1. Turning chances into goals
In Wednesday's 2-1 road loss to the New York Islanders, the Flyers put forth a greatly improved overall performance compared to Monday's 6-0 loss in Newark to the New Jersey Devils, which Flyers head coach John Tortorella called a "gong show" of a game. While the Flyers were the better team for lengthy stretches of the second game, they did not score their first goal of the preseason until the 57:38 mark of the game. Ryan Poehing finally nabbed the lone Philadelphia goal.
It should be noted that, on Monday, the Flyers players were skating on exceptionally tired legs after enduring a grueling skating test last Thursday and then six scrimmages (with all players participating in four scrimmages apiece) over the next three days. While that does not excuse those who played on Monday from falling behind 4-0 in the first 5:50 of the first period and being plagued all night with turnovers and defensive miscues, there was at least some context to the low-energy performance.
On Wednesday, following a much-needed off-day, the Flyers brought considerably more energy and focus than they displayed two nights earlier. However, roughly half of the Flyers' forwards were players who were in the National Hockey League last season. The NHL group: Noah Cates, Scott Laughton, Nic Deslauriers, Poehling, Garnet Hathaway, Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski. On the blueline, five of the six Flyers' starting defensemen were players with a combined 19 games of NHL experience and a combined three NHL games played last season (two by Ronnie Attard, one by Adam Ginning). The most NHL-experienced defenseman in the Flyers lineup on Wednesday was Victor Mete (247 career games, 11 last year in an injury-curtailed season).
As such, it was not surprising that the Flyers struggled to convert scoring chances into goals. In the first game, the closest the Flyer came to a goal was a prime chance for Matt Brown that went off the post and stayed out of the net. In Wednesday's game, the closest chances prior to the Poehling tally were a Laczynski opportunity that hit the post, a Laughton power play chance in the third period, and two opportunities for Attard on plays where the offensive-minded defenseman pinched in from the point.
On Friday and Saturday nights, there should be more of the Flyers' regular starters in the lineup, both at forward and on defense. Additionally, with a more normalized volume of skating this week compared to the opening four days of training camp, there is not a fatigue factor heading into the games.
2. Who will make the trip to Boston?
On Thursday, the Flyers held a two group practice at the FTC in Voorhees. The earlier session, on the Flyers rink, largely consisted of NHL roster players as well as prospects who've had strong Rookie/NHL camps so far but still face long odds to open the 2023-24 season in the NHL. Tortorella warned after practice, however, that some players who might be widely assumed to be penciled in for the opening night NHL starting lineup, may not necessarily be so unless their performances pick up over the remainder of training camp. He added, however, that he's also not just going to overlook progress from last season solely because of a tough start in training camp.
The Flyers' game group for Boston had a morning skate in Voorhees on Friday before departing for their flight. Non-game group 1 practiced simultaneously on the Phantoms rink, while the other non-game group followed next. The Flyers game group line combinations and personnel (subject to change in the game) were as follows::
Owen Tippett - Morgan Frost - Bobby Brink
Joel Farabee - Elliot Desnoyers - Tyson Foerster
Nic Deslauriers - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway
Jordy Bellerive - Jacob Gaucher - Cooper Marody
Egor Zamula - Travis Sanheim
Victor Mete - Helge Grans
Nick Seeler - Louie Belpedio
Samuel Ersson
Cal Petersen
Tippett will play in his first game of the 2023 preseason, as will Sanheim. Frost, Farabee (who had a couple scoring chances on Monday after not standing out in the scrimmages last weekend), and prospect Brink will look to pick up the pace on what they've shown in the early part of camp. For the third straight game, Rocky Thompson will be behind the bench as the game-day coach, with Tortorella watching and evaluating from the pressbox.
3. Shaking off "summer hockey" habits
Even during training camp, it's not too early to focus on battles in small areas of the ice and winning 50-50 battles in the trenches. It's also an opportune time to start getting into good habits in terms of getting the puck moving north when there's an opportunity to do so. Bearing down to make sure the puck exits the defensive zone on the first opportunity -- not a desperation icing or only far enough for a partial line change after multiple failed clears or, worse, taking a penalty or yielding a goal -- is something that adds up to being a more competitive team once the season starts. On the flip side, so do repeated failures. These are facets of hockey that lose urgency in summer hockey, but quickly become important in preparing for the season.
On Thursday, Tortorella also discussed why the early portions of his training camps are much more focused on skating stamina, mental toughness and teamwide physical conditioning rather than systems work or game-night chemistry and energy in the early portion of the preseason. He admitted that having so much skating work from the get-go can, in the short term, lead to heavy-legged early preseason games such as the one in Newark on Monday. Tortorella said, however, that he believes demanding higher volume skating that other clubs pays off in the long term, and that's what he also tells his players. Additionally, he feels it gives him a gauge who took their summer training the most seriously. Likewise, he wants to see who battles through the adversity of an ultra-intense camp. It's not about September stats, especially the individual variety. That said, Tortorella wants saves from his goalies, and an element of position players standing out in positive ways..
The game in Boston marks the halfway point of the Flyers' 2023 preseason schedule. Wins and losses are still secondary but, moving forward, the emphasis on in-game execution becomes of greater importance as opening night draws closer. A big part of the equation, though, are the foundational areas of giving the team a chance to win when the games start to matter.
4. Goalie depth chart
Flyers general manager Danny Briere made clear before the start of training camp that reigning Bobby Clarke Trophy winner Carter Hart will enter the 2023-24 season as the team's undisputed number one goalie. The backup spot and the starter/backup roles on the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms are up for grabs for the start of the season.
Hart did not play in Monday or Wednesday's games. The other three goalies have played a total of two periods apiece. Cal Petersen struggled significantly in playing the first two periods of Monday's game. Felix Sandström looked solid in playing the third period on Monday and the opening period on Wednesday. Samuel Ersson also played well over the second and third periods of the second game.
The sample size is still extremely small. But the preseason slate will soon move to goalies -- for all teams, not just the Flyer -- going the entire 60 minutes rather than splitting the duties. The competition has just begun. Tortorella said on Monday that he's not one to worry about waiver status -- Ersson is exempt from waivers, while the Flyers would have to waive Sandström or veteran Petersen before sending either to Lehigh Valley -- but said that he realizes it is a factor when general managers set the final roster. The same goes for position players.
5. Behind enemy lines: Boston Bruins
Following the retirements of franchise icon Patrice Bergeron and longtime second-line stalwart center David Krejci, Jim Montgomery's Bruins are a team at a crossroads as the 100th season in franchise history draws near.Boston was a regular season juggernaut last year, winning the President's Trophy with an NHL record 135 points (the Carolina Hurricanes were second leaguewide with 113 points). However, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins lost in the first round.
So far in the 2023 preseason, the Bruins are 1-1-0. On Sunday, the Bruins shut out the New York Rangers, 3-0, at TD Garden. On Tuesday, the Bruins lost on the road to the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1. The Bruins game-night roster against the Flyers is as follows, listed alphabetically. Note that prolific first-line forwards David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are in the lineup.:
Forwards: Alex Chiasson, John Farinacci, A.J. Greer, Brett Harrison, Danton Heinen, Jakub Lauko, Brad Marchand, Georgii Merkulov, David Pastrnak, Matt Poitras, Anthony Richard, Pavel Zacha
Defensemen: Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Kevin Shattenkirk, Reilly Walsh, Parker Wotherspoon
Goaltenders: Kyle Keyser, Linus Ullmark
