Maybe a couple new faces can get the Flyers out of the old midseason rut.
Heading into Monday night’s game at Vegas, the Flyers will have the services of Lehigh Valley Phantom callups Lane Pederson and Hunter McDonald.
McDonald, a 6-foot-4, 233-pound defenseman, might get some playing time on the three-game road trip because the Flyers put veteran Rasmus Ristolainen on IR.
Pederson, a center, has 71 games of NHL experience, including time with San Jose, Vancouver and Arizona, where he played under current Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet. He could spell Rodrigo Abols, who suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s loss to the New York Rangers and also was placed on IR.
The Flyers are in the midst of their longest winless streak (0-5-1) of the season, including five straight regulation-time losses.
Speaking from Las Vegas on Sunday, Tocchet mentioned the possibility of both players seeing some action.
“They could get in, they’ve got to be ready,” Tocchet said. “So ‘P’ (Pederson) might get in because of the center position. Hunter maybe, too. It (the injury situation) challenges your depth.
“Those guys have been playing good down there I heard.”
According to Tocchet, McDonald had a tough start to his season. But when it came time to consider replacements, Ty Murchison – who made his NHL debut recently – is currently sidelined with an injury and Adam Ginning wasn’t mentioned as a possible substitute.
“The last couple weeks he (McDonald) is finding his game a little bit,” Tocchet said. “If he can play physical (and stay out of the penalty box), that’s the ultimate player, right? I think for him, just being a good first-pass ‘D.’ Being really good in front of the net.
“And he skates pretty well for a big guy. He’s trying to find his identity and we’ve got to help him.”
>Breaking the slump
The Flyers had lost two regulation-time games in a row only once in the first half of the season and now they’re stuck in a five-gamer.
It wasn’t realistic to think the Flyers could keep that sort of success going for the full season, especially when things get tougher in the second half.
Tocchet just wants his players to keep their heads up and keep in mind what got them back into contention.
“For the most part, we have surprised some people a little bit with our record,” Tocchet said. “Things have hit us but I’m not an excuse guy. But I can tell some guys are tired because we’re making tired mistakes.
“The ultimate game was yesterday (Saturday vs. the Rangers). The mistakes we’re making, you scratch your head. We’re trying to get from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ right away. We’re not going through the process. So we have to get back to it.”
Maybe getting back on the road will help the situation.
“No one is going to feel sorry for us,” Tocchet said. “It’s only the guys in the room. There’s no help coming this way. So we just have to buckle down. We can’t run-and-gun. I’ve never seen so many two-on-ones (against Philly) the last three or four games. It’s uncharacteristic.”
If the Flyers can get back to the structure they employed in November and December, things should correct themselves.
“We need a bunch of our leaders to batten down the hatches,” Tocchet said. “Our first three or four shifts against the Rangers were unacceptable.”
>Mood in the room
Defenseman Emil Andrae was asked what the mood in the Flyers’ locker room is like right now.
“Obviously we haven’t played our best in this stretch,” he said. “We’ve been discussing it, going through video. We just have to stick together, battle back, because we know what we’re capable of.”
The Golden Knights are one of the league’s powerhouses, so the Flyers would like to play well in this game to show they still have the right stuff.
“It (recovery) is not going to be over one period,” Andrae said. “It’s going to take a little time. Hopefully we can play tomorrow like we did in that last period against the Rangers.”
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