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On Saturday, the Philadelphia Flyers continued their training camp preparations for the upcoming season with an initial practice session and inter-squad scrimmage in Voorhees, New Jersey. The newly refurbished Flyers Training Center was packed to capacity with fans in attendance for that and an outdoor festival in the facility’s parking lot.
It was also the first opportunity for fans to see newcomers like forwards Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak, goalie Daniel Vladar, along with defensemen Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert.
All in all, it was a pretty lively atmosphere on a beautiful day that gave new players like Vladar insight into the fans’ passion.
“It was awesome,” Vladar said. “When I drove in this morning, I already saw people around the practice arena. It was really cool, so thanks to everyone who came today.”
In addition, it was an opportunity for young lineup candidates like forwards Alex Bump, Nikita Grebenkin, and Jett Luchanko, along with defensemen Helge Grans, Emil Andrae, and Spencer Gill to make an impression.
The Flyers open their exhibition game schedule on Sunday at 7pm ET against the New York Islanders in Elmont, New York.
Flyers Scrimmage Observations
Following the team’s 10:30am practice session, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet set up a unique format for the 11:20am team session.
Group A (Team Black) and Group B (Team Orange) started first with five on four special teams work. Full squads competed in a 25 minute 5v5 scrimmage. That was followed by 4 on 4 and 3 on 3 (overtime style) sequences, then concluded with a shootout.
5 on 4 Special Teams Session
During the special teams session, the Flyers started with a power-play group of Sean Couturier, Matvei Michkov, Travis Konecny, Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale. Certainly not hard to imagine that as being their first man-advantage unit when the season begins. As this was their first official session together, there’s still work to be done from a technical standpoint as the penalty killing units denied them consistently.
5 on 5 Session
During the full team scrimmage, Phantoms forward Alex Gendron scored the only goal of the session off the rush. Coincidentally, he scored two goals during last weekend’s Rookie Series against the Rangers.
While scoring was at a premium in the full scrimmage, there were several noteworthy moments:
-Gilbert flashed a few times with his ability to join the rush and make quick plays in transition. He was noticeably better than fellow newcomer Juulsen. Conversely, the former Vancouver Canuck just looked a step slow throughout the session.
-Grebenkin seemed to fit in very well with Couturier and Michkov. Early on, he made a good solo zone entry before being outnumbered. He made another another good entry via the cross ice pass to Michkov, which led to a near scoring chance for Couturier.
-Defenseman Travis Sanheim was in midseason form as he gave Bump a thunderous hit at the beginning of the scrimmage, then caught Travis Konency a couple of times.
4 on 4 Session
As the ice widened at four on four, Zegras had more room to operate and was able to capitalize after a wide shot by Konecny. Later, Vladar had a forgettable goal as Bobby Brink beat him off a faceoff that trickled through.
3 on 3 Overtime Scenario
As he does regularly, Michkov showed his goal scorer’s mindset. On a rush while using Couturier as a decoy, he ripped a dangerous shot that goalie Sam Ersson had to be ready for.
Not long after, Grebenkin continued his good work by peeling off the boards and cutting to the net. He attempted a shot that Nesbitt put in the net at the left post.
Shootout (AKA The Sam Ersson Show)
Unsurprisingly, Sam Ersson, known for his shootout prowess in net, denied Zegras, Mickhov, and Couturier in succession.
Bobby Brink would get the only goal with a bottle popping wrist shot past Vladar.
Tocchet’s Penalty Killing Concepts
It was clear to see during the 5 on 4 sessions that the Flyers penalty killing groups were able to stymie the man advantage units. While the Flyers hope to see success on the power-play under the new coaching staff, Tocchet was clearly happy with the penalty killers’ performance.
“It was very good. We talked alot about PK pressure, if you watched, we almost scored a goal on it,” Tocchet said. “Skating forward when we’re defending, we talked about being aggressive. There were good sticks. Good PK’s have all these elements.”
New assistant coach Todd Reirden in charge of both the defense and the penalty killing groups. This is a power-kill concept, not unlike what Brad Shaw ran the last three seasons. High effort, buy-in, and consistent pressure are an expectation.
While the Flyers have previously used some of their top line forwards on the PK, Tocchet tended to focus on his bottom six forward groups to do so during his time in Vancouver. Hence why you saw forwards Noah Cates, Brink, Luchanko, and Denver Barkey, along with defensemen Adam Ginning, Gilbert, and Ethan Samson getting work there.
Tocchet sees this as an “iron sharpening iron” situation that will be mutually beneficial.
“I really liked their aggression today, I thought they frustrated the power-play, but that’s good. We want them to be hard on our power-play so they can handle the pressure.
