VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 There are plenty of reasons why the Flyers suddenly find themselves back in legitimate contention for a playoff spot. A three-game sweep in California has fueled optimism that the Flyers might still have enough time in their last 13 games to pull off this longshot proposition.<\/p>\n
Leading that tear on the West Coast was Owen Tippett, who caught fire and produced at both ends of the ice during wins over Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.<\/p>\n
A right wing throughout his career, he even took some shifts at center in the absence of the injured Sean Couturier. He scored shorthanded, set up goals at even strength and seemed to be pushing the offense.<\/p>\n
As for his time at the pivot, Tippett shrugged his shoulders during a post-workout media session at the Flyers Training Center Monday. He had approached coach Rick Tocchet late in the San Jose game and offered his services even though he had rarely played the position in the NHL.<\/p>\n
At one point the Flyers were even using defenseman Emil Andrae as the fourth-line center.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, given our lineup the last couple games, we knew someone was going to have to step in,\u201d Tippett said. \u201cAndrae was playing there and he\u2019s a defenseman. It was just in the flow of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tippett was a little concerned about taking faceoffs in the defensive zone, where a bad loss can result in a Grade A scoring chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a cool story,\u201d Tippett said. \u201cIn our system, it\u2019s all about communication and who is low anyway. I didn\u2019t think too much of it. If you\u2019re first back (into the defensive zone), you\u2019re the low man and you\u2019re playing the center position anyway. That\u2019s just kind of how I looked at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt San Jose, there were nine or 10 minutes left,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cAnd Devo (Christian Dvorak) was dead, (Noah) Cates was in the box. Trevor (Zegras) just came off the ice. I said, \u2018I need a center here.\u2019 And Tip looks at me and says, \u2018I\u2019ll play center.\u2019 Just like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that was a cool moment. I go, \u2018Ok, go out there.\u2019 We kind of laughed. He went out there and played center a couple times. That was a pretty cool moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tippett leads the Flyers in shorthanded goals with three. He\u2019s taken his penalty killing to another level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the last time I kind of did it (PK) was junior,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was always something I always wanted to do because I thought I could be good at it. Play a little more, keeps you in the flow of the game, too. I\u2019m happy to be able to contribute whenever I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the team\u2019s success \u2013 5-0-1 in their last six, plus a seven-game road winning streak \u2013 there have been a number of factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really like our energy,\u201d Tippett said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t set up (three games in less than four days) to have the best legs. A tough back-to-back, travel. I think it just goes to show that everyone here is pushing toward the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 24 goals this season, Tippett is five shy his career high. He\u2019s looking to cross the 25-goal mark for the third time. And he\u2019s done it while playing a physical game when called for.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s his consistency since the start of the year,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cThere are not many lulls in his game. I\u2019ll be honest, he\u2019s had to drive some lines himself. It\u2019s hard to find guys like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Cates also had a big trip, scoring an OT winner and getting into a fight. With 38 points, he\u2019s already tied his career high. He needs one more goal to tie his career best of 16, set last season, and his plus-19 leads the Flyers by a considerable margin.<\/p>\n
When Tocchet was named coach last year, he knew he was getting a good player in Cates. But maybe not this good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not surprised,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI\u2019ve only been here a short time but he\u2019s one guy who comes every day and tries to get better. Great character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cates made his presence felt earlier in the year when he centered a line with Tyson Foerster (now injured) and Bobby Brink (traded to Minnesota). Now he\u2019s working some of his magic with Matvei Michkov.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s continued to be a constant for us,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe\u2019s a pretty structured guy, tries to do the right thing. They were out there in the last couple minutes (vs. San Jose) and it\u2019s a testament to both of those guys, the chemistry they\u2019ve been having.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cates sounds like he\u2019s taking it in stride. He\u2019s a team-first guy and tries to help any way he can. He admits he was struggling in January, but things have picked up since the Olympic break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was kind of a mental reset at the break,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a tough January and we knew how important the games were going to be after the break. Got a week of rest, had a training camp, got back to some systems. We\u2019ve been aggressive since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost all players go through a letdown period in the dog days of January. Cates was no different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of stuff leads into a lack of energy,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd jump. That\u2019s where my game kind of starts. Winning battles. After the break, I got more aggressive. Got to the D-zone quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Couturier, Denver Barkey and Luke Glendening all skated on Monday, but their availability remains day-to-day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 There are plenty of reasons why the Flyers suddenly find themselves back in legitimate contention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-519713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116282512163445848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}