Quick Hits: October 25, 2022
1) Following an off-day on Monday, the Flyers will practice today at 11 a.m. ET at the FTC in Voorhees. They may get at least one of their injured players back for practice. From what I've heard, the prognosis seems promising for right winger Owen Tippett to return for Thursday's game against his former team, the Florida Panthers. Tippett sustained an upper-body injury (suspected concussion but not publicly confirmed) in a collision with Ondrej Palat late in the first period of the regular season opener against New Jersey.
With the notable exception of Cam Atkinson, most of the Flyers players who are in IR accompanied the Flyers on their recent three-game road trip. Tippett skated during the trip, as did Rasmus Ristolainen (lower-body injury in training camp, reaggravated in the final practice before the opener), Sean Couturier (back injury, week-to-week) and Patrick Brown (offseason back surgery).
2). We are awaiting an update on the status of James van Riemsdyk. There should be a little more clarity today. JVR left Sunday's game against the San Jose Sharks midway through the first period and did not return. After the game, John Tortorella had no update to offer, saying he hadn't yet spoken to the trainers (this is the head coach's standard reply to such postgame queries).
3). Neither Kevin Hayes nor Travis Konecny had a good game on Sunday against the Sharks but neither was playing worse that the team as a whole. Tortorella benched both of them from late in the second period through the end of the game. Hayes took his final shift from 16:40 to 17:15 of the middle frame, did not see the ice again for the final 2:45 and then sat in the middle of the bench for the duration of the third period. Konecny was on the ice for the second San Jose goal (scored at 18:29) and then did not receive another shift.
Tortorella declined to discuss his reasoning for benching Hayes and Konecny, saying he would "keep it in the room". Hayes and Konecny were each asked after Sunday's game if Tortorella had said something to them directly. Both said he had not, at least of yet.
"Haven’t talked to him," Hayes said. "I don’t think he was too happy with my game, if I had to guess. I think you [media] guys got to ask him."
Konecny spoke after Hayes.
"I was out for both goals, so I’m sure that had something to do with it," Konecny said. "He’s been honest about that since day one of camp. Doesn’t matter who you are, you've got to play the right way. If we weren’t doing the right things tonight – and I know I was out there for two goals, I had some mistakes tonight. It’s his decision."
Tortorella was not in the mood after Sunday's game to assess any players' performances, saying that the "performance sucked" from everyone on the team. In the third period, Scott Laughton, the team's young players and their veteran role players saw greatly extended ice time with only nine forwards in the rotation. The likes of Noah Cates, Morgan Frost and Wade Allison all had scoring chances in the third period but the team made no headway on the scoreboard from a two-goal deficit. Ultimately, San Jose tacked on an empty net goal.
"I’m not going to pick two names. I think in the third period we banged away. We played hard. Had a lot of different line combinations. We tried. Didn’t find a way to score a goal. Wasn’t a good game," Tortorella said.
4) The only topic that Tortorella was willing to discuss in depth after the game: his dismay at the team's performance so far in the second games of back-to-back sets. At the same time, though, he said that he did not want to toss out the team's resilience in its four wins to date to dwell solely on their two losses.
"Turnovers, turnovers. We have to learn how to play back-to-back games. We’ve played two sets of back-to-backs. In our second game, we absolutely don’t give ourselves a chance because of turnovers. We get in here. These guys got to bed at probably three-thirty last night. I don’t think it’s a physical tiredness. I think sometimes it may be a little groggy mentally. If you’re a pro, you’ve got to figure out how to simplify your game. We have to learn how to play back-to-backs. I think we have sixteen of them this year. We’re 0-for-2 right now as far as at least giving ourselves a chance. That’s what’s frustrating. I’m not going to look past the good week they had prior to tonight’s game. We won’t see them [Monday]; we’ll get a couple good days of practice and get back at it again," Tortorella said.
Ultimately, Tortorella's decision to bench two-thirds of his top line after having already lost JVR appeared to be a shot across the bow at the entire team more than it was specifically about Hayes and Konecny.
5) Frost has only point over the last four games but it has not been for lack of opportunities.
The lone point came on Scott Laughton's second period goal in Tampa Bay, which cut the Flyers' deficit to 2-1. Frost was under pressure on an offensive zone entry but navigated it successfully and sent the puck to the other side to an open Egor Zamula. That set the rest of the sequence in motion. Zamula's uncontested shot from the right point rebounded to Laughton at the bottom of the right circle, and Laughton fired it into the open left side of the net.
Earlier in the same period, at the 1:41 mark, Frost was denied on the doorstep by Andrei Vasilevskiy on a sequence where Frost had two cracks at it, getting blocked by Mikhail Sergachev on one and getting another on net but getting stoned by the goaltender.
In the same game, Frost was one-on-one with perennial Norris Trophy candidate Victor Hedman. Frost pulled out a toe-drag-and-shoot move that was a regular part of his repertoire in junior hockey and his rookie season in the American Hockey League but which he has rarely used in the NHL. Hedman was fooled but made a desperate recovery using his 6-foot-7 frame and almost freakish reach for a block.
