Jamie Drysdale’s goal a highlight in an otherwise forgettable preseason finale for Flyers
"Just the same old" on the power play, and a rough night from David Jiříček contribute to a 5-1 loss before the games start to count.
The most important thing to note is that preseason doesn’t matter. The games don’t start counting until Wednesday.
But there were a few warning flags in Saturday’s 5-1 preseason loss to a Capitals roster featuring none of their NHL regulars, especially since the Flyers iced something close to the real thing.
“Ugly,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said. “That’s the only way to talk about the game. It was bad. That’s not how we’re going to play hockey. That’s just not a winning brand.”
Power play
The power play has been the talk of training camp, and for good reason. For a team that finished last in the NHL in power play percentage last year, improving on the man-advantage is a key part of taking the next step into contention.
The Flyers got just two looks at the power play in Thursday’s preseason win, to mixed results. On Saturday, the Flyers got eight minutes of power play time, all in the first period.
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There were definite improvements, but they ultimately were held scoreless on all of their tries.
“Just the same old, we need to finish,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “I don’t know what else to say. There’s some good looks out there, but you’ve got to finish. You can’t just, ‘Oh well,’ we need some guys to finish for us, but I do like the looks.”
The best look came from Matvei Michkov deep into the double minor late in the first, a shot from the top of the circle that goalie Charlie Lindgren had to sprawl to reach.
Rough game for Jiříček
David Jiříček essentially locked the sixth defenseman spot up after Oliver Bonk was demoted on Friday, but Saturday was a game to forget.
His man scored Capitals’ first two second-period goals. After Jiříček failed to close out on Andrew Cristall near the goal, he knocked in the first one against Aleksei Kolosov, who was out of position, and then turned the puck over along the boards to Maxim Schafer, who proceeded to score the second goal.
He took a penalty for high-sticking later in the period, which led to a power-play goal from Ethen Frank that put the Capitals up, 3-1. Jiříček also was on ice for the fifth goal after attempting the breakout to Noah Cates. The puck got turned over up the boards, and the Capitals came right back to score.
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Danny Briére spoke at the first intermission and said Jiříček had played “OK” in the first and that no one had beaten him out, so he was still on the roster. But with Bonk the leader among a group of young defenseman pushing in Lehigh Valley, Jiříček will need to find greater consistency.
“He had a tough night,” Tocchet said. “Three or four guys had a tough night, but being a pro, you’ve got to bounce back. We’ll get some video, make them understand some things. You’re going to have a tough night. You’ve just got to make sure you stay consistent.”
Drysdale gets offensive
Jamie Drysdale opened the scoring with the Flyers’ only goal. He’s been working on his shot all summer to establish himself as more of a shooting threat at the point on the power play, but he managed to bury a wrister at even-strength off Travis Konecny’s pass.
“It’s a broken record,” Drysdale said earlier in camp. “You shoot a few times early, they’re going to probably respect the shot, and then something will open up.”
He said postgame he’s been trying to get more active offensively and to pull himself off the blue line, deeper into the play.
“A few times when I get to the middle, I think I can throw the puck to the net more than throwing it off to the side again, and then going through that same process over and over again,” Drysdale said.
His goal was a good example, as Drysdale jumped into the play after receiving the pass near the blue line and carried the puck deep into the slot before taking the shot.
