VOORHEES, N.J. - Rick Tocchet didn’t wait long to get on the same page with Dan Vladar.
At Monday’s practice, the Flyers coach pulled his goaltender aside to talk through penalty-kill coverage after Philadelphia’s 6-3 win Sunday over the Mammoth snapped a three-game skid. The team was better defensively in that game, but Tocchet still saw something he wanted to clean up.
“We don't want to give middle shots,” the head coach said after practice. “The other night, we gave that middle shot, we shouldn't have.
I was saying, 'Hey, just to let you know.' ... And he was like, 'Oh, I love that.'
So it's just communication to know we're on top of things and he knows where the shots are coming from.”
That kind of exchange has become part of the Flyers’ effort to make life easier for their goaltenders. Tocchet has repeatedly emphasized protecting the middle and weak side so Vladar and Joseph Woll can see the puck cleanly and not have to guess at what’s happening behind them.
“My big philosophy with a goalie, I want them to be who they are,” Tocchet said. “If they're going to try to cover for our mistakes in front of them, it's tough for the goalie. All of a sudden, now he's playing on his heels, he's worried about the back post, then he doesn't have the strong-side shot.”
Vladar has handled his end well lately. In his last five starts, the 29-year-old is 3-0-2 with a 2.16 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. Against Utah, he stopped 19 of 22 shots, though the Flyers did allow two power-play goals in the final four minutes.
The bigger picture has been moving in the right direction, too. Over their last nine games, the Flyers have allowed 2.78 goals per game, a clear step forward from the 4.00 they gave up in their first seven.
“We have to really ingrain in our team - it's a young team - about the commitment to defend for our goalies, to let them know we have the backdoor, that shot,” Tocchet said. “This year, it has been a little bit of chaos - sometimes, not all the time. I think our goalies have been unreal handling the chaos.”
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