Friday Flyby: Flyers Found a Way
A weekly compendium of news, thoughts and analysis written by contributing writer Bill Meltzer
1. "A find-a-way league": The Flyers' opening-night 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils wasn't flawless but it was hard-working, physical and featured contributions from a variety of different sources. It's going to take time for the club to come to embody the identity -- or as John Tortorella prefers to call it, the "standard" -- that the head coach envisions. Thursday night's effort, however, was a baby step for the club.
"I thought we played our ass off. We played hard. Do we have to clean some things up? Yes. If we can just stay with that type of effort, I do think because I guess it's a graveyard out here [since last season] about second periods. I do think we took a step in that second period when it looked like it was going away from us. We came back," Tortorella said.
"Those are important processes for a team that has struggled and has been talked about ad nauseam around here. A lot of good things, but they played hard. Nothing's perfect. Not all minutes are perfect. Sometimes it's ugly, sometimes it just looks awful. It's a find-a-way league and we found a way to win."
2. Hart settled in well in the opener. Carter Hart missed the entire preseason schedule due to lower-body injury sustained in a collision around the net on the third day of training camp. The regular season opener was Hart's first game in goal since playing one period of the Flyers' 9-2 road loss to the Washington Capitals on April 12, 2022.
There were times in Thursday's game where Hart did not look fully comfortable in net, primarily in the first period when the rust seemed evident. Hart was off his angle on Alexander Holtz's power play tally that gave the Devils a short-lived 1-0 lead. The shot from the left circle beat Hart over his left pad and under his glove.
Thereafter, the Flyers' goalie began to find a rhythm. He made various tough saves among the 35 shots he stopped on 37 opportunities. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Devils generated 3.79 "expected goals" across all game situations and a total of 16 high-danger scoring chances. Among Hart's standout saves, he made a vital one-on-one stop on Jack Hughes in the third period after the first overall pick of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft turned on the jets.
"I felt good. Maybe the first twenty minutes felt a little rusty. After that, I just shook it off and started to play the game," Hart said afterwards.
3. Drago Mode. After a 2021-22 season that was highly disappointing from a team perspective and inconsistent by the standards of his best previous individual seasons, Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov was in his "Ivan Drago" mode in Thursday's opener. In addition to collecting a pair of assists and finishing at a plus-four, Provorov blocked 10 shots and recorded 5 hits.
In the years since the NHL first adopted a real-time system for tracking statistics, the Flyers have only had three individual 10-block games. Provorov has now done it twice.
More importantly, after playing together only once in the preseason (in a game that didn't go well for pretty much anyone in orange and black), Provorov and Tony DeAngelo enjoyed an outstanding regular season debut together.
"He is a great player, skates well, and is able to make plays. Very good passer and it has been fun so far. We are going to just continue to get better," Provorov said of his defense partner.
4. Successful Debut for DeAngelo. Sewell, NJ, native DeAngelo said after Thursday's morning skate that he was going to have a rooting section of about 200 friends and family members for official debut as a Flyer. DeAngelo, as is well known, grew up as a diehard Flyers fan.
On Thursday, DeAngelo posted two assists, a plus-3 rating and three blocked shots in a team-high 23:46 for his Flyers debut. It marked his 28th career multi-point game.
5. Frostbite.There has never been a question about Morgan Frost's pure skill level or his commitment to working to improve his overall game. He's added some muscle in each of the last two offseasons and is now better able to win faceoffs and compete for pucks.
Last season, fans focused almost solely on Frost's modest point totals by the standards of a first-round pick who had been a prolific junior hockey scorer in the OHL, for Team Canada's 2018-19 World Junior Championship squad and then an All-Star Game selection as an American Hockey League rookie. Former Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo said many times -- but seemingly few noticed -- that his work with the player was process-focused: keeping his feet moving, getting more puck touches, showing more confidence and assertiveness. Over time, Yeo predicted, the offense (and self-confidence) would return to Frost's game and do so in a way that was more likely to succeed at the NHL level.
Late last season, the results started to show. Yeo then said that the next challenge for Frost -- as well as Owen Tippett and others -- would be to perform to an elevated level when momentum is going against the Flyers and not just when things are clicking for the club as a whole. That's a challenge that Tortorella reiterated in training camp and is likely to keep harping on (not only with Frost) to push the team.
From an offensive standpoint, Tortorella said near the end of camp that it would do wonders for the confidence of some of the younger players on whom the Flyers need more regular contributions to get off to quick starts.
