The Flyers are bringing Scranton to Philadelphia, with the NHL’s first theme night celebrating The Office.
On March 14 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Flyers will pay tribute to one of NBC’s most iconic TV shows to celebrate the network’s 100th anniversary.
The night will include clips from the show on the videoboard, specialty food and beverage offerings, Gritty tie-ins, and (probably) a giveaway or special ticket package of some kind to be announced at a later time.
The Flyers will be hosting a special “The Office” theme night to celebrate the hit NBC show.
“The Philadelphia Flyers are honored to partner with Peacock to celebrate The Office, an iconic piece of NBC’s legacy 100 years in the making,” said Flyers chief revenue and business officer Todd Glickman in a statement. “It’s happening! Everybody stay calm!”
While The Office has been off the air since May 2013, when it ended its nine-season run, it remains popular. NBC launched a spinoff called The Paper, which premiered on Peacock in the fall and stars Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Nuñez, who reprises his role of Oscar Martinez from the original series. The Paper, which follows a small Midwestern newspaper, is expected to return for a second season in the fall.
Other forthcoming theme nights include Fourth Wing Night, PGA Championship Night, and Margaritaville Night. The Flyers will also host Philadelphia’s last remaining Dollar Dog Night on March 24.
The life of an NBA draft pick can be a long and winding road — long before a team ever considers which player they might take with that selection. Picks are traded years in advance, and by the time draft night actually comes around, many have changed hands two or even three times.
One of those long and winding roads led the Sixers to young superstar Tyrese Maxey, who will make his first NBA All-Star Game start and second appearance on Sunday. Maxey is having a career-best season, leading the Sixers firmly back into the playoff race as he’s become the team’s No. 1 scoring option.
But the journey to acquire Maxey started long before Adam Silver called his name on that stage in 2020, five months after the draft was originally supposed to take place — and more than six years after the wheels were initially set in motion by the Spencer Hawes trade.
Here’s everything that happened in order for the Sixers to ultimately draft Maxey …
Feb. 20, 2014: The Sixers were in the early stages of The Process, selling off players to stockpile as many draft picks as possible. In one of those moves, then general manager Sam Hinkie acquired Earl Clark, Henry Sims, and two second-round picks (Cleveland’s and Memphis’) from the Cavaliers for Hawes.
Sam Hinkie was the Sixers general manager from 2013 to 2016.
June 26, 2014: The Sixers used one of those picks to draft Jerami Grant with the No. 39 overall pick (initially Cleveland’s pick). Grant was a role player for the Sixers for a little over two seasons, averaging 8.2 points in 24.2 minutes, but went on to have a long NBA career — he’s still playing — and turned into a starter that has eclipsed the 20-point per game mark three times.
Nov. 1, 2016: Two games into the 2016-17 season, the Sixers traded Grant to acquire veteran forward Ersan Ilyasova and Oklahoma City’s 2020 first-round pick. The pick was top-20 protected, meaning it would only convey if the Thunder finished with the 21st draft pick or lower.
June 22, 2017: The Sixers traded that 2020 pick and Brooklyn’s 2020 second-round pick to Orlando for the draft rights to Latvian center Anžejs Pasečņiks. Pasečņiks, now 30, played just 28 games in the NBA with Washington.
Feb. 7, 2019: The Sixers reacquired the 2020 first-round pick from Orlando — along with Jonathon Simmons and the rights to Cleveland’s second-rounder — for Markelle Fultz. The Sixers had traded up to first overall in 2017 to draft Fultz, who struggled with injuries and played just 33 games across two seasons for the team.
Kentucky’s Immanuel Quickley (left) and Tyrese Maxey (center) were two of the stars of the Wildcats’ 2020 team under head coach John Calipari.
March 2020: COVID-19 canceled the NCAA Tournament. Maxey was playing for John Calipari at Kentucky, who won the regular season SEC championship and was poised to earn a top-2 seed in the NCAA tournament. That meant Maxey, who averaged 14 points in the regular season, wouldn’t get a chance to showcase his skills on college basketball’s biggest stage. The shutdown also impacted Maxey’s opportunity to meet in person with NBA teams during the pre-draft process.
Aug. 12, 2020: Former Sixer Mike Muscala hit a pair of late three-pointers to lift the Thunder over the Heat in Oklahoma City’s penultimate game in the NBA’s “COVID bubble.” The win pushed the Thunder ahead of the Heat in the standings and out of the top 20 in the draft order, ensuring the Sixers would secure the first-round pick that originally belonged to OKC.
