PHILADELPHIA – Ryan Poehling returned, Jamie Drysdale hit the injured reserve list, Morgan Frost headed back to the “doghouse” again and Matvei Michkov was back in action after missing a couple games as a healthy scratch.
That pretty much summed up the Flyers roster moves on Monday as the team keeps looking for the right mix in their lineup.
Poehling and Michkov worked together on a line in Monday morning’s skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J.
The impression seems to be coach John Tortorella wants to get Michkov to work on his overall two-way game – including the defensive side of the puck — and playing with Poehling should help.
Poehling indicated he was looking forward to the assignment.
“Over the last three games, I thought we (the team) played a lot better, in terms of creating chances, playing faster,” Poehling said. “To play with a guy (Michkov) like that, you know he’s going to be getting pucks, so just put him in open areas and let him skate. Just play to his strengths, that’s a big thing tonight, too.”
Anything Poehling can specifically help with Michkov on defense? The young Russian began Monday night’s play an untidy minus-8.
“Well, like positioning for example,” Poehling said. “The little things you have to get used to. Just being in the right spot goes a long way, it not only helps yourself but your teammates where to be. That’s definitely something I can hopefully help him with tonight.”
Letting Michkov watch a couple games might have been helpful. A veteran such as Poehling sees the value. Even he can learn stuff.
“I think for me, the game looks a lot different in person or on TV,” he said. “From that, hopefully he can learn from other guys.”
Frost had played in all 15 games this season, so the first healthy scratch indicated Tortorella is willing to give him a bit of a longer leash.
The center has only one goal and has the worst plus-minus among forwards at minus-11.
Tortorella benched Frost on three different occasions totaling 10 games last season.
“I’m not coaching him the way I did the past two years,” Tortorella said. “I don’t think he deserves that. But he hasn’t played well enough.”
The Flyers entered Monday night’s San Jose game after a tough three-game swing through Florida and finished an encouraging 1-1-1.
“I’m excited to see how team is going to respond, be ready to play after a long road trip,” Tortorella said. “I think we were beginning to find ourselves. I’m hoping we can do it another night.”
As for the play of Travis Konecny, his offensive play outweighed his defensive deficiencies on the trip. Going into the Sharks game, Konecny’s 16 points led the team by six, which is quite a bit.
Tortorella has been trying to get his players to play a little more aggressively, take some chances and Konecny epitomizes that style.
“I go through this with TK every game since I’ve been here,” the coach said.
Konecny was particularly aggressive in the 6-4 loss at Carolina last Tuesday.
“You could tell, he was feelin’ it,” Tortorella said. “So you got to let him go. He has put in some good minutes. He’s made some mistakes along the way but the greatest thing about it is he’s not afraid to make mistakes. It doesn’t affect him next shift. He just goes out and plays.”
>Military heroes honored
It being Veterans Day, the Flyers made a special presentation of United States military personnel and the contribution they make to the nation’s security.
This is an annual event but because the game fell on the actual date, it seemed a little extra special.
Hundreds of active duty service members and veterans were the special guests for a moment of honor to show thanks for their service, as well as in-game recognition ceremonies. All fans received a special camouflage Flyers hat courtesy of Toyota.
