Flyers takeaways: Owen Tippett is making ‘big-time plays’; Closing out games and taking penalties look to improve

DENVER ― Three games. Three different outcomes. Five out of six points.

Not a shabby week for the Flyers, who lost six straight before heading west and took on three of the NHL’s best. Not a shabby week for, really, anyone, facing the gauntlet of the Vegas Golden Knights, Utah Mammoth, and Colorado Avalanche in three consecutive games.

Coach Rick Tocchet and his players have often talked about lessons. Here are five lessons the Flyers learned this week that could help propel them forward as the season heads to the Olympic break.

Speaking with The Inquirer after his introductory press conference, Tocchet said, “I think Owen Tippett is a guy who I feel has another level in him. I think he’s a prototypical big, fast winger. Can we unleash him?”

If you hadn’t noticed it in the past few weeks, it smacked you in the face Friday: Tippett is officially unleashed.

“He’s a big-time player,” goalie Sam Ersson said postgame. “He makes big-time plays at the right time when we need it. And he’s that guy who can score from anywhere. He just doesn’t need much. And you give him the finger, he’ll take the whole hand.”

Standing in the Flyers locker room at Ball Arena after the game, Tippett’s hand was filled with pucks after the winger notched his second career hat trick. His first came after his initial shot was blocked, but he stayed with it and sniped it past Mackenzie Blackwood from the right circle. The second came on the left side off the rush, and his third, which sealed a 7-3 victory over Colorado, was a short-handed goal through the wickets.

» READ MORE: Owen Tippett notches a hat trick, Sam Ersson stonewalls the Avalanche in 7-3 win

His four points — he also assisted on Denver Barkey’s power play — showed everything he’s been doing well for weeks. Since Dec. 20, Tippett leads the Flyers in goals (nine) and is two points back of Travis Konecny’s team-leading 15. He also ranks third in hits (29).

“I think I’ve been pretty happy with my game the last couple of weeks, just doing all the little things and not really worrying about kind of points or scoring or just knowing they’re coming,” he said. “So obviously, it’s nice to have three [goals]. But more importantly, it’s about the win.”

On Wednesday, the Flyers learned the hard way that letting up can change a game. Losing 5-4 in overtime, they faltered despite having 3-0 and 4-2 leads before Utah scored twice in the third period, including the game-tying goal in the last minute.

“We talked about it as a team. I think, like, sometimes when the pressure comes, instead of folding, it’s when you have to play your best hockey,” defenseman Cam York said after morning skate in Denver. “I felt like when the pressure hit, we didn’t play our best hockey ... [and] it’s mental. I think sometimes when we get a lead, we like to just kind of let them do their thing a little bit more, instead of just keeping our game going. So I think that’s the biggest piece for us.”

On Friday, the Flyers did not let up. They scored three goals on seven shots in the final frame, including two goals in the first two minutes of the period to break open a 3-3 game.

“[Friday], there were about four or five guys ... who stood on the bench and said some key things,” Tocchet said. “Usually, we’re a fairly quiet bench. But the guys who were talking don’t talk that much, and it was really inspiring for me to hear them say that.

“Jamie Drysdale stood up and said, ‘Let’s enjoy this moment. Like, we’ve got to enjoy these pressure games. That’s why you play the game. You don’t want to hide from it.’ When he said that, I think maybe that gave everybody a little bit of, ‘Yeah, let’s enjoy it, let’s not be nervous about it.’ And I think that helped.”

For the love of hockey, the Flyers need to stop taking penalties.

Penalties happen, of course, and is every penalty a legitimate call? Absolutely not, as the officiating has been downright dreadful this year. However, there are certainly penalties that could have been avoided.

The good news is that the penalty kill has been much better. It went from a league-worst 60.6% from the holiday break through Sunday to 85.7% across the three games this past week.

» READ MORE: Why has Matvei Michkov been playing his less-favored left wing? Here’s what Rick Tocchet had to say

The bad news is that since Monday’s 2-1 win at Vegas — when one of Konecny’s two goals was shorthanded — the Flyers have been shorthanded an NHL-high 14 times. They’ve spent the second-most time on ice shorthanded at almost 8 minutes a game, with only Utah, which played that one game against them, having more at 8:30.

