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Musings: Playoff Chase, Konecny, Prospects, Charity Classic and More

March 23, 2018, 11:39 AM ET [234 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
MELTZER'S MUSINGS: MARCH 23, 2018

1) Postgame talk after the Flyers' too-close-for-comfort 4-3 win over the New York Rangers on Thursday night focused heavily on the benching of Travis Konecny over the final 7:20 of the game. That will be addressed shortly. First, though, let's talk about some teamwide issues that the club needs to address heading into the weekend.

Neither the Detroit nor New York games were complete efforts by the Flyers. In Detroit, the Flyers did not show nearly enough urgency until the third period. Against New York, the Flyers were rather sporadic in their level of execution. The team was lucky to come away with a regulation win despite never trailing in the game and playing with a lead from 2-1 onward.

The way the Flyers played Sunday's third period against Washington, although they yielded two goals against scoring three of their own, was more in line with how the Flyers need to approach closing out games with a lead. The Flyers stayed aggressive against the Capitals, forechecking with authority and winning puck battles. The latter Washington goal was simply a bad one allowed by Petr Mrazek with the Flyers thankfully up by three to lessen the impact.

Thursday's third period against the Rangers wasn't so much a "closeout" as survival after the Rangers quickly responded to the Oskar Lindblom goal that briefly made it a 4-2 lead. The Flyers were guilty of six icings in the final stanza. Philly also played with fire on at least four failed clearing opportunities. There were at least three Flyers coverage breakdowns where New York had grade-A chances to tie the game. The Flyers' penalty kill after Travis Sanheim took a penalty behind the Philly net was ultimately successful but downright scary until the waning 20 seconds or so.

The Flyers were defensively sound during the late 6-on-5 for New York, at least the portion that followed a Rangers timeout. The portion that proceeded it was scary, because the Flyers (albeit blocking shots and mostly keeping play to the perimeter) were hemmed in deep in their own zone.

2) In and of itself, I did not have a problem with Hakstol benching Konecny over the final 7:20 with a one-goal lead or being very blunt after the game in saying why he did it. However, I did not like the fact that the criticism of Konecny was contrasted by Hakstol using soft coach-speak to avoid criticizing other players.

There were players other than Konecny who made some really poor plays with and without the puck in both the Detroit and New York games -- not guys whom it ever make sense to bench, but players counted on to be consistently smart and poised in their decision making. The top blueline pairing -- both players but particularly Ivan Provorov -- and Sean Couturier (in the Detroit game particularly) were among the culprits in some uncharacteristically poor decisions and weak execution on the Philly side of the red line and deep in the defensive zone.

Although I do not believe that Robert Hägg was truly a healthy scratch on Thursday -- keep in mind that he returned from a lower-body injury a full week ahead of the initially stated schedule and told beat writers on Wednesday that he still was working his way back physically -- Hägg was at least well enough to dress for the game if asked. Hakstol gave the reason that he didn't like the chemistry between Hägg and Radko Gudas (and, by extension, did like the way Travis Sanheim seemed to be gelling with Andrew MacDonald).

Unfortunately, the chemistry displayed by Manning and Gudas together in recent weeks has been rather consistent, and not in a good way. They seem to end up on each other's side of the ice an awful lot or too tightly bunched behind the net (often without forward support at net front). Manning has failed to clear pucks time and time again, and was also making too aggressive up-ice plays reminiscent of his early AHL days as an offensive-minded defenseman. Add to that a tendency to fall down in puck battles, and there have been way too many rough shifts for Number 23.

Yes, Manning competes hard physically every game regardless of the opponent and can string together some effective games. Yes, he is a selfless and supportive teammate in the locker room, who brings the same approach every day whether he's playing well or not and whether he's in the lineup or not. Yes, he is often the first guy to defend a teammate on the ice. Yes, he is mentally tough and comes back twice as hard on the next shift after a mistake. Yes, he even chips in a bit offensively from time to time.

These are the traits of an ideal seventh defenseman, however, not a top six guy. The decision to start Manning on Thursday did not pan out because he struggled just as much coming back from a few games as a scratch as he did in the stretch of several weeks leading up to being a scratch. That is just the plain truth of the matter.

Thus, for Hakstol to praise how hard Manning battled on Thursday and for his general competitiveness without also mentioning his struggles -- which could have been couched in terms of him being one of multiple players on the team having some issues -- seemed to be a half-truth to protect the veteran whereas the coach's warts-and-all blunt assessment of the pros and cons of Konecny's game (which was an accurate portrayal, in my opinion) was incongruous.

