From the lessons of ‘Ted Lasso,’ here are three things the Flyers could take away in playoff chase

Believe.

It’s a word that has been used quite a bit by the Flyers since the Olympic break. And why not for a team that is now firmly planted in the playoff picture after a 4-1 win against the New York Islanders on Friday night?

Sitting one point back of the three-seed in the Metropolitan Division— currently held by the Islanders and probably their best chance for the postseason — they also entered Saturday tied with four teams in points for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

So, after posting a tweet asking for everyone’s thoughts on what the fans are thinking with the Orange and Black pushing for the playoffs, and someone dropped the GIF of Ted Lasso pointing at the “Believe” sign hanging in AFC Richmond’s locker room, it got this reporter thinking.

Here are three lessons from Ted Lasso that the Flyers have instilled and need to keep instilling in the final six games of the season.

The most famous of Lasso’s lessons is the one that rings the truest. Goldfish have short-term memories. The Flyers must have that right now if they want to keep pushing for a playoff spot.

Travis Sanheim did that on Friday after his mistake Thursday night led to the Detroit Red Wings’ fourth goal. Alex DeBrincat scored 15 seconds after Travis Konecny had cut it to a 3-2 game when Sanheim whiffed at the puck in the defensive zone, giving the rushing Red Wings the puck and a quick snipe by DeBrincat with under 10 minutes to go in an eventual 4-2 loss.

» READ MORE: High hopes, indeed: Porter Martone beefs with ref, Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford win, and VJ Edgecombe carries Sixers

Less than 24 hours later against Long Island, the alternate captain stepped up with a big night. He produced at both ends of the ice with a goal, an assist, a plus-3, and two blocked shots across his almost 25 minutes of ice time, which included more than four minutes on the penalty kill.

Sanheim set up Owen Tippett’s opening goal by playing solid defense on the Islanders’ leading scorer, Mathew Barzal, which helped the two Flyers break out on a two-on-one. In the third period, he hopped the boards and nine seconds later, he snapped the puck past Ilya Sorokin off a pass from Matvei Michkov to restore the Flyers’ three-goal lead.

Konecny has long spoken about the little details that may go unnoticed. But they do get noticed, and it’s those details, whether defensive zone structure or individual efforts, that have helped propel the Flyers forward.

The quietest game of the three-game start to his NHL career — he only had one shot on goal compared to the 14 across the first two — Porter Martone still paid attention to the details. He planted himself in front of the net 90 seconds into the game as Sanheim put a shot on goal from the point. Later in the period, he drove to the net after dishing the puck to Michkov on a zone entry, being there in case there was a rebound when Jamie Drysdale’s shot rang off the post.

Nick Seeler did what he does best and blocked four shots on the night, including a big one on Adam Boqvist while the Flyers were shorthanded. It was part of a penalty kill that went 3-for-3 and paid attention to the details of their structure. The Islanders had 12 shot attempts, but only five that needed Dan Vladař to stop.

And then there was Tyson Foerster, in just his second game back after missing 49 with an upper-body injury that required surgery, doing the little things.

He got the puck off a stretch pass by Trevor Zegras — who was the F1 deep in the Flyers zone to the puck from Rasmus Ristolainen, who also made a great play on a dump-in as he was double-teamed — and outworked Adam Pelech for a breakaway chance. He drew the Flyers’ first power play with the play.

» READ MORE: Matvei Michkov’s big night helps Flyers beat the Islanders and moves them into a tie for a playoff spot

As the seconds ticked down to end the second period, he used his long reach to strip Marc Gatcomb of the puck in the Flyers’ end and then made a heads-up play to retreat a bit when Tippett fell in the corner of the offensive zone. Because of where he was, Foerster was able to knock down an outlet pass by the Islanders with his stick.

And with the Islanders pressing as Michkov’s penalty ended, with the Flyers blocking four straight shots, Foerster got the puck and gently sent it down the ice. It was soft enough that there was no icing. Foerster had been on the ice for a hard-fought 36 seconds and would be on the ice for another 59 seconds.

Alex Bump is a sniper. Michkov excels with his playmaking. Tippett flies. And while no longer the 70-point scorer of years past, Sean Couturier has become an ultra-reliable forward at the bottom of the lineup who is solid in the faceoff circle — he had a team-best 54% winning percentage on Friday.

It’s a reason the former Selke Trophy winner played the fourth-most minutes at 21 minutes, 8 seconds, including 4:07 on the penalty kill. It was the most he had played since Dec. 14, when he was on the ice for 22:10 against the Carolina Hurricanes. He was averaging 15:55 across the 42 games in between and is averaging under 17 minutes across 73 games this season.

Couturier skated 7:18 in the third period and had a 2:34 shift that started with 6:09 left in regulation, the Flyers up by three, and less than 30 seconds later, the desperate Islanders with an empty net.

There was one TV timeout and two icings during that stretch, and he won two of three faceoffs, beginning with the start of his shift. Couturier stayed on as his linemates switched from Garnet Hathaway and Luke Glendening to Bump and Michkov to Christian Dvorak and Foerster, and he maintained his position as the Flyers kept the Islanders at bay.

It followed a strong performance on Thursday in the Flyers’ loss. According to Natural Stat Trick, across the past two games at five-on-five, when he is on the ice, the Flyers have 60% of the shot attempts — third best among skaters who played both games — outshot the opposition 7-5, and had 14 scoring chances to six against. He was on the ice for one goal at five-on-five by the Red Wings.

The Flyers captain told the Inquirer after the Olympic break that he was coming in with a fresh mindset. He also said the Flyers just needed to get on a run. Both have happened.

» READ MORE: Porter Martone has made an instant impact, and his Flyers teammates say they’re not surprised

Since moving to the fourth line on March 7, and technically to the wing on March 18 (because he and Glendening flip-flop based on where the faceoff is to make it more advantageous for the Flyers), Couturier has four goals, is plus-1, has a 23.5% shooting percentage, and has won 59.1% of his faceoffs.

“We both play centers probably most of our careers, so we know how to play down low, and we can switch off each other,” Couturier said of playing a hybrid role with Glendening. “I’ve been in that situation playing with [Claude] Giroux a couple of years ago. We were the same way, where he would have the right side draws and I’d have the left side, and depending on who’s first back, would go down low and help the D.

“So nothing really new for me to play that kind of position, and I kind of enjoy it, actually. It’s kind of nice.”