Flyers takeaways: Rick Tocchet’s calm approach, tight-knit locker room netting real results

NEWARK, N.J. — The calendar is set to turn to December, and while some will say it is too early to look at the standings, it doesn’t hurt to peek. Right?

Right.

Because the Flyers are not only in a playoff spot, but third in the Metropolitan Division. Entering Sunday, they sit two points ahead of the second wild-card team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, whom they play on Monday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m., NBCSP).

And in a tight division, they are just two points behind the leaders, the New Jersey Devils, a team they have beaten twice in a week. The latest was a 5-3 victory in Newark on Saturday night. It closed out a four-game road trip with a pretty solid-looking 3-1-0 record, including the first win on the second night of a back-to-back this season.

Here are two big things we learned from the Snowbird connection trip that saw the Flyers go from sunny Florida to the New York metro area.

There are different ways of coaching. Some coaches can be fiery and use that to spark their team. Other coaches, like Rick Tocchet, appear to maintain a cool, calming presence — unless, for example, one needs to yell at the referees, which seems warranted lately for the Flyers.

Watching the bench, Tocchet seems levelheaded. The owner now of 300 wins in the NHL after Saturday night, he knows it is just 24 games into the season, and there’s a long road ahead. And although every moment is important, he doesn’t get too wrapped up in the ups and downs and momentum shifts of every game.

Sure, he may have been spotted by the TV cameras saying a choice word or two when an unsuspecting Emil Andrae turned the puck over to Kyle Palmieri in Friday night’s shootout win against the New York Islanders — on a goal that actually should have been overturned for too-many men on the ice — but he wasn’t being demonstrative with his body language.

» READ MORE: Jon Cooper discusses Travis Sanheim’s Olympic chances and working with Rick Tocchet

But he didn’t bench Andrae, who finished the night with the third-most minutes, with an overtime shift. It’s important for a young team to have a coach who keeps his cool and lets them learn and grow from their mistakes.

Plus, it helps that Tocchet is a guy who loves to teach. Instead of going crazy and yelling or benching players, he either talks things over or pulls out the whiteboard to show them. As Jon Cooper, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Hockey Canada coach who worked with Tocchet at 4 Nations and will do so again at the Olympics, told The Inquirer on Monday, Tocchet is known for his in-game adjustments.

His adjustments and demeanor are translating to the ice as the players are playing connected but loose.

“The one thing I love with this group is they always want to learn, whether we win or lose, or it’s a bad period, it’s a good period, they’re asking questions,” Tocchet said. “They’re trying to learn. And that’s what we’re doing every day, and trying to build some blocks here.”

Brick by brick is the motto right now. After a dismal performance against the Lightning to start the trip — they were shut out for the first time this season — Trevor Zegras said the group held a meeting “on things that we wanted to do to get better, to play tighter, to play more connected, and I think the last three we did that.”

Learning is critical for a team that boasts one of the youngest rosters in the NHL at an average age of 27. Although they’ve scored the first goal now for two straight games, they’ve won nine of 16 games where they’ve trailed early. They lead the league with 10 comeback wins, including a 4-2 win against the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers on Thanksgiving Eve, and they are 7-3-3 in one-goal games.

Tocchet sees positives and steps forward in his group. They are much better at executing under pressure. Do they need to clean up some things? All teams do, but “whether we’re battling back, or we’re giving up leads, there’s not a lot of panic on the bench. There’s a lot of resolve,” he said.

And that starts from the top.

The last two seasons, there’s been talk about how tight the Flyers locker room is. It’s still tight, but now the words family and love are being used more and more often.

And it’s showing on the ice with how they are playing. Alternate captain Travis Konecny has spoken often about the little details in the game that players are doing that are actually critical to success.

Before the goal that was eventually credited to Matvei Michkov to make it 3-1 — Konecny took the shot, and it went in off the Russian winger in front — captain Sean Couturier threw a hit on Devils forward Paul Cotter in the defensive zone. It allowed the Flyers to get possession and skate out of their end. Just 27 seconds later, after some sustained pressure, the puck was behind Jacob Markstrom.

“That’s the stuff I’m talking about. When it’s your turn, it’s your turn,” Konecny said. “And I think that’s something that Tocc’s been preaching a lot. [Tyson Foerster is tied for] the most goals on our team right now, and this guy blocks a shot every other game, and he’s a competitor.

“Like those are the examples right there of guys that, you just show up for your teammates and whatever your job is, in that moment, that play, that game, you execute it to the best of your abilities. And if everyone does that over the course of 82 games, you would think it’d put us in a pretty good spot.”

» READ MORE: A memorable night finds the Flyers secure their third straight win on a four-game road trip

The Flyers are getting some pretty balanced scoring right now. Across the four-game road trip, 11 players recorded at least a point, and while Noah Cates did not, he still boasted an impressive plus-minus of plus-3.

Michkov led the way with three goals and tied Owen Tippett — who notched the 100th goal, 100th assist, and, therefore, 200th point, of his NHL career — atop the leaderboard with four points. The pairing of Andrae and Jamie Drysdale may have had a few hiccups, but they are rounding into form. Couturier snapped a long goal drought with a pair of goals, Foerster continues to impress with his 200-foot game that more often than not sees the puck find the back of the net, and Nikita Grebenkin played in three games.

“We’re all contributing in different ways. And if it’s your turn to be on the score sheet, that’s what you do. If it’s your turn to have a big block or big save from the goalies, like everyone’s just stepping up,” added Konecny, who noted the leadership in the room, too, like when veteran defenseman Nick Seeler spoke up during intermission on Saturday about the importance of points now for down the road.

“We love this group. It’s a lot of guys that just want to play for each other and do the right things.”

And what else can one say about the play of Dan Vladař, except that we told you so.

Among NHL goalies with a minimum of 12 games, he ranks tied for sixth in wins (10) with guys like former Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who he just bested on Wednesday, sixth in goals-against average (2.43), and tied for seventh in save percentage (. 912). And according to Money Puck, his goals saved above expected ranks seventh in the NHL at 11.3.

But, of course, while he said he worked on his lateral plays — like when he robbed Nico Hischier with 16 seconds left in the first period backdoor off a cross-crease pass during a penalty assessed to Michkov — the netminder will give credit to his team.

“I feel comfortable overall, but it’s also the biggest thing is those … 18 to 20 guys that are playing in front of me every single night,” the Czech goalie said. “You see [that] guys are willing to block shots, making not comfortable plays but those plays that really matter for our team to come [away] with those two points.

“So very proud of the group, but we know that we got a lot of hockey left, so got to keep going for sure.”