Nov. 18, 2020: Maxey falls to the Sixers with the 21st pick after 19 other teams — including the Timberwolves twice — passed on the Kentucky guard.
The NBA All-Star break has finally arrived for the Sixers, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the team’s three most important pieces: Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe.
“I think everybody’s looking forward to it,” coach Nick Nurse said of the time off. “I think we need it. It’ll be pretty good timing for us.”
Yes, Wednesday’s 138-89 loss to the New York Knicks was embarrassing, but despite the Sixers’ ups and downs this season, they are firmly in a playoff spot. Still, the Sixers need a physical and mental reset, even if some of their stars won’t be entirely off.
Maxey will be heading to Los Angeles as an All-Star Game starter, with Edgecombe in tow to play in the Rising Stars game. But Embiid will have a full, much-needed weeklong break.
Embiid missed his second consecutive game Wednesday with right knee soreness. Quentin Grimes also missed Wednesday’s game, while Dominick Barlow, who missed the final game of the road trip at Portland, returned to play 30 minutes, 37 seconds on Wednesday.
Nurse said before Wednesday’s game that there was “not a ton of concern” about Embiid’s knee long-term.
Joel Embiid has missed the Sixers’ last two games with right knee soreness.
Embiid has appeared in 31 of the Sixers’ 54 games so far this year, skipping one leg of back-to-backs and missing most of November. But since that month, Embiid has quickly rounded back into form.
“He’ll still tell you that he’s — I don’t know, you can have him tell you — but still not near 100%, not close,” Nurse said. “I think that’s encouraging because he’s starting to look pretty good again in a lot of different areas.”
Some might consider Embiid’s exclusion from the All-Star Game a snub, but because of the break, the Sixers don’t play again until Feb. 19.
That’s a full week for Embiid to stay off his knee and recover while the Sixers can stay locked into their sixth-place spot in the East. Since January, the Sixers are 12-5 with Embiid in the lineup, and 1-5 without him.
“It’s hard,” Maxey said of playing without Embiid. “You go from one way to play without him early in the season, he comes back, you’ve got to play that way, then play a different way when he’s there — which is OK, it’s fine. It’s the reality of it, and we’ll be all right. I think he’ll be here more than he isn’t here when we get back, and we’ve just got to maintain those games that he’s not there.”
It’s not just Embiid who can benefit from the time off. Edgecombe will be competing in the Rising Stars event at All-Star Weekend, but the rookie, who has played in 50 of the Sixers’ 54 games, will get a brief, needed reprieve from the grind of the NBA schedule.
“He’s never played these type of minutes in his life,” Maxey said. “Even playing a 40-minute basketball game in college is way different than this. … We’re asking him to do a lot, so he’s probably definitely tired, but it’s OK. This is what the break is for.”
Rookie VJ Edgecombe has already played in 17 more games than he did all of last season at Baylor.
Entering the final game before the break, Edgecombe averaged 35.4 minutes, the most of any rookie, and ranked ninth in the NBA. Edgecombe played just 33 games at Baylor last year.
Edgecombe ended Wednesday night with 14 points on 6-for-16 shooting, displaying his incredible physical tools and his recent shooting woes. Early in his career, Maxey learned how seriously he needs to take recovery in order to keep playing big NBA minutes.
“I used to be like, ‘I don’t need treatment.’ I thought I was Superman,” Maxey said.
He’s making sure Edgecombe is taking that feedback.
But there might not be anyone on the team who needs rest more than Maxey. He has taken on the role as the Sixers’ top offensive option, and he is playing a career- and league-high 38.6 minutes per game.
Maxey has also made 52 starts and played the most games of anyone on the Sixers. He scored 32 points in 32:07 on Wednesday but sat for the entire fourth quarter of the blowout. He’ll get a little less rest than his teammates, since he’s making his first All-Star Game start — and taking part in Saturday night’s three-point contest — but said he still would make plenty of time for relaxation.
“I just want to get out there and just chill, sit in my hotel room, relax, get some good weather,” Maxey said. “I’ll get some relaxation and be good to go by Thursday.”
Flyers fans are “starving” for a superstar player. That’s what’s driving a lot of the angst around Matvei Michkov, former team captain Chris Pronger said.