Specific to the player, I don't mind the way Hakstol coaches Konecny in such carrot-and-stick fashion. In fact, I think it's pretty standard coaching of a young player in today's NHL. It's not really different at all from how Jon Cooper tried to coach Jonathan Drouin in Tampa except for that Konecny takes it in the spirit of a challenge for self-improvement whereas Drouin opted to pout and push back via his agent.

Come Sunday, Konecny will back on the top line at five-on-five. He'll still be out there with a lot of leash to try to make plays in the attacking zone. He'll still have enough of a trust bank built up to be a key component in 3-on-3 if the game goes to OT. Where he still has to build trust is in third periods with the Flyers up by one goal and the directive is to go north if possible and otherwise not expose the puck to dangerous areas. Simplify with the game in the balance.

For all of his many good traits and the spark he brings the team in energy and offensive punch, Konecny still has room to adjust in situational hockey. He's made progress from his rookie season but still reverts at times to trying to do a little too much.

Hakstol specifically said, and I agree, that the puck Konecny missed at center ice on the sequence leading up to the first Rangers goal was NOT an example of the type of play he wants Konecny to get away from. There was a real good chance for a breakaway on what was actually an ill-advised play by New York. It was a situation that called for aggressiveness by an offensively gifted player, but it just didn't work out in that case.

However, there are other times where it is better to make a simple play, protect the puck or put it to soft ice and then wait for the next battle. That is an area where Lindblom has already earned considerable trust. In the longer-term future, I suspect that prospect Morgan Frost (despite all of his offensive gifts) will also quickly adapt to these demands at the NHL level whenever he eventually moves up.

My only complaint about the way things unfolded in Thursday's game -- or in the one against Winnipeg in which Konecny saw the bench after some undisciplined plays and the coach spoke to him in private conversation in the locker room afterwards with reports already in the room -- is not about Konecny specifically. It's also not about coaching every player the same way, because no coach ever coaches every player on the team the same way.

It is unrealistic to expect Jakub Voracek (himself no stranger to making some low-percentage plays but also a player in his second 80-plus point season, third in the point-per-game or more range and fourth of 60-plus points in the last five years) to get the same ice-time consequences and public criticism accountability that Konecny gets less than 150 games into his NHL career, 21-goal season or not. That's never how it goes with virtually every coach I've ever seen.

That said, unless it's due to a lack of effort and work ethic -- which is never the case with Konecny, as Hakstol also noted last night -- I am not really a fan of one player getting a public both-sides-the-coin assessment and another getting only the positives listed. Hakstol knows full well that Manning was struggling for quite awhile and struggled again last night after getting back into the lineup. That much could and should have been admitted without laying out the specific concerns. Manning is a big boy and can take it.

3) Voracek made quite the individual effort on his 4-on-4 goal that put the Flyers ahead, 2-1, in the second period. He went 1-on-3 and actually came out ahead through sheer determination and second-and-third effort persistence before flipping the puck just over Alexandar Georgiev's glove. Believe it or not, the goal was the first 4-on-4 goal the Rangers have yielded all season despite being significantly underwater in their 5-on-5 goal differential.

4) The outlook in the Metro Division and Eastern Conference playoff chases will look different by the time the Flyers take the ice on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh for the start of a tough road 3-in-4 set that will subsequently take the team to Dallas on Tuesday and Colorado on Wednesday.

On Friday, the game of the greatest interest to the Flyers is the New Jersey Devils' road match against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since one team is guaranteed to get two points and there are benefits and drawbacks to either side winning in regulation, the primary thing to root for is a game decided in regulation.

The Penguins currently have one game in hand on the Flyers, while New Jersey has two. If the Devils win in regulation, they will close to within four points (and narrow their ROW disadvantage to 36-33) of the Flyers. The fourth-place Flyers would remain one point behind the second-place Penguins prior to Sunday's head-to-head season series finale on Sunday. Although the Pens would still be tied in points with Columbus and their respective games played will be evened out, the Penguins would retain second place over Columbus via their 40-36 ROW tiebreaker advantage.

Even if the Devils defeat Pittsburgh, they would still have to beat the Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning in Newark on Saturday to move within two points and possibly a single ROW of the Flyers. That's a mighty difficult back-to-back to sweep, especially coming off a brutally tough six-game road trip (currently 3-2-0) but stranger things have happened.

