Rick Tocchet is no stranger to the Flyers-Penguins rivalry, says the stakes don’t change
Tocchet isn’t talking to his young players about the significance of this moment. With the long odds the Flyers faced to make it here, the team has been playing in high-pressure games for weeks.
PITTSBURGH ― Porter Martone grew up dreaming of becoming a Flyer, and getting the opportunity to play in a playoff series like this, against the Penguins.
The two teams haven’t met in a playoff series since 2018, a Flyers team that included Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Sean Couturier. Martone didn’t think the young version of himself could have imagined the position he’s in now.
“It’d be very surreal,” Martone said. “I’d be pretty amped up. I wouldn’t honestly believe it. Obviously I always thought I could play in the NHL, but for me to get picked by the Flyers and come to this organization?”
It’s been a long six years since the Flyers’ last playoff berth, and an even longer eight since that 2018 series. Even still, the series that Martone, and fellow rookie teammate Denver Barkey, remembered the most was the 2012 Flyers vs. Penguins in the first round.
Barkey said he’d been watching old videos of that series on YouTube, visualizing what it will feel like to actually play in the playoffs.
“One thing I remember vividly was [Claude] Giroux, one of the first shifts, he laid a big hit, I think it was on [Sidney] Crosby,” Barkey said. “He scored that [shift] too, and to see how loud the crowd got and how into it all the fans were, I think that raises the excitement.”
No one has more experience in the rivalry than Rick Tocchet, who played for the Flyers from 1984-92 before he was traded to the Penguins, and played there for three seasons. He also won two Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 as a Penguins assistant coach.
He hasn’t taken much time to try to teach the young players what it’ll feel like in the moment. Tocchet prefers the quick coffee chat — a long conversation just “makes the guys nervous.”
“If we have a 15-minute conversation about pressure, I think that’s the worst thing to do,” Tocchet said. “Little tidbits here and there help, but these guys, [Barkey] won the Memorial Cup. He’s been in pressure games. What’s the difference?”
Those words are more meaningful coming from teammates, like Couturier and Konecny, than from the coaches, Tocchet said.
» READ MORE: Sean Couturier has been at his best against the Penguins. The Flyers could use that version of him now.
With the long odds the Flyers faced to even make it into the postseason, the team has been playing in high-pressure games for weeks. Martone entered the lineup just as the playoff chase got the most intense and thrived, posting 10 points in the final nine games.
“We’ve been playing in these types of games for a while,” Konecny said. “Obviously, there’s going to be a little bit more intensity. The crowd’s going to be buzzing, but overall, once the game settles down, we’ve been playing these types of games.”
The Flyers were the seventh-youngest team in the NHL this season, and are the third-youngest in the playoff bracket, behind Montreal and Buffalo, averaging 27.22 years of age.
But the consensus was not to be worried about their youth. It’s what helped get them here in the first place.
“They’re good,” Konecny said, smiling. “They’ll be fine.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will be the Flyers’ starting goalie for Game 1. Stuart Skinner will start for the Penguins ... Alex Bump, Garrett Wilson, Noah Juulsen, and Carl Grundström were on the ice late after skate, making them the likely scratches.
