Sometimes a new face in a lineup can add a little energy.
At least that’s what Flyers coach Rick Tocchet was hoping for on Thursday night when recently acquired Michael Bunting was set to make his debut in a game at Ottawa.
Philadelphia, mired in one of its slowest starts of the 21st century (0-2-2), decided to sign Bunting as a free agent and sent Alex Bump to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Bunting is known as a player who can throw his weight around a bit and sometimes that can help pull a team out of the doldrums. Maybe he can help get things going on a line with Noah Cates and Noel Acciari.
No doubt Tocchet vouched for Bunting’s honest effort when the two were together briefly on Arizona.
“He actually scored a bunch of goals when I was there, like I don’t know the exact stats, but he he had a kind of good stint there and then obviously he had a really good stint in Toronto and stuff like that,” Tocchet said at the Thursday morning skate in Ottawa
“He’s a scrappy kid that, you know, can score around the net.”
The Flyers lost a little muscle over the past season with the departures of Nick Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway. The Flyers hope Bunting can take up some of the slack.
“Well, you know, energy,” Tocchet replied when asked about Bunting’s physicality. “A lot of stuff around the net, loose puck battles, things like that. A little energy for us after the last couple games.”
Tocchet said the Flyers’ slump is not a big secret. The work ethic just hasn’t been there.
“We’ve had a bad 10 days and it’s what do you do to to turn the tide?” the coach said. “Obviously you need more energy. We’ve talked about the one-on-one battles. We talked about getting pucks in the net and defending.”
While there are a number of things Tocchet wants his team to work on, he doesn’t want to overload the players with too much responsibility.
“There’s a lot of things but you can’t harp on it every day,” he said. “You can’t give these guys 10 different things. Your brain will be fried. We just try to dial a couple of points here and there the last couple days and just get back to our base.”
Bunting wants to contribute as quickly as he can.
He waited a long time this summer and into the fall before his phone finally rang with Flyers general manager Daniel Briere on the other end.
“It was a long summer that I don’t want to ever go through again,” Bunting said. “Definitely a weird one, one I didn’t anticipate how it unfolded. Got the call, didn’t have to think twice about becoming a Flyer. I’m really excited to be here.”
>Working on power play
With the Flyers scoreless on the power play heading into Thursday night’s game, it was back to work on this matter in practice.
Tocchet said the Flyers are getting looks but just not cashing in.
“We’re tired of saying it, but that is true.,” he said. “It’s when we don’t have those looks, we’re really egregious on the mistakes, you know, giving pucks away. It’s simplifying, getting pucks in the net.”
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