If the Penguins win by any means against New Jersey, they would move two points up on the Blue Jackets and three points ahead of the Flyers while potentially extending their already commanding ROW tiebreaker edge on both teams. The benefit of a Pittsburgh regulation win, from a Flyers standpoint, is that it would erase one of New Jersey's games in hand while keeping the Devils essentially seven points (six points plus a four ROW disadvantage) off the pace for the higher wildcard.

5) The Blue Jackets, winners of 10 straight games, host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Right now, the Flyers can't worry about the Blues -- who've won three straight games to pull back within 3 points of the lower Western wildcard -- dropping in the standings to potentially move up the 2018 first-round pick obtained in the Brayden Schenn trade.

Currently, the Blue Jackets lead the Flyers by one point. In event of a points tie, the two clubs are in a dead heat in ROW (36-36). The head-to-head season series is done with both teams earning 5 points, so the NHL's secondary tiebreaker will not apply. Thus, a points tie would currently come down to the final tiebreaker of goal differential (CBJ +8, PHI +3 ).

6) If the Flyers are able to bypass either Columbus or Pittsburgh in the Metro standings, the Florida Panthers' record becomes irrelevant because they are not a Metro team. It is only if the Flyers remain in wildcard position that they have to worry about what the Panthers do with their three games in hand. Currently, the Flyers lead the Panthers by seven points and two ROW.

Although anything is possible when a team in a tight playoff race plays a spoiler team with no pressure on it, the Panthers stand a good chance of defeating the wire-to-wire Western Conference cellar dwelling Arizona Coyotes in Sunrise on Saturday.

Thereafter, the Panthers go out on a road trip that will see them play four games in less than six nights and require their second trip to Ontario in as many weeks. On Monday, the Panthers are in Brooklyn to take on the New York Islanders, who have fallen to last place in the Metro. The Panthers are then in Toronto on Wednesday, Ottawa on Thursday (the Panthers just defeated the Senators in Ottawa on March 20) and in Boston on Saturday afternoon.

While fatigue and the trap-game effect could be a factor with all of the travel the Panthers are now doing after spending virtually an entire month in the Sunshine State, three of their next five games are eminently winnable on paper, while each of Philly's next three are tougher wins on paper. Thus, it would greatly benefit the Flyers to dig deep and take care of their own business by coming up with a win in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

7) The CHL playoffs are underway. Three Flyers prospects were in action on Thursday night. In the Ontario Hockey League, Matthew Strome had 3 points (PPG, ESA PPA) and four shots on goal as Hamilton beat Ottawa by a 6-3 count to take a 1-0 series lead. Maksim Sushko broke a 4-4 tie early in the third period, scoring what proved to be the GWG in Owen Sound's 5-4 win over London in Game 1 of their series. In the Western Hockey League, Kelowna fell 5-0 on home ice to Tri-City. Carsen Twarynski was minus-one with three shots on goal.

For an in-depth look at all Flyers' CHL prospects, click here.

8) The single-elimination NCAA regional semifinals get under way this weekend. One Flyers prospect is in action on Friday, as Terrance Amorosa and Clarkson take on Providence in the East Regional in Bridgeport, CT. For an in-depth look at all Flyers' NCAA prospects, click here.


9) There will be three different teams captained by Flyers Alumni at the 2018 Toyota Flyers Charity Classic on July 15, 2018. All three teams are open to the public to join.

There will the Flyers Alumni Team, captained by Paul Holmgren with a host of Flyers Alumni names (including Bernie Parent, Bob Clarke, Danny Briere, Ian Laperriere, Dave Schultz, Joe Watson, Bob Kelly, Terry Carkner, Riley Cote, Neil Little and many more).

There will be the Ides of Marsh, captained by Brad Marsh. This was the largest team and biggest fundraiser last year. I will once again be a member of Brad's team.

There will also be a team captained by Brian Propp, called Propper Guffaw.

Flyers fans are encouraged to sign up to participate in any of the cycling or walk/run events as a member of their team of choice or to consider a donation to one of these teams if unable to attend on the day of the event. All proceeds raised by Flyers Alumni will go toward making good on the Association's pledge of $2 million to assist Snider Hockey in building a new rink in the Delaware Valley. For more details, click here.
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