After dropping Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jackets — a critical matchup in their push to remain in the mix for a playoff spot — in pretty deflated fashion, the Flyers found themselves well and truly on the ropes, as they looked to keep their playoff hopes alive. Thursday’s next matchup, then, against the visiting Blackhawks was going to be critical to helping them get things back on track, if they could again tap into a short memory and turn the page quickly.
And what the team delivered was, on the whole, quite a well-balanced effort — all four lines got involved in the scoring, the offense more broadly exploded as the team tied their season high in shots on goal with 42, the defense kept things well locked down, and Sam Ersson delivered another sound start — but while it was a real positive to see the whole of the group pulling in the same direction on the way to the win, a number of the team’s young players stepped up as drivers towards the success that they found in this one.
Rookie wingers Alex Bump and Denver Barkey stepped up to get themselves on the scoresheet with goals, stopping any potential spirals and bouncing back from weaker showings in that loss to the Blue Jackets in emphatic fashion. Meanwhile, Matvei Michkov brought one of his more tangibly physically engaged games of the season (that is, making strong plays long the walls and building plays out from there) and members of their still-young but slightly more experienced group — Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates, and Owen Tippett — delivered their own shares of flash and production.
It was a complete, effective effort from this group of players, and one which made a strong impression on their head coach.
“Yeah, they were they were flying,” Rick Tocchet said postgame of his top line, “Yeah, I think, [Barkey, this] was one of his best games in the last month, I think. You know, [Tippett], you know, [Tippett’s] been playing like this for a while. And then, you know, Trevor, he, you know, he likes getting that puck through, like they’re good off the rush, you know, and they refine each other. So, yeah, it’s good to see. Really good to see.”
There was a more cohesive look to this game, players working well as a unit but also getting back to basics and playing to the strengths of their individual games. Alex Bump responded well from a showing on Tuesday that he wasn’t overly pleased with, and he was able to really bear down and find a greater level of impact in this one.
“I just think, you know,” Tocchet went on, “it was a play where he came in the interior and shot it. Like I love that play. It was a hell of a shot, you know, instead of deferring. I told him come to the bench that do that every time. And I think that’s, you know, he can be our guy like [Tippett] does that, too. Come off the wall and shoot it. And he’s got that lethal shot. So, we’re going to keep developing him to continue to do that for us.”
This game was, on the whole, one where it appeared that a lot of developmental dividends were being paid. The extra jump that Bump had in his game came from him playing the more patient and focused game that he’s been working on all season, and while it was a nice bit of opportunism that got him the goal early on, holding on to the puck to make a play and taking the extra bit of time to get himself to a better shooting area, making a harder play made him noticeable throughout the game. And it was a similar embracing of making a hard play that got Michkov his big assist on Cates’s goal, as he used his positioning well and won a battle along the boards before sending the pass over to Cates.
“We did a video session with him,” Tocchet said of Michkov, “and he’s been very active in these meetings, talking about that, you know, body position and stuff and yeah, that was a hell of a play.”
It’s been a particular area of emphasis with players up and down the lineup, to make use of better body positioning in plays along the walls especially, and building plays out from there, and Michkov was able to deliver a nice flash of production in that reminder of how effective they can look when they’re putting those lessons into place.
This is a key stretch for this team as a whole, but it’s a particularly weighty one for the team’s up-and-comers. After all, as recently as the beginning of this week, the team’s President of Hockey Operations in Keith Jones emphasized the importance of this gained experience, particularly for these young players.
“They’re working hard,” he said of this team, “they’re working together, and there’s some really positive signs with some of the younger players stepping in [into] more prominent roles. So that excites me. And the fact that they’re hanging in this race is really important for us, it’s good for our young guys to play in games that matter,” in games that are “as close to playoff hockey as you’re gonna get at this time of year.”
It might not be a perfect stretch that they’re working through — Tuesday’s fall flat was evidence enough of that — but they’re still playing meaningful games late in the season, and learning the hard lessons about how to win in this league. No development or process is linear, but it’s been encouraging to see these young players riding the waves and taking the lessons that the games and practice sessions alike have been delivering to them, and applying them in those next game opportunities.
As much as this stretch is still the team throwing as much as they can at their aim to sneak into the playoffs, this is still more broadly a learning season for a rebuilding team, and we’re seeing some real progress playing out before us. Whether that’s enough to tip them over the edge into a legitimate playoff push in the here and now, time will tell, but even if it’s not, this is a valuable bit of experience put in the bank that will boost them in the longer run.
