POST-PRACTICE UPDATES (1:30 P.M. EDT)
Skating, skating, skating. That has been the number one theme that Craig Berube has stressed since taking over as head coach. While there was a lot of discussion about playing with more discipline and taking fewer penalties, a lot of it circled right back to how much and how well the team skates.
Berube said today that a major area of concentration now is to avoid drop-offs of energy in the third period. However, he is pleased by what he's seen five-on-five, especially defensively, in the last week. The team has been generating a healthy number of scoring chances at even strength, but needs to bury a few of those along with getting the power play going.
Kimmo Timonen had an interesting comment about the team's early-season power play woes, saying that he actually expected the club to struggle a bit on the man advantage out of the gates. He said that the team really didn't work at all on the power play during training camp. In the case of the first power play unit, it was largely because two key players -- Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek -- missed time with injuries. It was going to take time to get everyone back on the same page.
Timonen strongly re-emphasized the need for better skating as a team, including himself. He said that the team becomes tough to play against when they are skating well, and there has been improvement in that over the last few games. That's why the breakouts have been better and why the club generally outplayed its last two opponents at even strength.
Of course, the team is not going to win many games taking the number (and type) of penalties they've taken in the last few games. That point was stressed again today by Berube, Timonen and Mark Streit, among others.
Notes:
* The Flyers practiced today with the same line combinations they used in Detroit. Andrej Meszaros and Jay Rosehill will be healthy scratches again tomorrow night, along with Hal Gill. Steve Mason will start in goal tomorrow in all probability. The line combos were as follows:
15 Tye McGinn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
25 Max Talbot - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read
45 Kris Newbury - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 26 Erik Gustafsson
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
32 Mark Streit - 22 Luke Schenn
* Berube said that the main reason why Luke Schenn has played the least ice time among the Flyers' defensemen this season is that the club has not played with a lead and his main role is as a shutdown defenseman. While that may be true, it should also be noted that both Berube and Laviolette before him have had Braydon Coburn and Nicklas Grossmann (reunited as a pairing in the last three games at five-on-five) above Schenn in the preferred penalty killing rotation.
* Erik Gustafsson acknowledged that he did not have nearly as strong of a training camp as he had hoped, and that he has every intention of making the most of his chance now to re-enter the starting six. Gustafsson also acknowledged that he'd spoken to Tre Kronor's Peter Popovic when Popovic was in town the other day but said that he is not thinking at all right now about his chances of playing in the Olympics. All focus is on staying in the lineup and helping the Flyers. However, Gus does feel that he opened some eyes on the national team with his play at the World Championships and was thrilled to be invited to the Swedes' Olympic orientation before the start of NHL camp.
CRAIG BERUBE ON PLAY IN LAST GAME
KIMMO TIMONEN TALKS ABOUT SPECIAL TEAMS ADJUSTMENTS
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Monday Quick Hits
* The Flyers took a complete day off yesterday, following their back-to-back games on Friday (2-1 home loss to Phoenix) and Saturday (5-2 road loss to Detroit). They return to practice today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Practice is slated to start at 10:30 a.m. and the session, as always, is free and open to the public.
I will have a post-practice update to today's blog.
* Ray Emery has yielded eight goals in his two regular season starts to date; four apiece in the Montreal and Detroit games, with a save percentage of .873. That's pretty ugly looking but keep in mind that this is a very small sampling of games, just at Steve Mason's sublime overall play in his first six starts is just a small segment of a very long season.
I thought Emery's stat line from the game against the Habs was deceptive. The veteran goal pretty much singlehandedly kept the Flyers in that game for two periods (Philly trailed 1-0 at the second intermission despite being thoroughly outplayed), and he had no chance whatsoever on any of the three goals Montreal scored in the third period.
The first was a weird carom off the end boards directly to a wide open Lars Eller -- and the shot by Eller was probably going to go across the crease and stay out until Andrej Meszaros accidentally re-directed the puck into the cage.
The second came off a 2-on-1 at point blank range with the Habs already on a 5-on-3 power play. Nicklas Grossmann blocked an initial shot by P.K. Subban and the puck went right to Alex Galchenyuk. From there, Galchenyuk slid a cross-ice pass through Braydon Coburn, where an awaiting Brendan Gallagher had an easy tap-in.
The final goal came in the last minute of regulation with the Habs on another power play. Claude Giroux turned over a puck at center ice and the Habs had all sorts of time and space for Brian Gionta to feather a pass to a wide open Rene Bourque in the slot, and for Bourque to pick a spot from point blank range. Bourque hit his target perfectly.
No goalie in the world was going to stop any of those three chances, so to say Emery had a bad first start of the season is unfair. However, in Saturday's game in Detroit, I think Emery's unsightly stat line (4 goals against on 29 shots) was an accurate reflection of the goaltender's performance.
Emery looked bad on Todd Bertuzzi's wraparound power play that opened the scoring. He had both of his defensemen behind the net on the play and no forward rotated down low to cover (Max Talbot was the closest forward) as the third Wing behind the net, Bertuzzi stepped out in front. However, Emery never got set and Bertuzzi was able to put the puck in through the five-hole.
The Niklas Kronwall power play goal that gave Detroit a 2-0 lead in the second period came in the waning seconds of a 5-on-4. Detroit worked the puck at will around the offensive zone with the Flyers penalty killers unable to gain control and clear the disc to safety. Finally, Kronwall pinched up to the top of the circle, received the puck on a cross-ice feed and beat Emery to the short side. . It wasn't like Kronwall's shot was overpowering or picked the top corner with a puck-sized opening.
The Flyers trailed 2-1 entering the third period. Pavel Datsyuk gave his team some insurance with a backhand power play goal from between the circles. The shot beat Emery low to the stick side. Now, Emery was partially screened on the play and Datsyuk possesses one of the best backhanders in the world. Also, many goaltenders will tell you that backhanders can be among the trickiest shots to stop because the release point is hidden from them. Even so, Emery never reacted to the shot until the puck was already going past him.
The final non-empty net Detroit goal was their lone even strength goal of the game. It came off the line rush, with Henrik Zetterberg getting a little bit of separation from Claude Giroux and snapping off a shot that beat Emery to the glove side as Zetterberg moved left across the center medium-range. Zetterberg, like Datsyuk, is one of the NHL's most dangerous and creative players. This wasn't an easy save opportunity but was still one that the Flyers needed their goalie to make after Philly had closed the deficit back to 3-2.
I would expect that Steve Mason will get the next two starts for the Flyers. They'll be tough challenges, with the Vancouver Canucks coming to town tomorrow and the Pittsburgh Penguins on the way on Thursday.
If Mason continues to do well, Emery may not play again this month. Looking ahead on the schedule, the Flyers do not have back-to-back games again until November 1st (home against Washington) and 2nd (in New Jersey). The latter game is a Saturday afternoon contest after a night game on Friday. The Flyers will almost definitely use Emery in one of those games.
* The Adirondack Phantoms have a 2 p.m. road game today against the Albany Devils. Additionally, prospects Anthony Stolarz (London @ Kitchener) and Scott Laughton (Oshawa hosting Saginaw) are in OHL action this afternoon. I will have a roundup on all three games in an evening update to this blog.
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