PHILADELPHIA \u2013 When the shot totals aren\u2019t going your way, there\u2019s one tried and proven formula for changing that:\u00a0 Increase your time with the puck.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the Flyers were talking about as they approached Saturday\u2019s game with Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have to keep puck possession,\u201d coach Rick Tocchet said at Saturday morning\u2019s pre-game skate. \u201cI thought in the third period (vs. the Devils on Thursday) we were better. Some guys were able to hold onto pucks and make a play.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd moving your feet. Everybody\u2019s kind of waiting to see what\u2019s going to happen. It happens with the young guys. We need more practice time but we don\u2019t have (enough). So it\u2019s on the job training.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet surprised some people by going back to goaltender Joseph Woll for the start against the Hurricanes. Woll played well in a 3-2 overtime loss to New Jersey on Thursday while No. 1 goalie Dan Vladar looked rusty in Wednesday\u2019s season-opening 7-0 defeat by Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
The coach said Vladar has completely recovered from a right-arm issue he sustained in a preseason game but just requires more practice time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a hundred percent,\u201d Tocchet said, \u201che just hasn\u2019t had a lot of work. And Woll had a great game last game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coach wants to wait a while before making a real big deal of puck possession.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of guys haven\u2019t played a lot of games,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different year, too. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s an excuse. It\u2019s not a new team but it\u2019s a young team. We\u2019re trying to fight through that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no secret that one of the elements to Porter Martone\u2019s success is his physical play, which seemed to be lacking in the first two games. That doesn\u2019t always mean knocking people around but rather getting into the close-in areas to launch more high-percentage shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for him it\u2019s positional play,\u201d Tocchet said, \u201chis give-and-go play, that\u2019s what he is. He\u2019s an inside player, be able to get his shot off with somebody draped on your back. That\u2019s what he\u2019s really good at. If he just concentrates on that, the other things will happen for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martone knows what he has to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I expect a lot more from myself to contribute to this team and help it win games,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously it hasn\u2019t been there the first two games but I think that\u2019s kind of a mindset of what I have to do to kind of get back to my bread and butter. Just play to my identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of learning lessons and take what you can \u2014 the negatives and positives of a game. Just kind of continue to learn from them. Just go out there, enjoy playing and not think too much. When I\u2019m doing that, I\u2019m not at my best. Play the right way and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
David Jiricek was set to get a start on defense, and Tocchet\u2019s advice was to keep his game simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a guy that needs to simplify, get back the puck quick,\u201d the coach said. \u201cFirst guy you see, 12-foot pass, move it quickly. I think when he holds it a little too much, he gets in a little trouble. That\u2019s not just him, that\u2019s for all of us. The game comes to you. I think we\u2019re playing a little bit slow. We need to play faster. That\u2019s puck movement and I think he can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coach said he planned to use Jiricek on the second power play unit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2013 When the shot totals aren\u2019t going your way, there\u2019s one tried and proven formula for changing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":["post-678018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-flyers","tag-flyers","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-philadelphiaflyers","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117379454979043631","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678018","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=678018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}