Frost's performance in Thursday's opener was a good one over the final 45 minutes or but far from the best game of his career. He understandably earned notice for the first two-goal game of his NHL career. Frost tallied a 5-on-5 marker from the bottom of the left circle courtesy of initial boardwork by James van Riemsdyk and a tremendous pass-out by Tanner Laczynski (first NHL point) from behind the net. Frost later scored an empty-net goal on an attempted pass to Laczynski, which would have been a slam-dunk for Laczynski's first NHL goal except for the fact that it banked off the stick of defender Dougie Hamilton and directly into the Devils' net.
It's easy to forget now that Frost's game on Thursday got off to a rough start. He took an avoidable holding penalty in the first period after getting beaten defensively, and the Devils scored on the ensuing power play. Later, on the Flyers' first power play, Frost attempted an ill-advised pass on an entry attempt that got intercepted.
Where was the turning point? Many would say it was two scoring chances Frost was involved in during the second period prior to his goal. Those helped but I think the point where he started to settle in actually came during a latter first period shift in the defensive zone. Frost blocked a shot and recorded one of his three credited hits on the net. It was a positive contribution to build from and it led to bigger and better things later in the game.
6. Rapid response. Twice in the game -- when the Devils took a 1-0 lead in the first period and after the Flyers grabbed a 2-1 lead in the second period -- Philadelphia scored on the very next shift.
A lack of resilience in the face of adversity was a major problem for the Flyers in each of the last two seasons. So, too, were letdowns after scoring a goal. For the Flyers to respond the right way and get rewarded was encouraging.
"It's always nice to get a couple in early, but most importantly I love our work ethic. I think one of the cool things is that our lineup has a lot of young guys in there and doesn't really matter where you are, someone's doing the right thing. They weren't scared to make plays because they know everyone is backing them up and playing hard. Those are the things that stand out to me," Konecny said.
There were still some anxiety-creating moments in the opener against the Devils. There were portions of the second period where Philly seemed to be on the ropes when the game was 1-1. New Jersey made a heavy push in the third period after cutting their deficit from three to two goals. Philly started to struggle with failed clearing opportunities and puck-watching until a New Jersey misplay and Frost's empty-netter ended the threat.
As Tortorella said, all that mattered in the end was that the Flyers found a way to win. But there are still things -- the self-inflicted first period penalty trouble, getting outplayed in segments of the second period and unwittingly prolonging the Devils' puck possession during New Jersey's desperation push in the third -- that need to be improved upon as the season progresses.
7. Allison's early birthday present.Flyers power forward Wade Allison celebrates his 25th birthday on Friday. With his mom in the stands for the opener, Allison potted a rebound goal that tied the score at 1-1 in the first period.
Due to a series of injuries, Allison only appeared in one NHL game last season (and suffered an MCL sprain that kept him out for a month). As such, Allison's tally in the opener was his first for the Flyers since he notched his first career two-goal in Washington back on May 7, 2021.
8. No update yet on Tippett.Owen Tippett was involved in a late first-period collision with Ondrej Palat in Thursday's game. The 23-year-old winger came out just before the second period was to begin. He sat on the bench but must not have felt quite right because he returned up the tunnel and did play in the second or third periods.
The Flyers had no update on Tippett's status other than that he sustained an upper-body injury. In street clothes, Tippett was around the locker room after the game to congratulate teammates on the win.
With Tippett gone for the game after the first period and Hayden Hodgson receiving very limited ice time (4:46 TOI across 10 shifts), the Flyers played much the game with 10 forwards.
9. Flyers fourth liners move up.With personnel being juggled, Nicolas Deslauriers and Tanner Laczynski both saw shifts on a line with van Riemsdyk and Frost.
Even before setting up Frost for what proved to be the game-winning goal, Laczynski was quietly having an effective game in terms of winning puck battles and making subtle but sound decisions both defensively and when he had puck touches. Laczynski and JVR were also involved on Frost's empty netter, and both were credited after the game with their respective second assists of the night.
In the meantime, Tortorella said that, in his opinion, what turned the tide in the second period was something that preceded the first Konecny and Frost goals. In the head coach's view, it was Deslauriers banging bodies around on a shift that happened shortly before the goals that turned a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 Flyers lead.
Tortorella said that this brought the Flyers team as a whole back into the fight after the Devils were starting to impose their will. It re-energized the bench and then bigger plays were made by the Hayes and Frost lines.
10. Busy weekend ahead.The Flyers have a noon practice on Friday at the FTC in Voorhees and then host the Vancouver Canucks in a 4 p.m. tilt on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Additionally, the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms will kick off their 2022-23 regular season over the weekend with road matches on Saturday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Sunday against the Hershey Bears.
Lastly, there is a full weekend slate of games involving Flyers prospects in the NCAA, CHL and Europe. Here on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, we'll have our first Farm System Roundup articles next week. Also look for a return of the Prospect Pipeline podcast coming soon on the Flyers Broadcast Network.