On Monday’s episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Pronger, a hockey Hall of Famer who spent the last three years of his 18-year career with the Flyers, shared his thoughts on the team’s rebuild and Michkov’s development as a professional.
The never-ending rebuild
The current regime spearheading the Flyers’ rebuild, led by president Keith Jones and general manager Danny Brière, has been in place since May 2023, just under three years. But Flyers fans are still reeling from the failures of previous regimes.
“They’ve been in what’s called a rebuild for what seems like 12 years,” Pronger said. “I think they’re frustrated and they want the rebuild to be over, but they didn’t go about the rebuild properly in the early days.”
The Flyers haven’t made the playoffs since the COVID bubble in 2020, and have advanced past the first round just once since the 2012-13 season — during that bubble playoff run, which was played in an empty building in Toronto.
The most important keys to any successful rebuild are finding a star center and a No. 1 defenseman, two things that have eluded the Flyers so far. It takes lottery luck, which the Flyers haven’t had much of lately. But those who believe Michkov, a winger, becoming a star will be the difference between a Stanley Cup-contending Flyers team and the draft lottery aren’t being realistic, according to Pronger.
“I don’t know any team — any team — that rebuilds with a winger,” Pronger said. “I don’t know one good team who rebuilt with a winger. You don’t rebuild with a winger, you rebuild up the middle — center, defense, goalie. I know you [draft] the best player available, and clearly he was the best player, but as it relates to that, sometimes you have to luck out, too, in a rebuild and get the right pick when the right player is available.”
In January, Pronger posted on X that those centerpiece players are the hardest to find, and the Flyers need to be patient and deliberate about compiling assets to make those moves if they become available. But he also suggested that the best way to rebuild is to tear it all the way down, like San Jose and Chicago have done, for a chance at landing a player like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov has struggled in his second season with the team.
How to help Michkov
Michkov came into camp out of shape, something Pronger admitted he’d also done early in his career, in his second and third NHL seasons. Teams don’t get a lot of practice time, Pronger said, so it’s extremely difficult to play yourself into shape during the year. Pronger’s coach at the time, former Flyers boss Mike Keenan, was extremely tough on him, to the point where Pronger joked that even his teammates started to feel bad.
He also pointed to the language barrier between the Russian Michkov and the coaching staff as a hurdle.
“The fact that he doesn’t speak the language very well, if at all, that’s part of the problem, because it might not be translating properly what he’s going through, what he’s dealing with,” Pronger said. “… You’ve got to be hard on young guys, but it’s not 1995, either. That’s not how this world works in today’s hockey world, in today’s NHL. You have to find a connection with the player. There’s ways to be hard.”
The Flyers do not employ a full-time Russian translator for Michkov, instead relying on Slava Kuznetsov, a skating coach who also works with Olympian Isabeau Levito, to translate for him.
Now, the Flyers need to teach Michkov how to be a pro, Pronger said, and that includes setting the example of him coming into camp in shape, and learning to be more responsible with the puck.
“I saw a few of their games last year with [John Tortorella], and he played [Michkov] a bit differently,” Pronger said. “He got him on the power play, to me it looked like he was putting him in more positions for success. It looked like he let him do a little more, but wasn’t — I don’t know if teaching him is the right word, but showcasing his abilities and not digging into the other parts of the game where he needed to improve.”
The Flyers are off for the Olympic break and will return to the ice on Feb. 25 against the Washington Capitals.
Muriel Crescenzo finally earned her United States citizenship Tuesday morning, after more than three years of waiting and more than seven with her husband, James. On Tuesday evening, they celebrated by watching the Flyers take home a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals.
The Crescenzos met at the Okemo Mountain ski resort in Vermont in 2018. Muriel was working there for the season, and James was on a snowboarding trip. He’d fallen down on one of the hills, and Muriel came to help him. They instantly clicked, and James asked her out. They went on their first date at a bar called Mr. Darcy’s, in Ludlow, Vt., which Muriel said she felt was a sign — Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book and Mr. Darcy is a main character in it.
So when Muriel returned to her home in Santiago, Chile, in the offseason, James, an Egg Harbor Township native, traveled to see her.
“For me, it was no more winter,” he said. “In the winter, I would go to South America for three or four months, and I was working on a golf course, so you were laid off in the winter anyway. It actually worked perfectly.”
