Flyers heed Tocchet's advice in blowout of Blackhawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers broke out offensively with a 5-1 win Thursday night over the Blackhawks at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Alex Bump, Sean Couturier, Denver Barkey, Noah Cates and Christian Dvorak all found the back of the net for the Flyers, who had nine players record at least a point.
Rick Tocchet’s club, which was starting a stretch of six games in nine days, improved to 10-3-1 over its last 14 games.
“Great win, getting five goals, we should feel good about each other, but tomorrow’s a different day,” Tocchet said. “We’ve got to lock it in. It’s maturity. We can’t be the roller coaster after wins and losses. Hopefully we can string another two, three or four [wins together].”
The Flyers (35-24-12) were desperate for a win on home ice. With their 3-2 loss Tuesday night to the Blue Jackets, they had dropped to 1-3-1 at home in March, while scoring just 1.80 goals per game. And these were big games.
But on Thursday night, they raced out to an early lead and kept their foot on the gas.
“We came out strong and stuck with it the rest of the game,” Dvorak said. “All four lines were clicking, playing a simple and smart game. I thought that was the key tonight.”
The Flyers swept their two-game regular-season series with the Blackhawks (27-32-13). They beat Chicago, 3-1, at United Center right before the holiday break.
• Tocchet had been pleading for more shots and guys driving to the net.
The Flyers gave him that against the Blackhawks.
“The one thing with the team, they take the information,” Tocchet said. “We had a good presentation on it, we talked about things that we have to get better at and stuff like that. I thought we played in the interior tonight.”
Their second, third and fifth goals came right around the blue paint, with pucks going toward the net.
“It’s usually that inside stuff that really wins playoff series,” Tocchet said before the game. “It’s talking about it, we have a young team, just keep talking about it.”
His players clearly heard him.
Couturier made it 2-0 in the first period when he scored in close off a feed from Luke Glendening.
In the second period, Barkey cushioned the Flyers’ lead to 3-0 by flushing a rebound after Trevor Zegras attacked the net.
Dvorak scored at the doorstep in the final minute of the middle stanza when Owen Tippett found him. That made it 5-1 as the Flyers were in complete control.
“We have to build on it, though,” Tocchet said. “You’ve got to do it every night if you can.”
• Samuel Ersson has been giving the Flyers what they need when his number is called.
The 26-year-old was sharp, converting 25 saves on 26 shots.
He made an excellent first-period stop to bail out the Flyers’ power play, which allowed an odd-man break. That save kept the Flyers’ lead at 2-0.
“He came up with huge saves,” Tippett said. “That one on the power play that we had, him sliding across. He gave us a chance to win early.”
Chicago cracked Ersson over halfway through the game when Connor Bedard trimmed the Flyers’ lead to 3-1. But the Flyers countered with two more goals before second intermission.
In five appearances (four starts) since the Olympic break, Ersson has recorded four wins, a 1.58 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.
“He has got a good swagger, he has had a bunch of really good games,” Tocchet said. … “He looks rock solid.”
The Flyers jumped on Spencer Knight with two goals in the opening 2:33 minutes. The Blackhawks’ netminder finished with 37 saves on 42 shots.
Bump opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the game after Dvorak forced Knight into a turnover. Bump, a 22-year-old rookie, has three goals and six points in his first 10 games with the Flyers.
“I think it has kind of been a little bit of a roller coaster,” Bump said. “I’ve definitely had some tough games, but I’ve definitely also had some good games, too. I think right now, for me, it’s just come into each game and bring my best game. Don’t worry about anything else. I’m still trying to solidify myself here, so I think that’s the biggest part.”
• Tocchet’s club didn’t get a whole lot of help on the out-of-town scoreboard.
With 11 games left, the Flyers are five points back of both third place in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.
• Cates has 40 points, which is a new career high.
His 16th goal restored some order for the Flyers in the second period. It came a minute and a half after Bedard scored. Cates received a superb pass from Matvei Michkov, who was being checked along the side boards.
“We did a video session and he has been very active in these meetings, talking about that, body position and stuff,” Tocchet said of Michkov. “That was a hell of a play. All of our young guys, the body position is everything. We’ve been really wanting to teach that sort of stuff and he did a nice job with it.”
• The Flyers didn’t have Nikita Grebenkin, who will be out for at least seven to 10 days with an upper-body injury.
On the back end, Emil Andrae drew into the lineup for Noah Juulsen. In the first period, Andrae and Nick Seeler made a heads-up play right at the Flyers’ net to help prevent a goal.
Tocchet said Juulsen was banged up. The third-pair defenseman didn’t practice Wednesday after playing the night before in the Flyers’ loss.
• The Flyers are back in action Saturday when they visit the Red Wings (8 p.m. ET/ABC).
It’s their first of three matchups with Detroit, a team they’re trying to jump in the wild-card race.
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