VOORHEES, N.J. – Veteran leaders are assigned letters on their jerseys because it’s understood they’ve been down the hockey road a number of times, learning what works and what doesn’t.
In the case of the Flyers right now, it’s time for these experienced players to step forward and get the word out there can’t be letdowns like what happened on Monday night against the New York Islanders.
The Flyers were coming off a big win at Colorado on Friday night, a game which completed a week-long road trip and a successful one at that.
Then came Monday and it turned out to be a collective failure from top to bottom in a 4-0 loss on home ice.
After Tuesday’s practice, several players agreed that corrections should be made. Practically all season long the Flyers have had difficulties winning two or more games in a row. Also, when the team comes back from a road trip, it usually lacks energy.
Travis Sanheim said all the players need to hold themselves accountable. And if they need reminders, the message doesn’t always have to come from coach Rick Tocchet but rather those aforementioned leaders.
“That first one after a road trip is always hard, whether you win or lose,” Sanheim said at the Flyers Training Center. “The energy is always low.
“So that’s on us to find different ways to try to win a game. It’s going to happen again, we have trips multiple times. We have to understand what we have to do to get ready and just play a much better game.”
Sanheim agreed that veterans like captain Sean Couturier, alternate captain Travis Konecny and himself (also an alternate) have to set the tone.
“For sure, whether it’s in the room or on the ice,” Sanheim said. “I like to think that play dictates itself. We have to be leading the way. We’ve been through this before, the road trips, the travel. So really, there are no excuses from our end.
“Maybe the younger guys are going through it for the first time it’s a different story. For us, we have to get everyone on board, playing the right way and when we do that we’re a really good team.”
It’s safe to say the Flyers can’t continue to be streaky down the stretch. Too many good teams are putting together positive strings of victories.
“We have to do it consistently and we got to do it game after game, whether it’s a win or a loss the night before,” Sanheim said. “I think that’s where we’re at right now and what we’re striving for.”
Tocchet concurs that as the season winds down, the players have to take more of an active role in setting the groundwork for the direction this team is headed.
“Hopefully halfway, three-quarters of the year, the coach is kind of on the ourside,” Tocchet explained. “Obviously he has to help leadership and stuff like that. But then the room kind of takes over. The coaches are less and less involved.”
Players always perform better when they help take the initiative.
“Sometimes it’s like we go back to the first draft (the start of the season),” Tocchet said. “All of a sudden we’re disconnected again. But that’s experience, that’s living it everyday, that’s bouncing back from losses.
“We’ve done a good job this year, we’re just in this roller coaster of high and low. Maybe I can do something after the Colorado game, guys were excited about the win. I like that, I want them to enjoy it. But you’ve got to get back to Planet Earth really quick because you’re going into the next game.”
Next up for the Flyers are two pretty hot teams, Columbus and Boston. The Blue Jackets have lost only one game since changing coaches and just stuck an eight-spot on powerhouse Tampa Bay this past Saturday night.
That game on Wednesday night in Ohio should be a good test.
“These are big games that we need to show up in,” Tocchet said. “The results will happen if you do the right things. Whether we win, I don’t know. But we have to worry about the process.”
Tocchet knows what impact on a new coach will have on a team. All he has to do is look in the mirror.
“We can’t have four or five guys carry our team,” he said. “We need a full contributed roster buying into the way we have to play. We can’t go rogue. If there are plays to make, make ‘em. We have to find our consistency.”
Nick Seeler is one of the Flyers’ preeminent heart-and-soul players who constantly appears on the NHL’s most hits and most blocked shots lists.
“We should have had confidence coming into our own building,” Seeler said of the Monday night failure. “It didn’t happen so we need to come together as a group and finish strong before the (Olympic) break.
“The leaders in the room, I think, need to speak up. We have a young group so those are lessons that need to be learned. I think we need to be business-like, come to compete, and we need to get back to those ways.”
Noah Cates knows the guys with long resumes should be leading the way.
“It comes down to consistency and being pros,” he said. “Showing up for work everyday. What happened yesterday, a week ago, you’ve got to flush it and be ready to go.”
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