The Flyers morning skate in Voorhees today started quietly. A member of the coaching staff was loading the ice with pucks and skating laps as the press was waiting to hear from head coach John Tortorella. A lone Flyers Fan was walking up and down along the glass as the first player hit the ice.
Scott Laughton after missing three games due to a personal issue was back on the ice again today after rejoining the team for practice on Sunday. After a few minutes a small group of players joined him on the ice. It was an optional session that was attended by both goaltenders, Matvei Michkov, and a few other players.
John Tortorella answered questions upstairs as the session on the ice got underway. Tortorella said he was not sure yet what the line-up for tonight’s game was going to be but he did confirm that Samuel Ersson will get the start in the Flyers net.
The coach said he was not sure what the defensive pairings would be. “Not sure about Z” (Egor Zamula). He said that he has been switching up the pairings trying to get players on the side that matches their hands. Meaning if a player shoots right preferably he is playing on the right side and has a left hander as his partner on the other side. This keeps them from having to play backhanded along the boards.
As far as tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils the focus seems to be on defensive coverage and not repeating the performances against the Rangers and Islanders over the weekend. “We gotta take each and every game and try to stay in it”. When commenting on the Islanders game the coach was, as he often is, blunt and transparent. “I thought both teams sucked quite honestly”. “We have to be dead on. We have to push as hard as we can to stay competitive”.
After the skate Scott Laughton said he’s been “working out a little bit back home and feels ok. It’s nice to have a few skates and feel the puck again”.
He spoke about the tight positioning in the Metropolitan Division. “Start collecting points here and see what happens. It feels like if you lose one game you go six points back. And if you win one your still five or something like that, so you kind of need to get on a roll and it starts tonight”.
Flyers vs Devils Monday January 27th 7:00 PM at The Farg
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