Hockey teams generally do better when they get off the road. That\u2019s why they call it \u201chome-ice advantage.\u201d But for the Flyers this season it\u2019s been the other way around.<\/p>\n
The Flyers this year were successful at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, going 20-13-8. But it was not as good as their record out of town, where they put together a mark of 23-14-4.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t include two victories at PPG Paints in Pittsburgh to start their best-of-seven first-round series with the Penguins.<\/p>\n
Now the scene switches back to Philadelphia Wednesday night. Many are curious to see if the Flyers can keep the momentum going against the Penguins.<\/p>\n
The Flyers look and sound like a confident group. They will be a rested one, with a day off on Tuesday. But coach Rick Tocchet did participate in a media Zoom call to answer questions about Game 3. The last thing the Flyers want to do is give the Pittsburgh crew a little life.<\/p>\n
Who better to describe what it\u2019s like to take part in a Stanley Cup playoff game than Tocchet? He played in two Finals at the Spectrum in 1985 and 1987.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of great memories,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cWent to the Finals twice. I guess the buzz around the city, the way the fans outside the arena, even downtown a lot of people wearing orange and black.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know when the fans are into it, this fan base embraces their teams. So I\u2019ve seen it with the Eagles, with the Phillies and Sixers. That\u2019s what I felt as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
The noise level at the start of a game can intimidate an opponent, especially in the City of Not So Brotherly Love.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an extra boost,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cWhen you walk around the city and have these people behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
One of the top stories for the Flyers has been the play of rookie Porter Martone. He\u2019s scored in each of his first two playoff games and totaled double-digit points for his first nine NHL regular-season games.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old former Michigan State player doesn\u2019t look intimidated by the big stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give the people who developed him a lot of credit,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHis dad used to play hockey, you can tell. Even on that goal (in Game 2) it might look easy. But if you really watch him, his timing, the way he gets on his backhand, not rush the shot, you can tell he\u2019s had those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
As his career moves develops, no doubt he will begin to draw more defensive pressure. But for now, teams are still trying to figure out how to stop him. He\u2019s big, fast and knows his way around the net.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just OK the first period and a half but then he started to get it,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cWhere it might take a young guy a week, a bunch of games, it only took him a period and a half to figure out playoff hockey. A lot of maturity for a 19-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Veteran defenseman Travis Sanheim is finally getting a chance at playoff action after a five-year drought. And wouldn\u2019t you know it? He gets to go head-to-head against Sidney Crosby.<\/p>\n
Those two might see even more of each other now that the Flyers have the last change advantage at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of years for Sanny not being in the playoffs,\u201d Tocchet acknowledged. \u201cYou could tell the last month how bad he wanted to play in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s really impressed me is his ability to close off the rush. And also, having enough juice even when he\u2019s playing 25 minutes, the time and place when to rush the puck. He\u2019s done it a lot this past month.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet likes the fact that Sanheim analyzes situations so well. It\u2019s almost like having an assistant coach out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I really like is he knows when to go,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cAt the start of the year maybe a little too much. But now he\u2019s picking and choosing when to go. You know his hockey IQ has really improved over the last six weeks, two months. Playing 25 minutes, knowing when to go, when not to go and when to know, \u2018hey, Sidney Crosby is on the ice, where do I have to be?\u2019 That\u2019s smart hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet said Sanheim\u2019s stock has risen since the Elkhorn, Manitoba, native participated in international events like the 4 Nations Faceoff and the Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose have really helped him,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe\u2019s really getting recognized now on the world stage, this guy can defend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hockey teams generally do better when they get off the road. That\u2019s why they call it \u201chome-ice advantage.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557679,"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-557678","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\/116446463479316526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557678","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=557678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}