The Flyers have a real chance to do some damage in the playoffs with how deep this team is currently structured. Fortunately, one area of improvement that has improved as the season wore on was Special Teams. Special Teams seemed to improve dramatically with the additions of Assistant Coach Michel Therrien who handles the Power Play, and Assistant Coach Mike Yeo who handles the Penalty Kill.
Before the pause (Coronavirus) the Flyers power play was ranked 14th in the league with a success rate of 20.8%, and their Penalty Kill was ranked 11th in the league at 81.8%. Travis Konecny understands the importance of a successful special teams unit, “The [penalty kill], they’re doing well right now. It’s easy to get frustrated when the power play’s not going well, but if you look at if from the other side of the coin, that means our PK right now is right where it should be and improving.” He did say the Power Play would take a little longer to regain that chemistry from the long layoff.
Head Coach Alain Vigneault is never completely satisfied and that’s what makes him such a great coach. Especially, after the Flyers Penalty Killing Unit forced the Pittsburgh Penguins to finish 0-3 with the man advantage in the exhibition game on Tuesday, “We have spent a lot of time lately on our special teams, power play and penalty killing,” Vigneault said following Wednesday’s practice, “Every game is different. There are some games where you are going to get one. There are some games where you are going to get more. It has to make a difference. I thought yesterday even though we only had the one, it did make a difference. It gave us some momentum. Our penalty killing last night against one of the better teams in the NHL was very effective. It’s a start. We talked today to our group about the need to get better. We’ve gone through the different phases. That first phase in Philly, and then arriving here in Toronto and playing that exhibition game. I thought for the most part, it was what I expected. I thought the intensity was good. I believe the execution will get better. The game in conditioning will get better. We have three important games in from of us. We’re going to play them obviously to win, but also to prepare our team for that first real playoff game. Still a lot of work ahead of us. We’re going to make some decisions that are going to need to be made. These next three games are going to help us make those decisions.”
Scott Laughton is one of the best Flyers Penalty Killers, and he had some words on the PK back in training camp, “It’s probably easier for us on the PK getting back in the swing of things, not moving the puck or anything like that.”
Now the overall success of the Penalty Kill is fueled by the Goaltenders. Brian Elliott had a very strong camp, and was successful on Special Teams throughout camp, while Carter Hart was very good in this area, as well. However, the personnel deserve credit here for the successful PK in this past Tuesday’s game against the Penguins, Scott Laughton, Justin Braun, Kevin Hayes, Michael Raffl, Joel Farabee, Nate Thompson, Derek Grant, Claude Giroux, Matt Niskanen, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Philippe Myers, Tyle Pitlick, Sean Couturier, and even Shayne Gostisbehere also saw time on the PK.
The Flyers Power Play will need a little more time to click. Unfortunately, the Flyers only managed to register one PP against the Penguins, in which the orange and black failed to score. However, the players cycled the puck well, and generated a few chances. They had everything but the finish. Positive results will come over time, and you bet your bottom dollar this will be worked in practices leading up to August 11 (Start of the actual playoffs). The Flyers PP Units were as follows:
PP1: Giroux (Left), Coots, Voracek, Provorov, Konecny
PP2: Ghost, Niskanen, JVR, NAK, Hayes, and even Myers made it on the ice for 8 seconds.
They really moved the puck well, so let’s hope the PP has some success in the future. Like Vigneault and Konecny both stated this is not an overnight process, the coaching staff and players are well aware of this. The good thing is they are very well aware that a successful Special Teams run will dictate the overall success of the 2019-20 Flyers team, and knowing that is half the battle.