The couple took turns visiting each other every year, with Muriel coming up to New Jersey and James heading down to see her in Chile. The two also took a number of international trips together, to London, Prague, Amsterdam, and Buenos Aires.
But when the pandemic hit, those annual plans were upended, and the Crescenzos decided to start the process of getting married and getting Muriel permanent residency in the U.S. They got married in Las Vegas, and have been living in the Philadelphia area ever since. James is a lifelong Philly sports fan, and he has turned Muriel into one as well since their move back to the area.
“When we first moved here, everything was just magical right away,” said James, 43. “That first year we saw [Michael] Lorenzen throw his no-hitter. Every Flyers game we went to, they would win in overtime, sudden death. It was always a magical, special game that first season. It’s been a little rough since, but we still believe.”
Flyers national anthem singer Lauren Hart (left) meets James and Muriel Crescenzo at Tuesday’s game.
So when Muriel, 34, got her naturalization interview date, they knew they wanted to celebrate at a Flyers game.
“It felt different because I could sing the song,” Muriel said. “Before, I didn’t know it that well, the anthem. But now, I could sing it and I’m a part of it.”
The Crescenzos even met Flyers anthem singer Lauren Hart, and of course, Gritty. They also got to take in a Flyers win.
The next step will be going back to Chile to visit her family. During the citizenship application process, she was not allowed to leave the country, so the Crescenzos haven’t been able to take any international trips for more than three years.
“We’re not worried anymore,” Muriel said. “I finally feel secure. We finally can be together. Nothing’s going to stop that happening.”
The Flyers nearly headed into the Olympic break with a whimper after they managed just 13 shots through three periods.
After what looked like a lifeless effort for much of the first two periods, the Flyers stormed back late to tie the game with their net empty. Jamie Drysdale scored in his second consecutive game, after scoring the game-winner on Tuesday.
But ultimately, Travis Konecny missed the net on another overtime breakaway, and Ottawa’s Tim Stützle came back to deliver the win for the Senators. Dan Vladař made 25 saves in the loss.
“We had the two-on-one, last game against [the Los Angeles Kings], we hit the post,” Tocchet said. “We had another two-on-one, and we missed. They get it. It’s execution, Stützle goes around and scores. It’s hard to work on that stuff. We’re getting some chances.”
Former Flyer Nick Cousins scored the first goal of the game just over halfway through the second period. Ottawa’s Shane Pinto took the first shot on Vladař, who made the save, but the puck bounced off his pad right toward Cousins, who scored in an empty net to take the 1-0 lead.
The Flyers got their best offensive possession of the game late into the second — with a little assist from Senators’ center Dylan Cozens’ skate blade, which fell off on a blocked shot, making it basically a power play.
The Flyers took eight shots on goal and missed 15 shots through two periods. Against Senators goaltender James Reimer, who entered Thursday’s game with an .862 save percentage in six appearances, the Flyers couldn’t generate enough traffic to take advantage of the weak matchup.
In the third period, Rick Tocchet put the Flyers’ lines in a blender, moving Trevor Zegras back to wing to play with Christian Dvorak and Konecny, moving Denver Barkey to center to play with Carl Grundstrom and Garnet Hathaway, and slotting Nikita Grebenkin with Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett.
Couturier drove to the net and got a one-on-one with the Ottawa goalie deep in the crease, but couldn’t get the puck past Reimer. His goal drought extended to 29 games.
“There was just a lack of support, puck support, a lot of one and dones,” Drysdale said. “They did a good job defending as well. We were able to break through at the end, but just too little too late.”
But struggling with offensive ineptitude for most of the game, the Flyers finally put it together on the 6-on-5, with Drysdale delivering on a low shot from the point, just like his game-winner on Tuesday.
Ultimately, though, the Flyers’ luck didn’t last for long. After Sanheim took down Brady Tkachuk to give the Flyers their first breakaway of overtime, Konecny could not deliver on the two-on-one, and Stützle beat Sanheim and Vladař for the win.
Breakaways
The Flyers’ two shots in the first period were tied for the fewest they’ve had in a period all season. The last time that happened was on Dec. 13 against Carolina … Drysdale scored in consecutive games for the first time since March 9 and 11, 2025, against Seattle and Ottawa … The Flyers played their third one-goal game against the Senators this season, after losing 2-1 on Oct. 23 and 3-2 in overtime on Nov. 8.
