It’s been a roller coaster of a January for the Flyers.
Within 27 days, the Flyers have claimed wins against the two-time Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, endured a six-game losing streak, and snatched five of six points across the new Death Valley.
Monday brought a reality check as the Flyers faced a division opponent, the New York Islanders, and were handed a 4-0 loss. But coach Rick Tocchet has emphasized how important it is for his club to remain at an even keel.
“It’s huge,” forward Travis Konecny said when asked about Tocchet’s approach, which was also stated by Jamie Drysdale after the game Monday.
“I mean, even during a game, I know, I get pretty intense and frustrated, but it’s important to just reset every shift and not let things drag on. Especially coming in this morning, a positive attitude, be excited to play, be excited to practice, and on we go.”
The Flyers now head to Columbus to face a Blue Jackets team that has only lost once in six games since Rick Bowness took over following the dismissal of former coach Dean Evason on Jan. 12. And it’s another critical game against a division foe that trails the Flyers by just two points in a tight Eastern Conference. The Flyers are currently two points back of the Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Metro, albeit with a game in hand, and six points back in the wild card, also with games in hand.
While Tocchet likes that his team is so close and has been resilient, he did say Tuesday that part of being close is holding each other accountable when warranted.
“I’d like to see them get on each other a little bit. In a positive way — I’m not saying yell and scream — but whether it’s practice, or if somebody makes a mistake after the first in the dressing room after the coaches leave don’t be afraid to make your friend accountable,“ the coach said. ”Sometimes we’re all buddies and they’re scared to say something. I find that a little bit with this team. The teams that I’ve played or coached with the leadership gets on each other, in a good way. That’s probably the next level for this team.”
If the Flyers are to stay in playoff contention, one thing they’ll need is the top line of Konecny, Trevor Zegras, and Christian Dvorak to rediscover its game. Since Jan. 1, Konecny has nine points in 11 games (he missed one game with an upper-body injury), and Zegras and Dvorak have seven apiece across 12 contests. From the outside, those numbers don’t look bad, but the glaring issue is their plus-minus; Konecny is a surprising minus-3, Zegras is minus-4, and Dvorak is minus-8.
According to Natural Stat Trick, when the trio has been on the ice as a line at five-on-five since Jan. 1, the Flyers have allowed a greater share of shot attempts (54.34%), shots (53.49%), scoring chances (54.08%), and more high-danger goals (2-3). The one plus: they have managed to outscore opponents, 6-4.
But it’s a marked difference from the 38 games before the flip of the calendar. In those games, with that trio on the ice, the Flyers scored nine goals and allowed nine, but outshot (52.29%), outchanced from high-danger areas (63.01%), and outscored opponents from high-danger spots by a wide margin (7-2). They were also even in scoring chances.
“I hate to use the word cheating; they’re cheating for offense,” Tocchet said of his top line’s game recently. “You’ve got to go through the procession to get offense. … And I think they put pressure on themselves. It’s not like a lot of guys are filling the net. So they feel that they have to be that line, but you can’t be that line that just cheats for offense.
“You’ve got to play the right way. You’ll get the same amount of chances in the long run, and that’s the way you’re supposed to play the game anyway.”
The Flyers need their top line to produce. Konecny played well during his latest streak, a four-game one with six points, which ended on Monday. But Dvorak has just two goals and one assist in the past seven games, all of which came in the OT loss to Utah, including one tally on the power play. Zegras has also cooled off considerably. He had 41 points in the first 41 games of the season, but has scored only twice in the 10 games since his emotional multi-goal game against his former club, the Anaheim Ducks.
“I think get to the inside with the puck. I feel like we’re kind of one-and-done plays right now, which is something we know, and we’re talking about,” Zegras said of his line.
“It’s not like, ‘oh, we think we’re perfect and then we don’t have to do the little things or the hard things.’ I just think it’s that next play that we have to get back to making, whether it’s beating a check or supporting a guy in a corner. But I think just getting that puck to the inside.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař participated in practice again but remains listed on injured reserve. Aleksei Kolosov was at the team’s practice, too. … The defensive pairings had Emil Andrae on the outside looking in. Tocchet said on Tuesday he felt the Swedish defenseman “seems to skate into trouble and he’s been losing the puck a lot.” … Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returned to the lineup on Monday after missing six games with an upper-body injury. He said it “[stunk] to kind of watch from the couch,” but said, while it’s never easy, he was able to slide right back into the lineup because the “last couple of years, I’m kind of used to it [but] it was a lot easier to come back after missing 10 days than when I was out for nine months.”
