FLYERS POST-PRACTICE ROUNDUP: NOV. 30, 2015
After taking an off-day on Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers practiced at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, prior to their depature to take on the Ottawa Senators at the Canada Tire Centre on Tuesday night. The Flyers, who dropped a 4-0 decision in Ottawa on Nov. 21, will be looking for their third straight win after downing the Nashville Predators (home) and New York Rangers (away) over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
"It's always a little easier coming back to work the next morning after you've have a little bit of success," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said. "It's a good feeling, and something you want to build off. Overall, I thought the execution and focus was good coming off a day off."
According to Flyers' general manager Ron Hextall, defenseman Nick Schultz is day-to-day with the upper-body injury sustained when he was steamrolled by hulking Rangers' defenseman Dylan McIlrath in the first period of Saturday's 3-0 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Schultz participated fully in practice on Monday. He said afterward that he felt fine but would have to see how he felt on Tuesday.
Schultz answered affirmatively when asked if he'd been held out of the rest of Saturday's game for precautionary reasons. The player went through protocol (i.e., testing for a potential concussion) with the Flyers training staff after he left the ice. He had full recollection of the play where he got hurt and was otherwise cognitively sharp but was not feeling well immediately after the hit. He was a quiet space -- no TV or radio tuned to the ongoing game -- and found out later that the Flyers had survived being down to four (and briefly down to three) defensemen and then went on to control the rest of the game.
If Schultz is ready to play in Ottawa, the Flyers will use the same lineup as the games against Nashville and the Rangers. If Scultz is not able to play, Evgeny Medvedev will be paired with Luke Schenn and Brandon Manning will return to the lineup and paired with Shayne Gostisbehere. All forward lines will remain the same. Steve Mason is the likely starter in goal, coming off a shutout in Saturday's game.
The last time the Flyers were in Ottawa, they had a strong first period until yielding a goal in the final minute of the period off a faceoff loss and deflection. Ottawa then scored a 2-on-1 goal in the opening 90 seconds of the middle period and the game got away from the Flyers.
After Monday's practice, Hakstol reflected on the previous game in Ottawa by calling it an "imcomplete effort" -- he still did not like how easily the team yielded three of the four goals that the Senators scored (numerous attention-to-detail lapses immediately leading up to the first goal and then a pair of 2-on-1 counterattacks that ended up in the net) but he liked the strong start and certain other stretches of the game. Hakstol said the team has an opportunity to learn from the previous meeting and put forth a complete effort.
Wayne Simmonds, coming off a two-goal, three-point effort against the Rangers, said that he could feel that his line with Matt Read and Sean Couturier had been building up to a breakthrough night over a span of several games leading up to it. Previously, he thought there weren't enough quality chances.
"We weren't neccesarily getting on the inside," Simmonds said. "We got shots on net, but we were kind of one-and-done. For the last three games, I think we were starting to get inside on defenses. We were getting second and third opportunties. Finally, we were getting a few bounces the other night. It was nice to see but now we've got to keep it up."
In terms of having better success in the return match with Ottawa, Simmonds echoed a similar theme to Hakstol in saying that the quick start has to be matched and then built upon.
"They've got a good young team over there; they're fast and they've got a lot of offensive talent,"Simmonds said. "They want to open it up, they want to play on the fly. That's not our game. We've just got to make sure we play our game. We've got to get pucks behind their D, and play with structure."
Special teams have a been a big part of the team's current stretch of earning points in six of the last eight games (4-2-2). The team has killed off 19 straight penalties, raising its season success ratio to 80.7 percent (15th overall in the NHL) after dropping as low as 76.2 percent in early November. Despite an unsuccesful 5-on-3 power play in the Rangers game, the power play has also been much more successful of late, currently sitting at 16.4 percent (tied for 24th) after being at 14.3 percent (26th in the NHL) heading into the Nov. 16th game against Los Angeles.
Hakstol said that assistant coach Ian Laperriere deserves his share of credit for the team's surge on the penalty kill. In terms of what he thinks Laperriere brings, Hakstol pointed to "the detail of preparation, and a message of confidence and being smart and aggressive as a group."
NOTES:
* Clad in red practice sweaters, rehabbing forwards Ryan White (shoulder) and R.J. Umberger (foot) practiced on a "fifth" line with healthy scratch Vincent Lecavalier.
* Sam Gagner (laceration near his left eye) did not practice.
* When teams skate laps around the rink near the latter part of practice, it is very common for the position players to go all out and the two goalies to go half-speed (at most) and take a shortcut thru the crease rather than going all the way around behind the net. Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth are no exceptions. Few teams or coaches pay any mind to it. Way back during the early part of the 1984-85 season, however, Flyers coach Mike Keenan decided to put a stop to Pelle Lindbergh and Bob Froese taking 'the goalie route" while the skaters had to go all the way around. Keenan blasted his whistle and then punished the entire team with 50 extra laps. It was the last time the goalies failed to take a full lap.