Up Next
The Flyers will break for three weeks for the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. The men’s hockey tournament will begin Feb. 11, with Rasmus Ristolainen and Finland taking on Slovakia (10:40 a.m. ET, USA Network).
The team returns to play on Feb. 25 against the Washington Capitals (7 p.m. ET, NBCSP).
Jamie Drysdale snapped a 20-game goal drought with his game-winner late in the third period Tuesday against the Washington Capitals.
The goal was critical to keeping the Flyers competitive in the Metropolitan Division standings, snapping the team’s four-game losing streak and helping build some momentum heading into the Olympic break.
But it was also important personally for Drysdale, as it marked his first goal since returning from an upper-body injury on Jan. 14, and doubled as a sign of the progress he and the power play have been making in recent games.
“I think I had my chances, to be honest with you, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said. “Guys did a great job of finding me, finding holes, and it was nice to see one go in.”
Coach Rick Tocchet has praised Drysdale’s growth as one of the locker room leaders, including an important speech on the bench against Colorado. But the 23-year-old is also quietly having his best season on the ice, as he is on pace for a career high in points in addition to improving his game on the defensive side of the puck.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers’ top three performing defensive pairs this season, with more than 30 minutes played, have included Drysdale. Cam York, Nick Seeler, and Travis Sanheim have all generated more expected goals with Drysdale than without.
“Such a good skater, really high IQ,” York said of what makes Drysdale easy to play with. “He can be a one-man breakout when he wants to. Being close friends helps, too, because I feel like the communication is really good.”
The last piece for Drysdale to unlock is the power play. The Flyers have converted on 16.3% of their power play opportunities, good for 26th in the league, but they’ve slowly improved in recent weeks, scoring six power play goals over their last seven games.
Over that last stretch of games, Drysdale has anchored the top power-play unit of Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Bobby Brink, and Travis Konecny, which Tocchet first pivoted to in earnest against Vegas on Jan. 19. In 20 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time on the power play, that unit has scored four goals, including a goal in each of the last two games.
Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale (9) scored the game-winner with just over five minutes left against the Washington Capitals.
Drysdale’s shot from the point on Tuesday was an example of exactly what Tocchet wants to see the defenseman do on the power play: take point shots that are low enough for a deflection opportunity.
“Teams will pre-scout you, and we’re trying to explain to the players that on the pre-scout, if you’re overpassing, they won’t respect the middle shot,” Tocchet said. “That’s the hardest thing to defend is a middle shot when you’re out of position. If we can get those types of goals and build on it and get some guys confident with that shot, you can get those types of goals.”
Just five of Drysdale’s 22 points this season have come on the power play, including three in the last seven games. Since his draft year in 2020, Drysdale, due to his skating and playmaking ability, has possessed the potential to be a strong offensive defenseman.
If he can continue to improve the Flyers’ power play, he could surge far past his career high of 32 points, set in 2021-22.
“It’s not easy to get pucks through,” Drysdale said. “Obviously, it’s guys’ jobs to get in front of them, but at the same time, it’s your job to get them through and try and create. It’s a little give-and-take, and you’re constantly working and building and trying to create more.”
Breakaways
Konecny did not skate Wednesday for maintenance reasons. … Emil Andrae has been a scratch the last five games and could sit again on Thursday against Ottawa (7 p.m., NBCSP), Tocchet said. … The Rangers traded All-Star winger Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday for a third-round pick and prospect Liam Greentree.
The Flyers were desperate to pick up momentum heading into the Olympic break, especially against the Washington Capitals, a Metro Division opponent that they’re chasing in the standings.
The Flyers got out to a strong start, building a 2-0 lead in the first period before conceding two Capitals goals to tie the game. But the Flyers finally snapped their four-game losing streak with the 4-2 win thanks to Jamie Drysdale and an empty netter fromRasmus Ristolainen to earn two points and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Owen Tippett opened the scoring, tucking one past Washington rookie goalie Clay Stevenson, who was starting his second game in as many days. Travis Sanheim and Matvei Michkov, who general manager Danny Briere came out to publicly defend after warmups, picked up the assists.
Carl Grundstrom, back in the lineup after missing the last two games, scored a goal in his return. His shot from the circle bounced off the skate of Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun to make it 2-0.
But the game changed during the Flyers’ second attempt on the power play. The Flyers are among the league’s worst on the power play, converting on just 15.9% of their opportunities heading into Tuesday’s game.
