Although head coach Rick Tocchet was not happy with the energy level or the special teams in Philadelphia’s 6-3 loss to Detroit Thursday night, he was especially irked by the team’s lack of discipline. And while he didn’t name names, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to determine some of the players he was talking about after the game.
“I’m a little disappointed, obviously we got to let it go, we’re still in a position of controlling our own destiny,” Tocchet said after the loss Thursday evening. “But very undisciplined tonight, I’m really disappointed that some guys were undisciplined. Obviously special teams wasn’t good and their best players played better than our best players.”
If there was any silver lining, Tocchet said it was the fact the Flyers got drubbed in this game rather than losing a hard fought tilt by a goal. Or possibly blowing a sure point in regulation late and coming away just as empty-handed. But regardless, the Flyers coach saw the loss as a “huge lesson.”
Flyers’ parade to the penalty box
Although the officials didn’t have their best night, Philadelphia committed just some really dumb penalties. Matvei Michkov took a bit of an elbow but then popped a Red Wing in the mouth, leading to the first power play goal for Detroit. Tyson Foerster was called for holding the stick midway through the first. Both Rasmus Ristolainen and Porter Martone took minors at the end of the first during a scrum between both sides. And Owen Tippett — who fell so much he embodied Wade Allison or Scott Hartnell last night — should still be trying to rationalizing the interference penalty he took slamming into goaltender John Gibson. Gibson left the game just past the halfway point in regulation and didn’t return, replaced by Cam Talbot.
Those penalties might be easier to swallow had the Flyers killed the majority of them. However, they didn’t. As damning as most of them were, Tippett’s resulted in a lengthy five-on-three which Detroit converted on. And 78 seconds later they converted again to make it a 3-1 lead for the Red Wings. A short-handed goal with Detroit down two men later in the second was the knockout punch on this night.
Tocchet acknowledged the team’s resilience after a loss, as well as their solid road record heading into Saturday’s game against Winnipeg. But the discipline was at the forefront of his thoughts, especially considering how some guys such as Denver Barkey (10:05 of ice time) and Alex Bump (11:27) ended up losing ice time not being on the penalty killing units. “But I just really, it’s on me too, our discipline was really bad tonight. You just cannot be undisciplined,” he said.
“Bump is sitting on the bench and Barkey and yeah, it sucks because they’re sitting on the bench and you can’t get their legs going,” he said in response to a follow-up question. “You just can’t punch a guy in the head or you can’t rip a guy’s helmet off, it makes no sense. That isn’t tough hockey. A little disappointed in some guys doing that but like I said, let’s learn from it. We’re playing a tough Winnipeg team and we’ll get our energy level up.”
“I mean five-on-five we were the better team, especially early on,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “Just undisciplined penalties that cost us and we move on. Some of our guys who have been playing really well that don’t get to see the ice because they’re not on the special teams. So it’s really tough, especially in games like this that mean so much. You hate to see it go that way with so many penalties, you’d like to decide it five-on-five. We just kept taking penalties and they were capitalizing.”
Lone bright spot was Porter Martone
The only player Tocchet seemed to give props to was Porter Martone, who now has a pair of goals to go with four assists so far. The coach was impressed with Martone being fearless driving to the net, especially being right on Gibson’s doorstep for Philadelphia’s second goal to make it 4-2.
“The sky’s the limit and a greasy goal,” Tocchet said of Martone. “The power play goes right there and you throw it at the net and it’s in the net. We need more of that.”
Speaking afterwards, Martone accepted his role in the team’s parade to the penalty box, adding “that’s on our part, including me” regarding the need to turn the other cheek, especially at this time of year.
The Flyers definitely need more of that heading into their final road game of the season against a heavy team like Winnipeg. The Flyers missed an opportunity Thursday night with a 6-3 loss to Detroit, but they also dodged a bullet of sorts. Philadelphia’s loss came minutes after the Columbus Blue Jackets lost 5-0 to Buffalo, so no ground was lost to that team who still sit two points back with each team having three games left. The downside was the Islanders victory over Toronto, which put them just one point behind Philadelphia with New York also having three games left.
