PITTSBURGH – The ancient Greeks were the first to come up with what is now considered the cliché ‘don’t rest on your laurels.”
However trite it might sound, that was the message the Flyers tried to embrace before and after Sunday’s practice at PPG Paints Arena as they prepared for Monday night’s Game 2 against the Penguins.
Winning Game 1 of the best-of-seven series on Saturday night was nice but there’s no reason to take the foot off the gas pedal now.
Momentum can change in a heartbeat which is why the Flyers would like to match the Penguins’ physical approach once again.
Pittsburgh dished out 41 official hits in that first game but the Flyers virtually matched that with 40 of their own.
“You can’t get too comfortable out there because you know they’re going to be better tomorrow than they were last game,” Cam York said. “We’ll be prepared for it.
“It will probably be even more intense. But our last 20 games, we’ve been playing playoff games, so I feel like we’re prepared for that, we’re used to it. I thought we had a good gameplan going into the game and I thought we executed it really well.”
Coach Rick Tocchet kept the practice short, right around 30 minutes. They did a few technical drills but the main idea was to keep the legs loose and the thought process clear for Game 2.
“After the game it was almost like, ‘All right, good game but we have 36 hours to get ready because we know the other team is going to come out harder,’ ” Tocchet said. “That’s a veteran approach and I saw that from the young guys.”
The Flyers held the Penguins to just 17 shots. Don’t think for a moment the Pittsburgh crew isn’t going over ways to increase that total by a lot.
Ditto the hits.
“We have a couple things we have to tweak,” Tocchet said. “We’ve done a lot of video, a lot of teaching. The tweaks will happen tomorrow.”
How can the Flyers improve on their own game?
“To be honest, I thought we had the opportunity to score more goals,” Tocchet said. “That’s not a criticism. I loved our chances but I just don’t think we converted them. We had two-on-ones, a couple breakaways.
“I think we could have had more offense if we just beared down a little bit. That’s the only criticism. The play without the puck was excellent. There are just times where we really have to convert.”
>Ristolainen-Sanheim pair excel
Game 1 was another strong one for the Rasmus Ristolainen-Travis Sanheim top defense pairing. Sanheim had a go-ahead goal and Ristolainen initially was awarded an assist on that goal, plus on Sunday the NHL gave him credit for an additional assist on Porter Martone’s first playoff goal which turned out to be the game-winner.
“They eat up a lot of minutes,” Tocchet said. “There have been some situations where the last six weeks where the penalty kill, defending top lines. . .there’s been times when they haven’t had a chance to breathe.
“I think that’s when you know you have two big defensemen who can handle the workload. We’ve been running them pretty hard for 23, 24 minutes. It looks like they thrive on it.”
>Drysdale hitting his stride
Defenseman Jamie Drysdale’s game has steadily improved throughout the season. He added to that portfolio by scoring the first goal of this playoff series on Saturday night.
“He’s a fairly quiet guy but I’ve seen moments where he’s stood up and said something loud,” Tocchet said. “That, to me, is forming into a leader. It’s when you’re comfortable telling your teammates something, good or bad. I’ve seen him grow this year in the leadership role.”
Drysdale looks more comfortable taking on more responsibility. He’s gotten over whatever nerves he might have had on the way up through the ranks.
“I think kind of at each level you have moments like that,” he said. “It’s kind of natural to feel those nerves and whatnot. You just take a deep breath and take it for what it is. Once the puck drops, you can kind of dial in and block out the noise.”
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