Slow-starting Flyers better be ready fast for Penguins
Maybe the sight of their good pals from across the Commonwealth, the Pittsburgh Penguins, will inspire the new-look Flyers to finally get off to a good start and play a solid 60 minutes Saturday night.
Maybe the sight of their good pals from across the Commonwealth, the Pittsburgh Penguins, will inspire the new-look Flyers to finally get off to a good start and play a solid 60 minutes Saturday night.
The Flyers (3-4-1), who have been outscored by an 8-1 first-period margin, host the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins (5-2-1).
"It's gone too long - the slow starts to hockey games and the team not being prepared for the puck drop," goalie Steve Mason said after Friday's practice in Voorhees. Mason said that can't happen "against a team like Pittsburgh that has so many ways to beat you."
"Something has to change," right winger Jake Voracek agreed. "They're a team that is very dangerous, very fast, and if you're going to have a slow start . . . it's going to be very tough to come back."
Unhappy with his team's turnover-plagued 5-4 loss to Arizona on Thursday, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol is changing all three defensive pairings and is tinkering with his line combinations.
"Everybody to a man has got to be better," Mason said. "Our defensive-zone play has to be better, and our neutral-zone and offensive play has to be better, starting from the goaltender's position on out."
Andrew MacDonald - who, along with defensive partner Shayne Gostisbehere, struggled in Thursday's defeat - will be replaced by Nick Schultz in Saturday's lineup.
Hakstol called Schultz, who was benched the last two games, an "absolute competitive, prideful defender."
Based on Friday's pairings, the defense will look like this: Gostisbehere and Schultz; Mark Streit and Ivan Provorov; and Brandon Manning and Radko Gudas.
The Flyers will go back to having Claude Giroux center Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds on the top line, and Sean Couturier centering Travis Konecny and Voracek on the second unit.
Matt Read drops back to the third unit, which had Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Roman Lyubimov at practice. Boyd Gordon centered Chris VandeVelde and Dale Weise on the fourth line.
"Sometimes you want to change things up and get some fresh wind and try to create some new chemistry," said Streit, whose team entered Friday allowing 3.75 goals per game, 27th in the 30-team NHL.
The Flyers were 1-3 against the Penguins last season, defeating visiting their archrivals, 3-1, to clinch a playoff spot last April 9. In that game, Pittsburgh rested some key players, including superstar Sidney Crosby.
"It's always intense games and a fun atmosphere to be a part of," said Mason, who is expected to start Saturday. "We have to be ready for it. . . . We have to have a good start against them and take the play to them. We can't sit back and let them dictate things. They're too good for that."
The Flyers have allowed the first goal in the last seven games. In their four home games, they have trailed, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, and 2-0, respectively.
"We've talked a lot about being ready, and now it's time to put it on the ice and have better starts," Streit said.
"We play our team game at times," said Provorov, 19, who said he became aware of the Flyers-Penguins rivalry when he moved from Russia and played in Wilkes-Barre five years ago, "but we have to start doing it for all 60."
Breakaways. The Flyers are 4-1 against the Penguins in their last five matchups at the Wells Fargo Center. . . . Crosby had five points and a plus-4 rating in three games against the Flyers last season. . . . Gostisbehere: "I'm still trying to figure out the defensive side of my game, especially this year, when guys are aware of me." . . . It appears Nick Cousin, who scored a goal Thursday, will be a healthy scratch Saturday. . . . Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has started all eight Penguins games. . . . Former Flyers great Reggie Leach and his 10-year-old grandson, Hunter, were locker-room visitors.
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