There was a lot of uncertainty at the Flyers’ morning skate.
Ahead of the team’s game Monday against the New Jersey Devils at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., NBCSP), coach John Tortorella did not have any lineup news aside from saying that Sam Ersson would get the start.
“We’ve got some nicks, sickness, still not sure what the lineup is going to be,” Tortorella said.
Only four skaters — defenseman Erik Johnson and forwards Scott Laughton, Matvei Michkov, and Rodrigo Ābols — and the Flyers’ two goalies, including backup Ivan Fedotov, hopped on the ice. Laughton, who missed a week and three games because of a family matter, returned to practice on Sunday.
“We’ll see what happens, but, yeah, I feel ready to go,” Laughton said Monday. “I was working out a little bit back home, so feel OK and ready to go. Nice to have two skates and feel the puck again.”
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The Flyers announced their lineup about two hours before puck drop, and the big news is that Laughton does indeed draw back in while captain Sean Couturier (illness) will miss the contest. Johnson will stay in the lineup on defense, as Egor Zamula remains out with an upper-body ailment.Zamula did not play Saturday and has not practiced since.
Recent call-ups Anthony Richard and Ābols will stay in the lineup, as well. Richard’s speed will be key as the Flyers try to lock down the center of the ice and play a strong transition game. But Tortorella wants the focus in this one to be the high man.
“[The Devils are] balanced through their lineup. We’re going to have to play in the middle,” Tortorella said. “I think the biggest point of emphasis for me going into tonight’s game is just our third man. I think that’s been inconsistent, and we just can’t play that [way].”
Tortorella stressed that while having the third man high helps defensively — that player can get back easier on defense — it can also help the Flyers play on their toes and transition out of their end. The line of Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Tyson Foerster has consistently done this by utilizing the triangle, a foundational aspect of hockey. But as Tortorella has noted, “That’s the part of the game that I think we need to be more consistent, especially against a team like this.”
“A team like this” is a Devils squad that is fourth in the NHL in scoring chances for percentage (54.29%) and one of eight teams that have held opponents to under 1,000 scoring chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. New Jersey is also fifth in high-danger chances for percentage (54.31%).
But the last time they played, a 3-1 Flyers win on Jan. 18, the Devils were out-chanced and held to just a single high-danger chance at five-on-five.
“I think we took away their middle speed,” said Laughton, who last suited up for that game. “They’ve got some top-end speed with [Jack] Hughes and [Jesper] Bratt and guys like that [who] like to kind of wind it up. I thought we did a good job in the neutral zone. We blocked a ton of shots in our zone and they have some defensemen that can really rip the puck and Erss played a great game.
“We’re going to need that again. We have a lot of division games coming up at a key time here before the break and kind of need to get rolling here.”
Breakaways
Ryan Poehling skated Sunday before practice and Nick Deslauriers skated Monday before the morning skate, according to NBCSP. Each is dealing with an upper-body injury. Poehling, who was not in pads, has been out with a head injury since he was hit high by the New York Islanders’ Maxim Tsyplakov on Jan. 16. Tsyplakov was suspended for three games and is eligible to be in the lineup for the Islanders on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center (7:30 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu). Deslauriers has been on injured reserve since Dec. 6; it is retroactive to Nov. 9, the last game he played in.