Part of why the penalty kill has been better was because they have more structure — playing the diamond Tocchet likes while being smart with their aggressiveness — and part of it was Ersson. According to Natural Stat Trick, across the last three games, the Flyers allowed 36 shot attempts, 19 shots, 21 scoring chances, and 10 high-danger chances.

They allowed just two power-play goals against, with one coming from a high-danger spot — and none of the three shot attempts from in tight by Colorado, which kept feeding the bumper, got through. On the flip side, they do have two short-handed goals this past week and five on the season.

“We scratched and clawed. It was a tough game; got to kill two penalties right off the start. We had to kill a bunch of penalties [Friday night],” said Tocchet of the Flyers taking two penalties in the first five minutes and four in the game. “And I’m not going to blame the guys on the penalties, but I really felt they grinded it out killing those penalties.”

Could Brink be the straw that stirs the Flyers’ drink? Brink missed six games, and the Flyers lost them all. Brink returns on Monday, and the Flyers go 2-0-1. Coincidence?

Whether or not there is a correlation, Brink doesn’t just bring a balance to the forward lines; he brings speed, a dogged determination, and pressure that creates turnovers and puts the opposition on its heels.

“There’s a guy like Bobby Brink, I think the last couple of games, he adds a lot of speed,” Tocchet said following morning skate at Ball Arena. “If he gets the puck, you see him through the neutral zone, separating himself. Those are the things we’re teaching our players to do.”

He notched yet another goal — he has two in three games since returning from a concussion — on Friday for a career-high 13 this season. It was a pivotal moment as it regained the Flyers’ lead 32 seconds after the Avalanche tied it up 2-2. It was his work ethic, alongside Noah Cates, that led to the goal.

Skating in on a two-on-one, Brink fed Cates, who didn’t get good wood on the pass. But the centerman stayed with it as he and Brink worked together down low and around the net before Brink used his feet to keep the puck loose. The 24-year-old winger got the puck atop the crease and roofed it.

It wasn’t an easy one to close out the road trip — as Ersson said, “You kind of get those flashbacks from the Utah game” as the Avalanche kept pressing. But while they may have bent slightly, the Flyers didn’t break — in large part because of their goaltender.

According to Natural Stat Trick, entering the week, Ersson had the worst save percentage (.854) among goalies with at least 1000 minutes played this season. His Goals Saved Above Average (-18.35) and high-danger save percentage (.750) were second-worst in the NHL, better than only Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues.

With Dan Vladař injured and Aleksei Kolosov allowing three goals on three shots on Jan. 17 to the New York Rangers, the net was Ersson’s. He took hold of it as he started three straight for the first time this season — and the first time since late March.

» READ MORE: The Flyers will be irrelevant as long as they lack a No. 1 center. A trade for Robert Thomas could change that.

This past week, among the 37 goalies who played at least 60 minutes, every one of his stats rose. His save percentage was 24th (.897), his GSAA was 26th (-0.41), and his HDSV% was 18th (.846). Most impressive was that his high-dangers goals saved above average rose from -6.67 to 1.04. He tied Kevin Lankinen of the Vancouver Canucks, Tocchet’s old team, for the most high-danger shots faced this past week (26).

Ersson was modest postgame on Friday, saying it was “all about just making those timely saves,” but it’s clear he’s seeing the puck well. Always a goalie who likes to see shots early to get into the game, on Monday, he had his fifth first-period shutout of the season when he stopped 11 pucks by Vegas on the way to the win. On Friday, he made 17 saves — several of which were masterful as the Avalanche put quick snapshots and peppered him from the slot and in tight — for his sixth clean first period.

“Yeah, obviously, you get a lot of action early, and I think that helps to settle in,” he said. “Every game has its own challenges. And, you know this team is so good [that] they’re going to make a huge push to come back, and they did. And how we dealt with it in the team, [we] just kept believing in ourselves.”

Long known for his tough mental game and often praised for it by former coach John Tortorella, the turnaround was not unexpected from the Swede or his new coach.

“He was down in dumps, and he knew that he wanted to get his game going, but he worked at it. Spent a lot of time with [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh], with video, and I got to give him credit,” Tocchet said.

“He had a smile on his face there about three games ago — I didn’t see him kind of moping around — I like that. A lot of things were being tested, and some of the demons in him, and that’s where you got to face it, and I think he did. He was solid in net.”