The next night in Florida, Frost made a couple of nice passes but only had one notable scoring chance. One shift after Rudolfs Balcers put the Panthers ahead 3-2 in the third period, Frost had a breakaway opportunity against Sergei Bobrovsky. Frost went in straight through the middle and tried to wrist a shot over Bobrovsky's glove and under the crossbar. Unfortunately, he didn't put the shot where he wanted it and it went directly to the goalie's glove. At least he didn't miss the net, but it wasn't the play he was looking for.
In Nashville on Saturday, Frost had a quiet night offensively (one blocked shot attempt, one missed net on plays there were unlikely to result in goals or juicy rebounds). He short-circuited a power play by taking a penalty for closing his hand on the puck in an ill-advised effort to keep it away from a defender by carrying it for one long stride.
A routine and harmless-looking play along the defensive end boards became horrifying when Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki ducked down and hit his head on the boards after a slight bump from Frost. Borowiecki had to be stretchered off the ice. Thankfully, after undergoing observation at the hospital at Vanderbilt University, the player was discharged from the facility later that night. He will be fine. Correctly, no penalty was called on the play. There was nothing dirty or malicious about what happened. It was a routine hockey play with an awful-looking outcome.
On the flip side, Frost had arguably his best defensive game of the season in Saturday's win in Nashville. He made a couple of strong backchecking plays, including one in the first period that prevented a potential goal. He came up with a blocked shot that alleviated some pressure by the Predators. Frost was also credited with three hits in the game. These are the kinds of things that Tortorella demands from all of his players as a prerequisite for staying in the lineup.
On Sunday, Frost was as quiet offensively as the rest of the team was for the first two periods. In the third period, with the bench shortened to nine forwards due to the benching of Hayes and Konecny plus the injury to van Riemsdyk earlier in the game, Frost was on the ice almost every other shift at junctures. He had two golden scoring opportunities where he was denied by James Reimer; one in the low slot and the second on a partial breakaway where Frost made a move to his backhand and the goalie made the save.
I'd still like to see Frost put together some games where he steps up on an extended basis; not for part of a period or for a standout play here and there. But, all in all, the puck luck he had on his second goal of opening night (an attempting centering pass to Tanner Laczynski that went off the stick of defenseman Dougie Hamiliton into the net) has been evened out by promising-looking plays that didn't end up on the scoreboard.
6) Prospect Pipeline: The first 2022-23 episode of the Prospect Pipeline Podcast, co-hosted by Brian Smith and yours truly, was recorded yesterday for the Flyers Broadcast Network. Topics include the Lehigh Valley Phantoms' first four games, Tyson Foerster, Elliot Desnoyers, Cutter Gauthier's first two collegiate games at BC, Emil Andrae, and Samu Tuomaala. The episode should be available for download at some point today:
click here.
7) Prior to Sunday's game at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers Alumni Association presented a fully customized adaptive bicycle to
six-year-old Evangeline Torres of Bridgeton, NJ. Brad Marsh, Bob "the Hound" Kelly and Hockey Hall of Famer Bill Barber were on hand to make the gift to Evangeline. During a stoppage in play during the first period, Evangeline was introduced to the Wells Fargo Center crowd, beaming as she sat by her mom and saw herself on the giant video screen.
Now in first grade, Evangeline was born with Cerebellar Atrophy; a disorder that affects nerves in the back of her brain and affects her balance, ability to independently stand and walk, her speech, and muscle movements. She has leg braces and uses a walker. The adaptive bike will be of major benefit in training muscles and gaining more independent movement.
Evangeline is an adorable child with a smile that absolutely lit up the Wells Fargo Center. It was nice to witness her special evening and I hope she gets years of enjoyment from the adaptive bike the Flyers Alumni gave to her. The Flyers fan-supported "Every Child Deserves a Bike" program changes young lives by gifting something that is cost-prohibitive for many families (the adaptive bikes cost roughly $5,000 to $7,500 apiece to build depending on the specifications). The adaptive bikes improve self-confidence, assist in greater independent mobility and are greatly appreciated by the childrens' families as well as the recipients.
To donate to Every Child Deserves a Bike,
click here. The Flyers Alumni work directly with Help Hope Live to identify recipients who would most benefit from the adaptive bikes. To donate to Help Hope Live's medical assistance fund for Evangeline,
click here.
8) Today in Flyers History: Four-goal night for Kerr
On October 25, 1984, Tim Kerr punished the St. Louis Blues for four goals in a 7-2 blowout victory for the Flyers at the Spectrum. Along the way, Kerr scored a semi-natural hat trick. With one goal already to his credit, he scored second, third and fourth goals of the night in a 2:27 span of the third period.
The Flyers received tallies from Brian Propp (shorthanded), Dave Poulin and Lindsay Carson. With an unofficial seven blocked shots, Brad Marsh earned second-star honors. Victorious goaltender Bob Froese stopped 23 of 25 shots that made it to his net. The victory gave the Flyers a three-game winning streak and a 5-2-1 record to start the 1984-85 season under first-year head coach Mike Keenan.
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