side a lot lately in this matchup, but I think it’s time for us to start turning the tide.”

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Travis Konecny (upper body) missed his fourth consecutive game and is very likely to miss the rest of the season. Tortorella will make use of the added available minutes to dive Owen Tippett a deeper look — and not just with his offensive stylings.

“I look for that and that part of his game,’’ Tortorella said. “But it gives him a chance to show us if he can kill a penalty. We will try him there. It’s a constant process with Tip in teaching him situational play. The way I look at it, he gets more minutes in offensive situations now. But it’s also developing in the other parts of the game, too.”

Tippett’s 18 goals are second to Konecny’s 27 among Flyers. Yet Tortorella wants more.

“Tip has played some NHL games, but he still has work to do away from the puck,” Tortorella said. “But he still has some work to do away from the puck.”