Rick Tocchet sticks with Flyers’ struggling fourth line: ‘We’re building culture here’

The fourth line has struggled this year.

Across 27 games, right winger Garnet Hathaway has zero points and is minus-9. Left winger Nic Deslauriers has played 13 games with zero points and is a minus-2. And Rodrigo Ābols, the third mainstay on the line at center, has one goal in 22 games; it came with Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras as his wingers against the St. Louis Blues.

In the Flyers’ 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, the trio skated two complete shifts in the third period, with the last one coming with roughly 5½ minutes to go — almost 10 minutes after their previous shift — and with the Flyers trying to get the equalizer.

“Why do I have the fourth line out there? Why not?” coach Rick Tocchet asked on Monday. “We have tired guys. … They’re NHL players. Maybe you guys don’t think — I’m not saying you personally [to a member of the media] — don’t think they are. So I feel, put them out there. That’s what I believe in.”

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The line played just 6 minutes, 19 seconds in the matinee game and had six chances to the Avalanche’s three. It was outshot, 3-1, and allowed two scoring chances compared to one created.

“When it comes down to it, I’m a culture guy, right?” Tocchet said. “ … You have guys dragging, tongues on the bench, and our team is a team that needs to use the bench. These guys are playing eight, nine minutes. I thought a couple of games ago, they gave us some juice.

“Yeah, they’re struggling. They want to get some points. I get it. We’re playing long ball here, trying to get the team culture. It’s hard to play armchair quarterback. Why can’t you do [it] this way or that?

“I’ve got some guys who are tired on the bench. I don’t feel it’s the right time. I’ve heard some people [say] it’s better to put this guy, this and that. I think that’s [BS], personally. This is a team thing. I’m a culture guy, and we’re building culture here. That’s why.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the fourth line of Deslauriers, Hathaway, and Ābols has played more than 78 minutes together this season and has a 45.61 Corsi For percentage. They have conceded twice as many shots as they have generated and have allowed 26 scoring chances to 22 for themselves. The one positive? They’ve allowed just one goal.

And when it was Nikita Grebenkin on the wing instead of Deslauriers, it was actually worse, with the line giving up three goals in almost 60 minutes of ice time.

“No, listen, they’ve got to produce. I get it,” Tocchet said. “I get that part, and we’re going to have to figure something out. But in the meantime, that’s what we have, and that’s what I’m going to try to do. I’m trying to build their confidence. I don’t read tweets, I don’t listen to podcasters. I’d be out of a job. That’s just the way it is.”

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Yes, the fourth line does provide energy and jam. Deslauriers is one of the game’s most feared fighters — and will probably play against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP) with Ryan Reaves possibly in the lineup — and is ranked third on the team in hits (48).

Hathaway is tied for eighth in the NHL in hits (94) and is tied for 15th in penalties drawn (12). And like Ābols, who is the second-best faceoff man by percentage (53.3%) on the Flyers, he kills penalties. But Hathaway, after notching 10 goals and 21 points in 67 games last season, is having trouble even just handling the puck right now.

“He’s out of sorts. He’ll tell you,” Tocchet said. “He’s had a tough time this year. You know, for me, he’s such a great team guy, and he knows it, that he wants to do better things.

“ … For him, I think he’s just got to relax. I think when he wants to go out there, he’s so tense that it’s kind of screwing up his hands and stuff like that. It just seems a little out of sorts.”

Tocchet said that while he wants to try to get the veteran of 633 games some more ice time, and to put him in situations where he can succeed, he knows changes may be on the horizon.

“There is going to be a time where, yeah, I agree with [the media], we’re going to have to retool that fourth line if it doesn’t start to help us out,” he said.

“I get it. That’s something that we’re talking to [Flyers general manager Danny Brière and president Keith Jones] all the time about, so we’ve got to figure that out.

“But in the meantime, I’ve got to try to get these guys some confidence.”

Defenseman Cam York did not practice Monday and is still day to day with an upper-body injury. … Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was a full participant in practice in a regular orange jersey for the first time since undergoing surgery on a right triceps tendon rupture on March 26. … Defenseman Ty Murchison, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Saturday, skated with Noah Juulsen and may make his NHL debut on Tuesday. … The Flyers traded defenseman Ethan Samson, 22, to the Tampa Bay Lightning for 6-foot-5, 225-pound right-shot defenseman Roman Schmidt. Samson was drafted in the sixth round of the 2021 NHL draft by the Flyers and will be a restricted free agent. The 22-year-old Schmidt, a third-rounder in that same draft, had one assist in 13 games for Syracuse of the AHL and will also be a restricted free agent.