Vigneault already having an impact
VOORHEES, N.J. >> There was the wholly predictable stumble out of the gate, what with a new coaching staff and the demand of aroundthe-globe travel to start the season.
There was a subsequent slide, this one easily blamed on an extended case of jet lag ... or a case of season-start-lag that extends back to 2011.
Since those lofty post-Cup Finals days at the start of the 2011-12 season, the Flyers haven’t had a .500 or better start at the approximate quarter point of the season. The
2011-12 club under head coach Peter Laviolette, fresh off a six-game Stanley Cup Finals loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, went 12-6-3 over their first 21 games, en route to a 4726-9 regular season.
The Flyers haven’t seen a regular season go so well in the years since, a 9-9-3 mark in 2016 representing their best start in recent seasons. But having won four straight games heading into Wednesday night’s home meeting with the Washington Capitals, the Flyers (10-5-2, 22 points, third in the Metropolitan Division) are well on their way to the best quarter-pole mark in the past eight years, and if they stay hot they can even better it.
Despite the task of playing Game
1 in Prague and Games 3,4 and 5 in Western Canada, it didn’t take very long for new head coach Alain Vigneault and his former head coach assistants Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo to get this club to start playing a different brand of hockey from what its longtime veterans were accustomed. With maturity comes an urgent hunger.
“We’re just getting better, I think,” Jake Voracek said. “Training camp, practices, ... you can tell it’s a high-paced practice, right? We don’t practice as much, but when we do it’s really hard . ... Everybody is on the same page, every single line, every single player.”
This most recent run began on Nov. 1 with a road game in New Jersey, the Flyers having suffered the humiliation of a 7-1 loss in Pittsburgh three nights earlier. With the follow-up 4-3 shootout victory at Prudential Center, the Flyers kicked off a run of five wins in six games, with a somewhat stunning caveat that five of those six went overtime, four involving shootouts.
The Flyers of essentially every year since the shootout began were never successful at that made-forTV game decider. But then, this has become a much different team than so many years before.
Start with two-time Cup finals head coach Vigneault and his smiling resolve that somehow has always been an effective way to motivate veteran players and young players alike. And with the NHL game becoming ohso specialized in the past couple of years, it’s a thing now to load up on assistant coaches with head coaching experience.
With Therrien and Yeo, Vigneault has two assistants whose head coaching resumes rival his.
“I think there’s a little more accountability,” Sean Couturier said. “Whether you’re a veteran or a young guy, I think AV knows what he wants from his players. When you’re kind of getting away from playing the right way or you’re not playing the right way, he’ll let you know, no matter who you are.
“Those three experienced guys, they know what they want from their players and they make you play that way. They make you believe it’s successful ... and guys are just buying in.”
It’s no coincidence that with their recent run of success, the “guys” are getting younger.
There’s the ascension of 21-yearold Carter Hart to the goalie throne, and 19-year-old Joel Farabee being called upon to man right wing on the top line with Claude Giroux and Voracek.
Then there’s 22-year-old Travis Konecny playing the best hockey of his life on Couturier’s line, along with 23-year-old Oskar Lindblom. They lead the team in scoring. Still playing on a fourth line is 22-yearold Carsen Twarynski. And capping the youth movement is defensive leader Ivan Provorov (23) and recently called upon Philippe Myers (23), helping to anchor a defense that only very recently has started to play like it should.
Altogether, the Flyers have had an early turnaround while almost fully committing to an ongoing youth movement.
“Whether you’re a young guy or an older guy,” said Couturier, now an aged veteran of 27, “I guess (Vigneault) called out some older veterans earlier this year. When some of your leaders get called out, young guys just have to follow the lead.”
Vigneault had no problem recently pointing out that both Giroux and Voracek could step up their games more, which would lead to better production. It’s happened just that way. Unlike predecessor Dave Hakstol, now an assistant in Toronto, Vigneault is also confident enough to activate some of his motivation techniques through the media ... smiling and joking the whole time, of course.
Asked after practice Tuesday at the Skate Zone about a few players’ opinions that success can be built upon a “mutual trust” between players and coaches, Vigneault flashed an eye-twinkle look and said, “Can I say that’s bull .... ?
“No, what we’re trying to do here is tell our players what they need to do on the ice, what they need to do as far as team preparation,” Vigneault said. “But the individual preparation, as far as going out on the ice to compete and execute, that’s their responsibility.”
Doing that better than he has his previous two NHL campaigns has been Konecny, who despite missing some preseason time while waiting for a contract extension has eight goals and 19 points through his first 17 games, and is a plus-1. Lindblom, tied with Konecny at eight goals, has also been outstanding, while Giroux and Voracek (12 points each) have accommodated their games to be more two-way than pointproduction-centric.
On top of that, the Flyers’ special teams are the most obvious indicators of change. Entering Tuesday, the club was tied for sixth in the NHL with 14 power play goals, and
11th in percentage of PP success at a
21.5 percent. On the penalty kill, the Flyers were seventh overall with an
85.4 kill rate.
“I think we’re playing as a team,” Giroux said. “We’re really responsible and, how do I say this? ... we just follow the structure of the team. We don’t try to do our own thing.
“I don’t like to talk about the past. I mean, it’s done with. But I think right now we’re really structured and when I say that, I mean everybody’s buying in, everybody’s playing the same way.”
“Accountability has a lot to do with understanding the game,” said Vigneault. “When you can understand the game and evaluate your performance the way you’re supposed to, it helps you work on certain things and it helps you improve your game.”
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NOTES >> Hart will start in net against the Caps . ... Scott Laughton skated for the first time since taking a shot off a finger Oct. 26 against the Blue Jackets, which required surgery. He’s eligible to come off long-term injured reserve Nov. 23. “That’s what’s I’m kind of shooting for,” Laughton said, “but we’ll see what the doctor says.”