There were times the past couple seasons when if the Flyers fell behind by a goal or two, it was time to grab the coat and head for the exits.
Not this time around.
While we’re only five games into the new season, there seems to be a different feeling around this squad.
That was on display Saturday night when the Flyers trailed the Minnesota Wild by a 1-0 score heading into the third period.
Everyone knows that teams with a lead heading into the final 20 minutes usually come out on top.
Except in the aforementioned game at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the Wild happened to be playing against a team which is starting to believe in itself.
A goal by Owen Tippett tied the game and another by Noah Cates in overtime gave the Flyers the win and evened their record at 2-2-1. Pretty good mark when you consider it’s been registered against teams like Florida, Carolina and the Wild.
The Cates line, which includes Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink, has been much written about but it bears repeating. This unit sets the tempo. There might be bigger stars like Tippett, Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov on other lines but right now the Cates trio is the clubhouse leader for MVP trio.
“They’re connected,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “They’re in the right spots. They’re system guys. They’re reliable. When you need them in a spot, they’re there. That’s what line supplies for our team.”
Foerster is already showing off his two-way hockey skills with a plus-5, which puts him in a tie for 14th in the NHL alongside players like Alex Ovechkin, Auston Matthews and Jordan Staal. Not bad company.
The Cates story is equally impressive. He set a career-high for goals (16) last year and he’s picking up right where he left off.
Cates hails from Minnesota so after scoring the game-winner against the Wild he was asked if he knew how many people were watching these heroics unfold on their television sets back home.
“For sure, a few,” he said with a laugh. “It’s nice to get one. Hopefully my buddies are pumped for me and taking on the Wild. Obviously it’s special playing these guys.”
>Praise for team defense
After Sunday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J., Tocchet said he’s been pleased with the Flyers’ overall defense.
Saturday night’s win over Minnesota marked the second straight game the Flyers have held an opponent under 16 shots. That’s only the fifth time in team history that feat has been accomplished and the first time in 20 years.
What Tocchet doesn’t want is to lean too heavily on his top pair of Travis Sanheim and Cam York on defense. Sanheim leads the NHL in minutes played.
“We’ve got to get more minutes from the other guys,” said Tocchet, who went with a third pair of Egor Zamula and Noah Juulsen for the Wild game. “We can’t run these guys (York-Sanheim) out on fumes, we’ve got to be careful.
“Now we’ve played some really quality opponents, situational stuff. We can’t run those guys (including Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler) out there that much or they’re going to get hurt. And second, you can wear your players out. We need some guys to step up in those roles.”
Tocchet gave some credit to Juulsen for the two straight games of limiting shots to Winnipeg and Minnesota.
“They’re both quality teams and he was part of that,” Tocchet said.
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