VOORHEES, N.J. – Was it a one-hit wonder or can the Flyers build off their 6-3 win over Utah on Sunday afternoon?
That seemed to be the main topic of conversation at Monday’s practice, the Flyers’ third in the last four days.
Earlier in the season, the Flyers moaned about the lack of practice time. They can’t use that as an excuse right now.
Besides that, the Flyers got Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett back into the lineup and that development certainly helped the team’s cause.
Konecny especially can fire up teammates when things seem to sag a bit.
“Love playing on a line with him,” Trevor Zegras said after the workout at the Flyers Training Center. “Love him on the bench. He brings a different element to the team, whether it’s being physical or scoring goals or chirping the other team. He’s a good role model for the younger guys.”
Coach Rick Tocchet liked the effort vs. the Mammoth, especially after several sleepy efforts in a three-game winless streak.
“I think just after the first (period) we had the puck more,” Tocchet said. “Puck possession in the first period wasn’t great. Then we started getting the puck more, thought we were checking better. Going through people and coming up with loose pucks. I saw more commitment to do that.”
The Flyers play host to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night and that should be another good test.
Denver Barkey believes the practices are proving productive.
“I think they’ve been huge for the areas we need to work on,” he said. “And I think we did that over those two days. Now I think it’s about doing that in a game for a full 60 minutes, night-in night-out sort of thing.”
As for Konecny and Tippett being back on the ice, the younger guys appreciate what they bring to the table.
“They’re leaders, they’ve been around a long time,” Barkey said. “They were a massive part of what we accomplished last year. Having them back in the room is a big boost to everyone. They’re chatter guys, too, so they give you energy.”
Barkey has been playing a good all-around game but he would like to get his offensive numbers up.
“I’m continuing to try to build on offense,” he said. “I think I have more to bring here offensively. Just trying to hold onto pucks. Win battles in the corners, skating out and making plays. Having my head up. Just getting around the net, that’s the biggest thing for me.”
>Bump bumped again
For the second time in the last couple weeks, Alex Bump was loaned to Lehigh Valley.
The last time Bump was sent down, he lit it up for the Phantoms and was named AHL player of the week as the club went 3-0-0.
Tocchet said the transaction was more of a paper move than anything that Bump did wrong.
“We’ve just got a lot of young guys,” Tocchet said. “He could get called up very soon. We’re just trying to get. . . whether it’s a rotation and we’ll go from there.”
>Goalie rotation changing?
Up to now, the Flyers have been alternating Dan Vladar and Joseph Woll in goal. But that may be changing, according to Tocchet.
“We’re at that stage right now,” Tocchet said. “We had a heavy schedule, so the rotation. And it did work because they both played well. We’ll look into that.”
Vladar was the No. 1 netminder coming into the season and if Tocchet decides to go back to that unofficial title, it’s likely the Czech netminder will get the majority of the starts moving forward.
“I think it’s giving a guy a couple games in a row and then see where it goes,” the coach said. “You look at the schedule, the workload, back-to-back next week, so you plan all that stuff.”
>Short shots
Konecny, who returned from IR on Sunday to produce a goal and an assist in the Utah game, had Monday off. Tocchet confirmed it was just a maintenance day.
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