Flyers defensemen stepping up offensively to help team reverse scoring woes

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As center Noah Cates flew up the wing with the puck on his stick on a shorthanded rush late in the third period with the Flyers and Los Angeles Kings tied at 2, Kings defenseman Sean Durzi committed an ill-fated error — he backed off.

Cates paused once he and center Patrick Brown simultaneously crossed the offensive blue line, waiting for a late-arriving defenseman Nick Seeler to join in. Durzi saw the orange jerseys behind him and repositioned himself in an attempt to take away the pass, affording Cates time and space with the puck. Kings winger Alex Iafello drifted toward Seeler, creating a lane for Cates to shoot the puck on goalie Jonathan Quick.

Just like that, the Flyers swung the momentum back in their favor with their seventh shorthanded goal of the season in their eventual 4-2 victory over the Kings on Saturday night. While Cates put the puck in the back of the net, the opportunity wouldn’t have existed without Seeler’s decision to jump up.

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“He makes it an odd-man rush,” coach John Tortorella said. “It’s something [assistant coach Brad Shaw] talked about today in our meeting was wanting to try to keep scoring, killing penalties, and our defensemen joining in. That’s what backs them off, because Seels has the wherewithal to get up the ice.”

With consecutive wins over the San Jose Sharks (4-3 in overtime) and the Kings, the Flyers have won multiple games on the historically-daunting holiday road trip for the first time since 2015, and they still have one more contest left against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. While wingers Travis Konecny (three goals) and Owen Tippett (two goals, two assists) continue to roll, the Flyers have been getting a considerable amount of offensive help from their defensive corps.

Some of that help is showing up in the box score. In their last two games on the California swing, defensemen have factored in on nearly every one of their eight goals, with Konecny’s empty-netter against the Kings being the lone exception. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo is tied with Tippett for the lead in points on this trip, posting a goal and three assists in two games, including his overtime tally against the Sharks assisted by defenseman Ivan Provorov.

DeAngelo has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his last four games. At the root of DeAngelo’s offensive surge, according to Tortorella, is his improvement on defense and his focus on stopping in the Flyers’ zone.

“He was just so busy with his legs defensively, when sometimes your legs get you where you need to be and stop the play instead of getting there and swinging off it,” Tortorella said. “He was just always in constant motion. I think he’s really concentrated on that the past two or three games here. Has been better there. And I think it’s helped his offense and playing with more emotion.”

While DeAngelo is finding his footing once again on the second defensive pairing alongside Travis Sanheim, the player who took his previous spot on the top pairing with Provorov is coming into his own, too — Cam York. The 21-year-old defenseman has proved to his coach that he has the right mindset to make an impact at the NHL level after a productive 20-game stint with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms (three goals, 10 assists).

York has shown a willingness to defend, which has earned him Tortorella’s trust to get more involved offensively. Tortorella sees an opportunity for York to be a “rover,” a responsibility he previously gave young, skilled defensemen Zach Werenski and Seth Jones when he coached the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“I want to give [York] the freedom to rove,” Tortorella said. “I think he’s done a pretty good job of that. I want to see him do it more. I want that even more in more minutes of his game to be a rover, as long as he meets us halfway defending.”

Tortorella also likened York to two-time All Star defenseman Dan Boyle, his former player with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2001-08. Boyle, who was 25 years old when he started playing for Tortorella, racked up 253 points (66 goals, 187 assists) in 394 games with the Lightning and finished fourth in the Norris Trophy voting in 2006-07.

“I said, ‘Danny, just meet me halfway as far as defending and competing in that area,’” Tortorella said. “‘And you do whatever the hell you want up the ice.’ And he was one of the greatest rovers I’ve ever coached. I think Yorkie can be that because I think he has shown us that he’s willing to compete underneath the hash marks, too.”

The Flyers are finally starting to see their scoring woes turn around, averaging 4.20 goals (sixth in the league) in their last five contests (3-2-0) after averaging 2.48 (29th) in their previous 33. Just as it takes all five skaters on the ice to defend, it takes all five to create offense, and the Flyers are welcoming key contributions from their defensemen.