Emil Andrae isn’t going anywhere, and other takeaways from Flyers’ win over Blues

After four days off from NHL action, the Flyers returned to the ice on Thursday night.

Although they — once again — didn’t have the best start, they battled back and skated away with a 3-2 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues.

Here are two big things we learned.

It feels like every game lately has been a career game for Emil Andrae, and Thursday night was no different. The defenseman played a key role in tying the game and saving it, all after being promoted to the second pairing alongside Jamie Drysdale.

“When you’re playing more, the more confidence you have. I think me and Jimmy played great when we played together those shifts we had,” Andrae said.

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Andrae started the game with Noah Juulsen on the third pair, but according to Natural Stat Trick, played 11 minutes, 48 seconds with Drysdale at five-on-five — and it did feel like they were out there every other shift in the third period. They were on the ice for 11 chances for and eight against, and each of the Flyers’ goals in regulation.

“I was talking to [defensive assistant coach] Todd [Reirden] after the first. I said, ‘Let’s make the switch here,’” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “I just felt, Emil, he’s been playing pretty good for us, right? And he’s one of our better guys who goes back and wheels the puck and makes an outlet pass. Even on the blue line [he was] faking, jukin’ players and stuff like that. So, keep working with him; he’ll get some more ice time.”

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On the goal by Rodrigo Ābols, the Swedish blueliner had just hopped on the ice. But on the tying goal by Tyson Foerster, Andrae read the play properly before using his quickness to track down a desperation clearing attempt by Robert Thomas. He did a quick 180-degree turn and fed an open Foerster for the one-timer.

“Yeah, he’s making a bunch of great plays, D zone, and transitioning into the offensive zone,” Foerster said. “He made a great play to me, and [Noah Cates] had a great screen. But, yeah, Email’s been playing great.”

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Yes, Andrae’s nickname is “Email,” but he’s not mailing anything in. He may just stand at 5-foot-9, but Andrae doesn’t shy away from contact, plays the proper body position on bigger guys, and as Travis Sanheim said, “he makes good reads” and is “not afraid to make them.”

In fact, he sacrificed his body to stop a sure-fire goal by Dalibor Dvorský with three minutes to go. On the play, he was probably on the wrong side of Pavel Buchnevich atop the crease, which allowed the big Russian to get a Grade A scoring chance. However, because he was not on top of Buchnevich, he was able to turn and block the shot with goalie Dan Vladař sprawled on the ice.

“I probably owe him some steak, for sure,” Vladař said.

After skating in 42 games last season, Andrae has now played in nine games and has three assists and a plus-minus of plus-4. Across the past three games, as the new coaching staff gains confidence in the defenseman, he is averaging 19:34 of ice time; his season total is 14:31.

“I think, still, I have stuff that I can improve from tonight,” Andrae said. “I think the things I did well was get up in the play. I created a lot of offense and moved the puck quick. But I think just overall defense and being strong on the walls can be a better improvement going from here. But yeah, I think it was a step forward.”

There’s no denying the fourth line has been struggling. And considering the four guys who have played on that line, Ābols, Garnet Hathaway, Nic Deslauriers, and Nikita Grebenkin, entered the night with 131 goals across a combined 1,363 NHL games, they are not expected to bury the biscuit every night.

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But, they still need to do what they do best: pressure, forecheck, wreak havoc.

“I mean, that should be our motto as a line,” Ābols said when asked about their uptick in pressure against the Blues. “I think, obviously, nothing fancy, just tilt the ice that we’ve been talking about.

“We had some good meetings this week where we talked about it. Todd grabbed us yesterday, said we should play more predictable, and I think we did that today, where it was quite easy to read off each other and just kind of put constant pressure on their D.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the fourth line had the best Corsi For percentage (86.7%) with 13 chances for and just two against. They had seven scoring chances to none — none — for the Blues. And it gets better. While it is subjective what determines a high-danger shot, the statistics site had the line notching four high-danger chances and zero against.

They threw the body around, with Deslauriers leading the way with six hits. And Ābols scored his first of the season, albeit on the ice with Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett after jumping on the ice when Christian Dvorak went for a change.

“Fourth lines especially have to play predictable; everyone knows where the puck is going,” said coach Rick Tocchet. “You watch, they were on the forecheck. They were connected, right? I think in the past, they were a little too wide. Tonight, they were connected. More predictable.

“They had some big shifts there for us when the game kind of went the other way, and they got to regain the momentum. For us, they did a nice job.”