Flyers take aim to address their Achilles heel.
Ahead of Wednesday night's primetime regular season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers know they still have weaknesses to address to reach their full potential as a team.
Despite it being a broken record at this point, the power play has been one of the more underrated storylines stemming from training camp, from its top-heavy transformation in personnel to its 0-for-4 finish in the preseason finale against the greatly undermanned Washington Capitals.
The top unit of Porter Martone, Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, Tyson Foerster, and Matvei Michkov generated numerous scoring chances that would typically result in goals with more detail and care applied to the finishing touch, but almost doesn't count in hockey.
After Tuesday afternoon's practice, Martone spoke to the power play's potential and the chemistry he's been building with his teammates, both at 5-on-5 and on the man advantage.
"I think the big thing about the power play is gaining chemistry, seeing other people's tendencies, and it's not going to happen overnight. It's not going to click right away. It takes time," Martone told The Hockey News. "It takes reps. It takes practice. It takes some adversity."
The 19-year-old former No. 6 overall pick spent some time last week practicing with Michkov, his fellow young dynamo winger, doing some bumper practice.
Michkov would receive a pass from assistant coach Yogi Svejkovsky with his back to the goal, pivot, and either go for a scoring chance himself or dish to Martone for a slot shot.
Then, Martone would switch places and do the same, and the two rotated on both sides of the offensive formation.
"Just being able to work with him and learn the way he does things is just going to help our players play," Martone said of Michkov, "and help us climb the ranks and be a top power play in the league."
As Martone stated, it will take time for him and his Flyers teammates to gel as a unit and, eventually, begin putting pucks in the net.
Four of Martone's first 10 points at the NHL level came on the power play. (Photo: Terrence Lee, Imagn Images)"I think it's coming. It's a work in progress. I think, for us, it's just scoring goals at crucial times. You can be 0-for-4 in a game, but it's a tie game in the third period - you got to capitalize," Martone assessed.
"You come through at a big time, power play is going to help. You don't want to swing games. I think we're all very skilled players, and it's just time for us to capitalize on our opportunities."
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet concurred with his young star's assessment on Tuesday afternoon, echoing the sentiment that the Flyers simply need to score the big goal.
And, one of Tocchet's recent flag-plants has been giving this unit, which has flashed potential, time to develop, regardless of the lack of end product.
"There's going to be some growing pains. It's more than plays, it's chemistry and reads. Like, last game, we had four point-blank shots in the slot, we missed the net on three of them," Tocchet said. "We have to convert on those plays. That's it."
In eight minutes of power play time against the Capitals on Saturday night, the Flyers generated only 13 unblocked shot attempts, eight scoring chances, and two high-danger chances, scoring on none.
Comparatively, the Capitals scored eight seconds into their second period power play, courtesy of a David Jiricek penalty, taking a commanding 3-1 lead and taking the wind out of the Flyers' sails.
As Martone noted, the power play can erase momentum with a poor series of shifts, or build momentum with a great play. On Saturday, the Flyers were on the wrong end of both aspects of the momentum swings, and it ended in a devastating 5-1 loss to a significantly worse Capitals team flush with young prospects and AHLers.
Figuring that part of the game out will be paramount to the Flyers' pursuit of a second consecutive playoff berth.
