Rick Tocchet didn’t exactly tiptoe around the issue after Flyers practice on Wednesday.
Philadelphia’s coach was asked about Trevor Zegras mentioning “scooter skating” after Tuesday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to Seattle, and Tocchet lit up at the phrasing before using it to explain what he wants from the back end. The Flyers, he said, were getting too deep and too fast when they joined the attack.
“See, he’s listening, wow,” Tocchet said before elaborating on the term. “So, you’ll see the really good teams when you delay, the fourth guy, he scooters.
If you watched us last night, there were four instances where our defense are too…I can’t use the word. They’re too…if you heard the word, I can’t say it.”
After a short pause, Tocchet decided to say it.
“I can say it, they’re too horny, right? They get up in the play, and they get too…so you have to just slow your skating down.
The delay comes and then you scoot your skating, so you time it right, and then you get your shot. We were getting in too close.
Then when you get it, you’re on top of their rail guys, so you got to scoot your skating.
“That was something we worked on today. It happened honestly four or five times where we, literally, if we just waited just an extra two seconds, we would’ve had a Grade A (opportunity) instead of a blocked shot. So that’s something we’ve been really working on.”
The language may have been colorful, but the point was clear: the Flyers’ defense is being asked to be smarter about timing, not just more aggressive.
That showed up in Tuesday’s game, even in a result that still left Philadelphia stuck at 0-5-3. One of the bright spots in a game that went all the way to a shootout was seeing the defense press into the rush, especially Oliver Bonk and Travis Sanheim.
Bonk, skating on the top pair with Sanheim, was active throughout the night and helped spark the sequence that led to Christian Dvorak’s goal, which pulled Philadelphia within one after Seattle had opened the door.
Afterward, Bonk said he was simply trying to keep the play alive.
“I don’t know if I was waiting to get stopped, but I was just doing my best to keeping my feet moving,” Bonk said afterwards regarding the rush. “It’s a big thing to not throw pucks away at this level, so just keep going until I could make a play.”
Sanheim was involved too, and the veteran described his own push into the offensive side of the game with a straightforward approach.
“I mean I’m trying every game, as best that I can if I got the legs,” Sanheim said regarding trying to move up into the offensive zone or be a playmaker. “In this league you have to have offense come from the back end to help the forwards generate. Teams play too good defensively, so if you don’t have that fourth or fifth guy up ice, it’s hard to generate.”
He also said he “saw a chance to jump” while on the penalty kill.
For Tocchet, that balance is the whole trick. He wants the defense involved, but not drifting so far into the play that the chance gets wasted. The Flyers, he said, were arriving too early instead of delaying and arriving at the right time.
Still, the activity from the blue line gave Philadelphia a bit more offensive life in a game that needed it. With the club still searching for its first win, the hope is that the next step is learning when to jump, and when to wait.
The Flyers will get their next chance Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings.
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