With nine different players getting on the scoresheet, the Flyers snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Capitals 4-2 on Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Let’s wrap:
Pregame: Briere Addresses Rumors of Rift Between Michkov, Tocchet
Prior to puckdrop, Flyers general manager Danny Briere addressed the media regarding what he described as “noise” surrounding the team. Of course, said noise reached a fever pitch (mostly online ) over the last few days since the Flyers Charity Carnival, where Rick Tocchet made what many fans believed were disparaging remarks about Matvei Michkov on the PHLY Flyers podcast.
“I talk to Rick Tocchet on a daily basis, he wants Matvei to succeed,” Briere said. “He wants to develop him to be the best player he can be. Along the way, there’s tough lessons that come with that.”
Tocchet has routinely mentioned Michkov’s conditioning this season in both pre and post game media scrums, stating that the young Russian did not enter training camp in great shape. Some feel Tocchet is holding this against the young player, using it as a justification for keeping Michkov’s ice time down this season. However, Briere maintains that Tocchet is committed to aiding Michkov’s development.
“He {Tocchet} wants to be here for the long haul to lead this thing,” Briere said. “Him and Matvei have a good relationship. You know, sometimes they’re fiery when you’re not winning, things are done and said, but they always come back to the table and they want what’s best for this team and Rick wants what’s best for Matvei.”
Finally, Briere went on to clarify some of the statements that Tocchet made about missing treatments in the above clip. Briere reiterated that the coach was not targeting Michkov specifically, but was attempting to make a general point about how all young players go through a learning process and that off-ice training and taking care of your body so you can perform the next day often is apart of that.
You can listen to the full media availability with Briere here.
Puck Luck
At the 4:45 mark of the second period, the Flyers received a lucky bounce that helped extend their 1-0 lead. Carl Grundstrom attempted a centering pass that hit a Capitals defender in front and ended up in the net behind Clay Stevenson. The goal was Grundstrom’s 8th of the season and turned out to be an important goal in the middle frame, as the Flyers yielded a short handed goal later in the period to Aliaksei Protas to cut the Philadelphia lead in half. The Flyers would take a 2-1 lead into intermission.
The Drive by Drysdale
After surrendering the game tying goal to Anthony Beauvillier just three minutes into the third period, the Flyers would get a late powerplay opportunity. At the 14:37 mark, Jamie Drysdale one-timed a pass from Trevor Zegras past Stevenson to put the Flyers ahead to 3-2. The tally snapped a 20-game goalless drought for the young defender.
“I think I had my chances, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said of the drought. “Guys did a great job of finding me, finding holes and it was nice to see one go in.”
Later, Rasmus Ristolainen picked up his first goal of the season on an empty-net try from long distance to put the finishing touches on the Flyers first win since their seven-goal outburst in Colorado on January 23rd.
They Said It
Rick Tocchet on Dan Vladar’s leadership: “He doesn’t have a letter on his jersey, but he could. What I like about what he did this summer, he had a weakness in his game he wanted to work on, hired someone, came into camp in great shape and obviously look at the year he’s having. That’s being a leader.”
Travis Sanheim on the Flyers powerplay coming up big late in the game: “It was huge, especially with the timing of the game. They got a chance to win it with five minutes left and in the past, we haven’t necessarily gotten that. Credit to them for sticking with it, they got the job done when we needed them.”
Did You Know?
According to NHL stats, Travis Konecny became the 13th player in Flyers history to appear in 700 games.
On Deck
The Flyers will host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday before heading into the Olympic break. Puckdrop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on NBCSP.
