FLYER FILES

Flyers 5 takeaways: Blown lead, poor start…and a win

Dave Isaac
NHL Writer
Oct 16, 2018; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Scott Laughton (21) and goaltender Calvin Pickard (33) celebrate win during the shootout period against the Florida Panthers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA — Dave Hakstol paused for a good few seconds before answering the question and it was probably to make sure he didn’t say something he’d regret, to not rip his team too badly. His answer was prett honest.

You lived to tell about it, but what happened to your three-goal lead?

His Flyers were slow to start, again, and after a monster, five-goal second period, collapsed to start the third, held on for overtime and beat the Florida Panthers 6-5 in a shootout.

“We didn’t play the right way in the first 10 minutes of the third period,” Hakstol said. “We gave up two breakaways and one Grade-A chance from the slot and that’s all it takes. To our players’ credit, they regained some composure in the last 10 minutes of the third and we got going again. The thought process at the start of the third period, when you give up two breakaways and the chance that (Aaron) Ekblad had coming down the slot at 5-4, that’s not thinking the right way.

“That’s our top two guys on the back end. Not being critical necessarily of them, but that tells me that the line of thinking at that point in time is not the right way. You can go back and look at all three of those plays and we didn’t make it real hard to come up with those opportunities.”

Hakstol pulled Brian Elliott after he allowed a breakaway goal to Evgeny Dadonov that cut the Flyers’ lead to one. Three minutes and one second later, Aleksander Barkov tied it.

The message didn’t get through. Hakstol called timeout to settle his players.  

Eventually they got it together, but only after choking up a big lead and allowing the game’s first goal for the sixth time in six games.

“I think we’ve got to do a better job of being prepared to start the game,” said Wayne Simmonds, who scored his fourth and fifth goals in the by-the-skin-of-their-teeth win. “They came out hot and they played really well in the first period. I thought Ells did a good job weathering the storm. Second period we get our legs under us and we got going.

“I think we’ve just got to get the mindset that we can’t be messing around with the puck so often. We’ve got to establish our game right from the get-go and just build on that.”

Here are four more takeaways from Tuesday night…

Vorobyev demoted

Rookie Mikhail Vorobyev finished with 8:04 of ice time, a season low, and was moved to the left wing on the fourth line midway through the second period. Michael Raffl was elevated to the third line in his place and Scott Laughton played center.

It paid off when Laughton fed Simmonds for a goal late in the period and there was clear chemistry as Raffl, who has played with nearly everyone on the roster. Vorobyev lost both of his faceoffs on the night and lacked some of the details of the game that show strong work ethic in the NHL. It followed a trend he had developed recently.  

“I thought we needed a little more from Mish in that situation,” Hakstol said. “You can’t wait and hope. We talked about it. We thought there was a legitimate switch there to be made that could give us a boost and those three guys went out there and did a good job. Misha, he’s a young guy. He’s got a lot of things to learn and it takes a little bit of pressure off of him to go play on the left wing, lesser minutes, but still allows him to keep learning and pushing forward.”

Defensive change

In a bit of a surprise move, the Flyers benched alternate captain Andrew MacDonald. He’s always been lauded as a veteran leader for the team but there’s no question that his first five games were not up to snuff. Instead, the Flyers went with Christian Folin, who struggled mightily in his only game, a loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

While the game lacked a lot of defensive structure all around, Folin did redeem himself with a solid game and an excellent lead pass on Simmonds’ second goal of the night.

“Really solid, steady game for Christian,” Hakstol said. “It didn’t take him a whole lot of time to work into the game. He had one icing early in the first period, but honestly on that play it was the right play. He didn’t have anything else so he made a hard, simple play and we get a chance to reset on the faceoff. From there on in, his game was really simple. He played well, solid defensively with good gaps and did a good job with the first pass and that’s what we want out of him.”

MacDonald was late to start training camp after an injury a couple weeks before things got started held him out. He recovered in two weeks instead of the six the Flyers had predicted and he played in the final two preseason games. He’s admitted it was probably too soon.

That didn’t make benching him any easier for Hakstol.

“It’s always a tough situation but there’s good reasons,” the coach said. “There’s things in Mac’s game that he knows and we know that he can work on. He’s a huge part of our team and he’s gonna be a big part of our lineup. Don’t make too much of it. It was the right thing for our team tonight and that’s why Christian went in.”

Weal gets on the board

Jordan Weal had a goal and an assist and also scored the winning game in a shootout (which doesn’t count toward his season statistics). He hadn’t produced much since taking over for the injured Nolan Patrick and the numbers were there Tuesday night.

General manager Ron Hextall has noted how cerebral Weal is and how much he can get in his own head. Hakstol thought the confidence came from a 1-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday where everything went right except the score.

“He didn’t have the numbers to show for it like he did tonight, but that game came Saturday afternoon,” Hakstol said. “He played very well. His line played very well and the challenge for him was to come out and do that again tonight. That line did exactly that. They played a hell of a game. Jordan, give him a lot of credit, I believe he played really well tonight. Not just offensively, because there’s some numbers behind his name. He was good in the faceoff dot and the defensive zone. He was good in coverage. Pretty complete game.”

“It’s not just one thing that happens and you gain confidence,” Weal said. “It happens over time with repetition and work ethic.” ​

Goalie switch

Cal Pickard was thrown to the wolves a bit in the third period. He allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, Barkov’s breakaway where he split the defense of Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere (who had forgettable nights), but rebounded to stop Frank Vatrano in the shootout after he had beaten Elliott twice.

“It’s a challenge for sure, but part of being the backup,” Pickard said. “You’re in the lineup and you have to be ready when called upon. Exactly that. They got a couple chances right off the bat and we gave up the lead. From that moment forward, I thought we really took advantage of them and played our game. Played well and it’s nice to get rewarded in the shootout.”

Dave Isaac; @davegisaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com

FLYERS 6, PANTHERS 5 (SO)
Up next: at Columbus Blue Jackets
When: 7 p.m., Thursday
TV/Radio: NBCSP/97.5 FM