Carl Grundstrom has been playing well.
Matvei Michkov hasn’t.
So Rick Tocchet didn’t have to consult with Scotty Bowman over what to do next.
He moved Michkov onto a line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink and promoted Grundstrom up to the Sean Couturier-Owen Tippett line.
This move is just further evidence that Michkov is not having the season everyone expected from him after last year’s exceptional 26-goal campaign.
Grundstrom entered the Canadien game with just four games in a Flyer uniform under his belt. But he’s already played well enough to gain Tocchet’s trust.
“Sometime you need to refresh a couple lines,” was Tocchet’s explanation after the morning skate. “Something to try. And we’ll go from there.”
Grundstrom is approaching the 300 mark for games played in the NHL so when he was called up from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, it didn’t take him long to make the adjustment.
“I do feel comfortable playing with good players,” he said. “It’s cool to play here (in Montreal).”
As for what’s clicking right now, Grundstrom came up with a big goal against the Hurricanes. He credits his teammates for helping with the process.
“We’re staying in every game,” Grundstrom said. “We never give up. We’re playing a hard style. I think it’s hard to play against us.”
Ristolainen was scheduled to be paired with his former partner Nick Seeler.
>Ristolainen returns
Rasmus Ristolainen made his first appearance in a Flyers uniform this season after offseason surgery. Tocchet looked forward to adding a defenseman with some formidable size into his lineup.
“He’s a big defenseman who can skate,” Tocchet said. “Great shot. Talking to some guys, he was playing well before the injury. We’re excited.”
The coach planned to give Ristolainen limited minutes, possibly in the 17-minute range as opposed to a usual workload of around 21.
“That’s the target range you’re looking for,” Tocchet said. “He’s been out for nine months. To red line him the first game might not be the smartest thing.”
>Takeaways from Carolina set
Even though the Flyers had to settle for a pair of shootout losses vs. Carolina over the weekend, Tocchet came away with a positive spin on the results.
The Flyers did pick up two points of a possible four and hit Tuesday still sitting in a playoff spot.
“The overtime is something we’re trying to work on,” Tocchet said. “In those games we lost, we had some opportunities. We had some two-on-ones, we’re just not converting. We’re trying to make the perfect play.”
The Flyers are now 5-2 in shootouts after starting the season 5-0.
>Working on the power play
The struggles continue for the Flyers’ power play, which after a quick start this season had fallen all the way down to 24th in the NHL.
“We’re missing some of these organic plays,” Tocchet said. “You have to make reads, like a quarterback, right? We’re just missing the reads. These are things we have to get over if we want to be a good team on the power play. There were moments there (vs. Carolina), we just have to stack them together.”
Tocchet said the Flyers are trying to build a power play which can sustain itself for a while. He mentioned teams such as Vegas, Winnipeg, Colorado have power plays which have been together three or four years and can read off each other well without having to think much about it.
“We’re still trying to find some chemistry,” Tocchet said. “It might take some time.”
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