Their woes continued in the second period, after Washington’s Aliaksei Protas scored on a shorthanded rush to pull the Caps within 2-1. Things went from bad to worse when Anthony Beauvillier picked up a Dan Vladař rebound and buried it to tie the game at 2-2.
Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen (center) celebrates after scoring an empty net goal in the third period on Tuesday.
The Flyers got a third chance at a power play late in the third period, and this time, it was clinical. Drysdale buried a shot from the point 30 seconds into the man-advantage to give the Flyers the 3-2 lead, which was ultimately the game-winner. Ristolainen sealed the win for the Flyers with an empty-net goal, his first of the season.
Breakaways
Garnet Hathaway was a healthy scratch … Travis Konecny played in his 700th NHL game. He ranks 13th among Flyers players all-time in games played for the franchise … A source tells the Inquirer that Ty Murchison is out for the year after undergoing surgery for an upper-body injury, and Alex Bump is expected to return for Lehigh Valley on Feb. 14.
Up Next
The Flyers will play their final game before the Olympic break against the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m. ET, NBCSP) on Thursday.
Sean Couturier hasn’t scored a goal since Dec. 7, a long, 27-game drought. He has only five goals and 21 assists this season, and just five points since the New Year, all assists.
He knows the skidding Flyers are looking for him to contribute more offensively.
“Probably gripping the stick at times when I get really good quality chances, I’m not finishing,” Couturier said. “Definitely need to be better and help out this team more offensively, producing goals. I think I’m still making plays out there. I just need more out of myself.”
Couturier hasn’t been scoring much, but he has been generating chances. According to Natural Stat Trick, Couturier’s expected goals for percentage of 57.08% at five-on-five ranks second on the team, behind rookie Denver Barkey. In other words, the Flyers have been outchancing their opponents with Couturier on the ice.
Part of his issue is luck — his shooting percentage sits at just 5.9%, down from 9.7% last year and well below his career average of 10.7% entering this season. The Flyers have generated 52% of the scoring chances with Couturier on the ice, but have been outscored by 32-28. Coach Rick Tocchet also pointed to Couturier’s movement as part of the reason for his struggles.
“I think with Coots, when he gets it in the offensive zone, especially behind the net, he doesn’t move his feet,” Tocchet said. “… When you move your feet, options open, when you stand still, options close, and that’s really what it comes down to. I think he has a habit of staring his option down. He doesn’t move his feet, and that’s habits.”
Tocchet and Couturier had a long conversation on the ice before practice Monday, and Couturier spent the practice working to implement those changes.
Over the last two games, Tocchet has moved the Flyers captain back down to the fourth line in order to test out Trevor Zegras at center. Moving Couturier down ultimately helped permanently sour his relationship with former coach John Tortorella, but Couturier said his communication with Tocchet has been positive. The two have had a number of conversations about his role and how he can best help the team.
“He’ll get his minutes,” Tocchet said. “I’ve just got to move him around.”
That includes using him on the penalty kill and for key late-game faceoff situations. Against Los Angeles on Saturday, Couturier started the game with Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers, but in the third was moved up to play shifts on Owen Tippett’s line and Travis Konecny’s line. Couturier ended up with 16 minutes, 29 seconds of ice time, fourth among Flyers forwards.
Flyers center Sean Couturier has played with Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers the last two games.
For his part, Couturier has been embracing the change as an opportunity to refocus on the fundamentals and get his offensive touch back.
“Getting back to the basics, it’s not a bad thing,” Couturier said. “Playing with [Hathaway] and [Deslauriers], they’re pretty hardworking guys that are structured, and they play hard and win battles. So I try to use that to my advantage and simplify my game.”
Breakaways
Konecny and Sam Ersson were the only Flyers missing from Monday’s skate. Konecny took a maintenance day, while there’s an “outside chance” Ersson could return before the Olympic break. Tocchet said the injury was “not super serious.” … Fellow goalie Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from the AHL. … Konecny was named the NHL’s third star of the week behind Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jared McCann.
The Flyers did not get the memo about the early start on Saturday.
Adrian Kempe and the Kings got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period with two point-blank goals, and the Kings nearly made it 3-0 just seconds later, until an Andrei Kuzmenko goal got called back for offside.
