Flyers Game
Flyers Locker Room: Tocchet Laments Net-Front Presence
The Philadelphia Flyers ended their five-game homestand with more concern about their offense. Philadelphia suffered back-to-back losses and a sloppy win to end the homestand, and a reluctance to shoot the puck and get bodies in front is a big reason why.
A common theme for the Flyers lately has been a lack of willingness to shoot the puck. It took six games for the Flyers to get past 25 shots in a game. Twice during the Flyers’ recent five-game homestand did they shoot the puck just 18 times. In some cases, the Flyers shot the puck a decent amount, but the shot quality was poor, or they lacked sufficient bodies in front of the net.
That has been a point of emphasis for Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet. Before Sunday’s game, Tocchet said that the team’s pregame meeting was about shooting the puck more and getting more traffic in front.
While the Flyers prepped their strategy for Sunday, the game would not pan out that way. Instead, they watched the Calgary Flames execute exactly what the Flyers intended to do.
Calgary’s first goal of the night, scored by Jonathan Huberdeau, was the beneficiary of a double screen in front of the net. The Flames threw a shot on goal with bodies in front, and it worked.
Their second goal was similar. Mackenzie Weegar took a shot from the point with Huberdeau in front of the goal. Huberdeau got his stick on the shot and redirected it for the goal.
“They got their two goals from screens on a tip. That’s what we’re looking for. They did it twice. They scored,“ said Tocchet post-game.
Read More: Flyers Offense Falls Flat, Lose Second-Straight to End Homestand
Flyers Staff to Continue Pushing the Message
Get pucks on net and bodies in front. That has been the message, or key to success, all season. At times, it truly does look like the Flyers as a team aren’t understanding the message.
Tocchet said he is going to continue to push the message. “You got to keep pounding it, right? And we have to find people who want to continue to do that. So we’ll find them, but it’s my job to get these guys to do it right.“
The Flyers coach would go on to say, “You know, we have a guy in the slot, and two guys go to the side of the net, you know, the goalie makes the save, but nobody’s in front of the net. We haven’t had practice for the last couple of days. I think we have to do a lot of net front drills, almost constantly. We’re gonna have to get it kind of ingrained in these guys.”
Tocchet says if the Flyers want to win games, these are the kind of things they have to get better at. “It’s hard to win this league. If you want to play in April and May, you have to play hard hockey. I think we’re finding easy Ice. A lot of guys, even some of our best players, want to play the easy ice, not the hard ice.”
The Flyers’ alternate captain said the forwards need to be better net-front, adding that the defensemen have been doing their job. “I thought that the D did a pretty good job putting pucks there (on net)tonight, and it’s on us to keep going tonight and make sure that we’re getting there, because they are doing a better job.”
When that was mentioned to Tocchet, he seemed to challenge the team’s star, saying, “We just got to do it. We got to stop telling the press that we got to get the net, and we got to do it. Action, right?”
The team does not have long before they are back in action. Tocchet made sure his message was clear: get pucks on net and bodies in front of the net. Will the Flyers show improvement Tuesday against Montreal?
Read More: Tocchet Updates Foerster Injury, Flyers in Wait & See Mode
Disappointing weekend. Those were two very winnable games against struggling teams. Now, instead of being 8-3-1, the Flyers are a mediocre 6-5-1. They show flashes but what they will likely end up being is about a .500 team and no playoffs. Again.
I was becoming cautiously optimistic until the last two games . Among other needs – we need a power forward who is willing to camp in front of the net, take abuse and work for the tips and rebounds that come. Could Matrone be that guy? Does Grebenken have that kind of skill set? Looks like mediocrity again and a low teens draft pick…….
I couldn’t watch the games… is it Tocchet style about the low shot generation due to extra puck possession/care? IDK… I feel like shooting is basic… you never know about rebounds.
They are not particularly exciting to watch in general. I turned off the game last Thursday when they had 4 shots halfway through, before they woke up. I don’t know if it’s figuring out Tocchet’s system or what, but with skilled players like Konecny, Michkov, Foerster, and Zegras they should be more dynamic offensively than they have shown.
I would say go back and watch the rest of the game and get back to us.
Guys in front of the bet?
Every player on the top 2 lines can’t go to the movies since the seats would fold up on them.
Trade York , Matvei and Jett and get some hockey players like the Florida teams have.