In six of the first seven games the Philadelphia Flyers (4-2-1) have played to start the 2023-24 season, the club has played well in long stretches of the game to put themselves in position to win. Over the course of this past week, the Flyers came away with only one point from a two-game road trip: a 5-4 overtime setback in Dallas on Saturday and a 3-2 loss in Vegas after going into the third period with a 2-1 lead.
The team's response in Thursday's 6-2 home win against Minnesota was impressive. Despite an unforgiving travel schedule -- an 11:17 p.m. ET starting time in Vegas on Tuesday, a morning flight on Wednesday, a morning skate in Voorhees and game at the Wells Fargo Center the next night -- the Flyers brought both energy and focus to their game against the Wild.
Through the first seven game of the season, the Flyers have put an obvious emphasis on playing faster and more aggressively in all three zones. They're generating many more chances off the rush. They are standing opponents up at the blueline with much greater frequency. They're getting their F1 (first forechecker) in quicker and creating opposition turnovers. The PK has been active in generating puck pressure.
In the bigger picture, making these elements into essential parts of the team's identity -- not just for the short term, but as central pieces of how the Flyers play the game -- are essential to being a competitive club. It's how games are won, along with strong goaltending.
Working together to fight off fatigue
Flyers head coach John Tortorella admitted after the Wild game that he went into Thursday's tilt worried about whether the team would have its skating legs after all the travel and three-hour change of time zones.
"I felt awful today. I was so concerned how [the players] felt from the travel day. For me, it's just they have to help one another. It's the only way we'll stay competitive in the league this year as we build. We're going to go through some growing pains. We have to do it together, as a group. As a committee. I think that helps us in situations as we go through the ebs and flows of a hockey game," Tortorella said.
In Thursday's game, Travis Konecny (6th goal of the season) scored the only goal of the first period. In the middle stanza, Sean Couturier (2nd) and Bobby Brink (1st NHL goal) added power play tallies. In the third period, Dakota Mermis (2nd) and Marcus Foligno (2nd) drew the Wild within 3-2 before Owen Tippett (1st) restored a little breathing room on a breakaway. Brink scored (2nd goal of the game and season) again to re-open a three-goal margin and then Travis Sanheim (1st) further extended the lead.
The Flyers went into the game against Minnesota having scored only one power play goal during the young season-- a tally at 5-on-3 by Travis Konecny in Ottawa -- and none at 5-on-4. Philly erased that negative mark with back-to-back power play goals in the second period. Couturier's multi-effort loose puck goal and Brink's point-blank tally after the puck bounced to him off referee Chris Rooney's skate ended up looming large in the third period.
The Flyers stumbled a bit late in the second period and early in the third: They got caught on a very long shift in the defensive zone. in the third period, the Wild sliced the Flyers lead from three goals to a single tally.
During a much-needed TV timeout, the Flyers regrouped. Nothing was said on the bench, because nothing needed to be said.
"Just take a deep breath and go back at it," Tortorella said.
Added Couturier, "We were OK. Still leading. Then Tipp scored the breakaway goal and it went from there."
The Wild are a team that is struggling mightily on the defensive side of the puck, especially with blueline leader Jared Spurgeon on long-term injured reserve. It hasn't mattered whether it's been Filip Gustavsson or Marc-Andre Fleury in goal. The Wild have yielded a staggering 31 goals over their last six games.
Ultimately, the Flyers did exactly what they needed to do in a game where they had plenty of time and space to make plays: they capitalized to the fullest.
While Minnesota is a club that has had a miserable time keeping the puck out of their own net, it's also a team with plenty of firepower offensively even with Matthew Boldy sidelined. The Flyers defended well through much of the opening 30 minutes.
When things got dicey, Carter Hart stepped up in net. There were several junctures where the game could have gone south on the Flyers had Minnesota scored.
Sanheim standing tall
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim put in a lot of hard work over the summer. Half of it was a physical challenge: adding some extra muscle to his frame. The other half was mental: using his undeniably down season in 2022-23 and frequent harangues from Tortorella last season as amotivation tools.
"I'm proud of him," Tortorella said on Thursday. "He's come in here from Day One.. I'm up his ass all year long last year. He's in trade talks. All that stuff. His skill level hasn't changed. His skating hasn't changed. What has changed is his mindset. He's shown us since Day One that he's going to take control."
In addition to being in the best physical condition of his career, Sanheim has also shown strong resolve when there's adversity to roll with the punches and get back on top of his game. On Thursday, he was one of the players who was one on the ice during the white-knuckle portion of the late second period. Later, with the game seemingly teetering in the third, Sanheim was one of the stabilizing forces even apart from his icing-on-the-cake goal that pushed a three-goal edge to four.
Through two periods, Sanheim had already logged more than 20 minutes of ice time against the Wild. By the end of the game. he'd played 27:36 across 29 shifts -- more shifts than any other player on either club. He also had a three-point night (1g, 2a) to his credit.
