PHILADELPHIA – Nearly everybody knows someone who’s been involved with cancer – be it a relative, a friend or one of their sports heroes.
For Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, it was his brother, Dan, who fortunately has won his peronsal battle against the disease.
Thursday was Hockey Fights Cancer Night as the Flyers took on the St. Louis Blues at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
At the morning pre-game skate, Tocchet talked about what this day meant to him.
“My brother went through this,” Tocchet said. “He beat so it (HFC) means a lot. You forget about that. You’re into day-to-day hockey coach, you forget about what’s really more important. . .life.
“The awareness and all that, it really kind of clues you in a little bit. It makes you feel how blessed we really are.”
Captain Sean Couturier has been involved in a number of these and appreciates the effort that goes into organizing them.
“It’s a great initiative every year,” Couturier said. “It puts life into perspective when you have these nights.”
New this year, the Flyers had their warmup skates painted special colors. Ditto for the two goaltenders, Dan Vladar and Sam Ersson.
Before the game, Couturier said he was excited to see what his skates were going to look like.
“Yeah, I saw the design,” he said. “Looks pretty cool. So I’m wondering how it’s going to come out but I’m super excited.”
>Line changes in action
Following up on Wednesday’s practice lines, the Flyers stuck with a new set of lines for the Blues. Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster had right wing Bobby Brink swapped out for Travis Konecny.
“You look at certain things,” Tocchet said, “when other lines are struggling. But you have to be careful. The (Christian) Dvorak line (with Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett) has been pretty productive for us so I don’t know if I agree with spreading the wealth.
“We need guys to pick it up. I can roll lines and mix-and-match but we need people that are going to start playing better. So I don’t always have to switch lines. So maybe this one switch will help a couple lines. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Konecny hasn’t been exactly setting the world on fire in the offense department. He did enter the 19th game of the season with five goals but that’s a bit behind his normal pace of at least 30 goals or more for a season (from 2022-24).
“Maybe this will help get TK going,” Tocchet said. “Sometimes when you do switch lines. . .St. Louis is a good rush team so we want the puck as much as possible.”
>No backing in
For the the past couple practices, Tocchet has been stressing the philosophy of “not backing in.” Doing so is not a formula for long-term success.
“We’ve been backing in,” he said. “The emphasis has been not backing in tonight. All week we practiced it. Too much containment. We’ve had some good defensive numbers this season and there are a lot of factors to it.”
>Impressive numbers
Entering Thursday night’s game, the Flyers’ Zegras stood second in the NHL on the list of players competing on a new team this season with 19 points. Only ex-Toronto star Mitch Marner, now with Vancouver, has more with 21.
Be the first to comment