The Philadelphia Flyers just suffered a disheartening Game 5 loss where not a whole lot went wrong, but not a whole lot went right either. There were hiccups and major missed opportunities as the veteran players that the team relies on so much seemed to feel the pressure of killing off the Penguins, and some poor decisions were made.
If you really wanted to be optimistic about the loss and not dwell on how the Flyers’ 3-0 series lead is now just a 3-2 series lead as they had back to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Wednesday night, you could say that the game was really decided on the flukiest goal we have seen in a while. So naturally, the Flyers are just fine with two more opportunities to finish this off.
But with that loss comes the possibility of changes to the lineup.
Because after all, after the first loss of the series, head coach Rick Tocchet made sweeping changes to the lineup in pursuit of a knockout blow for the Penguins. One thing that Tocchet did was incredibly smart: Bringing Alex Bump into this series as he was easily the most impactful player on the Flyers. But a 22-year-old playing in his first NHL playoff game should not be the best player on the team. So, changes might be needed once again.
What could those changes be? Can Tocchet work his lineup magic and find a combination that just suddenly clicks for Game 6 and pushes the Flyers into the second round? Let’s look at some possibilities.
Matvei Michkov back in with purpose
Famously, Matvei Michkov did not play in Game 5. The 21-year-old winger was removed from the lineup and shunned to the press box after not really being a factor in the first four games. He hardly played, averaging just 10:06 in ice-time, but he didn’t really do anything in those minutes except shoot the puck a couple times.
Now that Tocchet played his big card of scratching Michkov, the possibly more logical thing to do after the Flyers experienced their worst offensive game of the series, would be to put him back into the lineup. Hopefully Michkov has used this time appropriately and has prepared himself to give more of what Tocchet wants to see, and maybe he will then earn more of an opportunity than he has had in this series so far.
It is a whole lot of if’s, but it is not impossible. It’s the one major thing that Tocchet could do and he did it after the first loss. So, after the second, should he undo it? It might just make sense.
But of course, someone would need to come out and the two easiest guys to be removed from the lineup would be the guy who replaced him in Alex Bump, and the rookie Denver Barkey. Unfortunately for Michkov, those two played exceptionally well in Game 5 and cannot come out. So, something else will need to happen.
Denver Barkey to the fourth line, take out one of the veterans
To accommodate for Michkov coming in, in this fantasy world, someone who somewhat deserves to be taking a seat should be removed from the lineup. It certainly feels like the easiest solution would be to make that someone like Garnet Hathaway.
While the fourth line of Sean Couturier, Luke Glendening, and Hathaway were running the entire game for the first few games of the series, they have largely gone quiet. The on-paper fourth line was actually used as a fourth line on Monday night, with a team-low 6:43 time-on-ice at 5-on-5 as every other line had over 10 minutes. With that and their energy on the ice not being the same whatsoever, it’s not crazy to think a switch could be made.
So, while we want to keep Barkey in the lineup, maybe it would be best to remove him from the first line and send him down on the fourth line. Tocchet has tried it before and they didn’t work perfectly, but this is more out of necessity to keep Bump in the lineup, as well as bringing Michkov back in.
The line of Barkey, Trevor Zegras, and Owen Tippett controlled play well in Game 5, allowing just one shot on goal and taking four for themselves, but the individual moments were not good enough to cement them together. Barkey could come up big in the fourth-line minutes and bring a real offensive energy boost to that line and make them even more effective in the zone.
So, maybe the forwards can look something like this?
Alex Bump — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny — Christian Dvorak — Porter Martone
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Denver Barkey — Sean Couturier — Luke Glendening
It’s just a thought, Rick!
Noah Juulsen for Emil Andrae to do something on the blue line
As for the blue line, the only change that Tocchet has even made in this series is taking Emil Andrae out after Game 1 due to a minor injury, putting Noah Juulsen back in for the next three games, and then in his big shake up for Monday, putting Andrae back in.
Now, this is something that we’re not totally in favor of but we could certainly see happening. And that’s bringing Juulsen back in to replace Andrae.
Andrae did just play 11 minutes at 5-on-5 for Game 5, so it’s not like it would be all that noticeable, but we know that some physicality can be lacking with his inclusion and Juulsen brings that. Plus, there might just be more comfortability in there with Tocchet, so he can trust all three pairings in his own way and to execute what he wants to do, so then he can pay more attention to the scoring up front.
But maybe Tocchet just goes crazy and someone like rookie Oliver Bonk is included instead of those two for the bottom pairing. Bonk did take part in Flyers practice on Sunday and was the only “black ace” on the Flyers to actually be with the main roster. That could have been Tocchet trying to get a read on the 21-year-old defenseman in a playoff practice, or him just needing the body.
It’s either something or it’s nothing, and that’s really all we can take from it. Bonk would give some jump and energy, and he did score a goal and earn an assist in his one and only NHL game during the Flyers’ season finale. Crazier things have happened.
All of these changes are possible and they all are something that we could see happen. They might not be the most perfect situation, but in the real world and with the context of who is running the bench, they are changes that we could see happening.
