PHILADELPHIA – There’s no getting around it. Ryan Poehling doesn’t garner a lot of headlines but he certainly has his coach’s attention.
Right now he’s centering a line with two of the team’s most talented wings – Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett.
Coach John Tortorella said there are several reasons for this turnaround.
Confident play has something to do with it. So does an awareness that hanging onto pucks a split-second longer can allow scoring opportunities to develop.
“I put him between ‘TK’ and ‘Tip’ because I wanted to get some speed in there,” the coach said before the morning skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J. “He’s certainly shown that.
“I think they’ve developed some offense. I’m going to stay with it for a little bit. It balances out things for me, too. I’m trying to play four lines and we have so many games coming up. I’ve been trying to divvy up the minutes that way.”
“He’s really good defensively,” Tortorella pointed out. “Really good between the blue lines. Just want to see some better selections offensively. Hopefully something meshes with those two guys.”
Poehling’s line has played so well it’s actually taking time away from other lines. But hopefully players on the other three lines understand it’s best when a coach plays the hot hand.
Same thing with the Noah Cates line (including Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster).
“I don’t poll the locker room. . .is everybody happy?” Tortorella said. “It’s just how it’s divvied up as the game goes on. I think Catesy’s line has taken a lot of time from other lines. Because I’ve had to put them that way.
“As far as how the minutes go, I took Coots (Sean Couturier) away from TK. Just wanted to see some more speed in the middle.”
On an individual basis, Tortorella wants Cates to take chances when opportunities present themselves.
“We have pounded on him about taking chances,” Tortorella said. “The biggest thing, when I see him play is that from his first year to now – his first year he was just chipping pucks in. I don’t think his stick was as good as it is now.
“The biggest asset that he brings us right now is he’s so strong on pucks. He holds onto pucks, then looks to make a play. I think he has an anticipation skill that has developed from within himself. Maybe that’s his way of taking a chance, holding onto pucks longer. The communication to him from the coaching staff was to take a chance. How he processes taking a chance is happening.”
Cates, 25, was a fifth-round draft pick way back in 2017. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound native of Stillwater, Minnesota needed the better part of five years to crack the lineup but, as mentioned, his job status was still in doubt as early as the opening week or so of this season.
Then it seemed like something clicked. He started to play with a more sure of himself approach.
“That’s one that sticks out to me,” Tortorella said. “He just has the puck more. He won a lot of battles his first year but he kind of just gave it back. Now he’s looking to make something happen once he wins that battle.
“That line, with him leading the way at least with stick on pucks, to keep on forechecking, keep on creating turnovers, I think the other two are following behind him. Holding onto it, then finding someone to make an offensive play.”
>Getting results
Tortorella said it was important the Flyers get some results out of Thursday night’s game to show the players the system is working.
They had goaltender Samuel Ersson back in goal after sitting out a few games due to injury.
The Flyers played well in a pair of losses to Toronto (one in overtime). The coach just wants his team to get over the ump.
“We don’t get the results,” Tortorella said. I think we could have had four out of four points. We only got one out of four points. With players, they need to see results to believe it’s working. We said we’re going to play in front of ‘Feds’ (goalie Ivan Fedotov) because it’s a hell of a spot we’re putting him in.
They all did. I think it’s helped our game, even offensively. But we don’t get the result. I just hope we get some results so they see it works. We started scoring goals. Now, in the last couple games, we just haven’t found our way.”