But from that point on, the Flyers got their legs back. Trevor Zegras brought the team within one on the power play under a minute into the second period, and Travis Konecny tipped in a point shot from Rasmus Ristolainen seconds into the third period to tie the game. But in overtime, Konecny hit the post on a breakaway opportunity against Darcy Kuemper, and then Quinton Byfield and the Kings capitalized shortly after on the other end.
“We made some good plays, had a couple bounces that easily could have went in,” Konecny said. “I’ve got to put it away there in overtime.”
The Flyers may not have left Saturday’s game with two points, continuing their four-game losing skid, but it wasn’t all bad.
After going down 2-0 early, the Flyers killed two consecutive penalties late in the first and then drew a power play of their own, which helped build momentum heading into the second period.
Dan Vladař looking to block a potential shot from the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
“We play the team game,” said Rick Tocchet. “We can’t afford to play our own game. We just can’t. It’s not an individual sport. We have too many guys that — they don’t mean to do it, but they have to understand we have to play a certain way if we’re going to compete. We did in the second or third, and we cleaned stuff up.”
Defenseman Nick Seeler said he didn’t think the overall game plan for LA changed in the second, but the team failed to execute on that game plan in the first.
After the first intermission, he said, the team regrouped.
“Our process was there, and I thought we started forechecking, and their guys got a little tired from the pressure we were putting on them,” Seeler said.
‘Trying to do the right things’
Tocchet said he thinks the team is dealing with nerves, leading to some of the issues early in games. The Flyers also haven’t had as much practice time as Tocchet would like, but they will have multiple opportunities to practice next week before the Olympic break.
But someone who’s helping the Flyers set the emotional and physical tone for each game is Konecny, who scored the game-tying goal and nearly had the game-winner.
“He’s trying to do the right things,” Tocchet said. “He’s getting open, he’s sprinting. He’s getting those goals. That’s what I’m trying to get these guys to understand. Get to those areas quick. There might be some sticks and bodies. You’ve got to get inside. I call it racing to get inside. [Konecny’s] racing to get inside.”
Travis Konecny, (11), and Christian Dvorak, (22), fighting for the puck during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
After the Flyers’ loss in Boston, Konecny was frank that he’s sick of losing, and just wants to make the playoffs again. Picking up at least one point in the standings Saturday was important, given where the Flyers currently sit with 58 points in the Metro division.
With the top three teams, Carolina, Pittsburgh, and the Islanders, starting to separate themselves a bit from the pack, it’s more important than ever that the young Flyers roster stays composed and mentally prepared to fight for a playoff spot.
“I just don’t want these guys to get bummed out because we lost,” Tocchet said. “We did some good things without the puck, and that’s what we have to do.”
Zegras back at center
Trevor Zegras played his second game in a row at center, playing primarily with Bobby Brink and Matvei Michkov. Playing center, the position he was drafted by Anaheim to play, was always in the Flyers’ plans for Zegras, but as the season has progressed, he was moved back to the wing, and at least in the early goings, he thrived in that role.
“I think we were moving our feet without the puck tonight, which was great,” Zegras said. “I thought [Brink] was awesome away from [the puck], getting over the top of people, and when guys are doing that stuff and you’re getting turnovers, that’s where the skill comes out.”
Early into the second period, Zegras scored his first goal in seven games on the power play on a feed from Brink. The goal was Zegras’ first point since a two-assist night in Utah on Jan. 21.
Trevor Zegras scores the first point for the Flyers during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Zegras said the thing he felt most comfortable with from game one to two back at center was his face-offs. He won five of his eight draws on Saturday.
“Face-offs are the big one,” Zegras said. “I wasn’t great in Boston. Obviously, I’ve been talking to [Sean Couturier], because that’s something he’s really good at. It’s something I’m always working on, for sure.”
Konecny pointed to face-offs more generally as a key issue in the Flyers’ slow starts, including on the Kings’ first goal of the game, and in overtime.
“The linesmen, they’re kicking a lot of guys out, and especially like D-zone draws, which are hard, when you’ve got one guy in there and then I lose that one, and then it ends up in the back of the cage,” Konecny said.
Brink, who played primarily with Zegras, ended up taking five draws, losing four of them.
Breakaways
Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from Lehigh Valley and backed up Vladař against the Kings after Samuel Ersson was injured in Thursday’s loss to Boston… Lane Pederson was re-assigned to the AHL.
Up Next
The Flyers return to Xfinity Mobile arena on Tuesday (7 p.m./NBC Sports Philadelphia) to take on the Washington Capitals.
