At 4-6-0 after the first 10 games of the 2013 regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers still have a long way to do to climb out of the early season hole they created for themselves. Last night, they took an upward step on the ladder with a hard-working 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center.
The main heroes for the Flyers were tough guy forward Tom Sestito (two goals; first tallies as a Flyer) and goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov (21 saves, including a handful of spectacular ones). Bryzgalov made one lateral save on the deadly Steven Stamkos that will be on the season highlight package for the rest of the year and erased several other prime scoring chances at critical junctures.
Beyond Sestito and Bryzgalov, there were important contributions from just about everyone in the Philadelphia lineup:
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Giroux line: The Claude Giroux line did not get on the scoreboard last night. But Philly's top line, for the second straight game, set the tone with a strong first shift spent in the Tampa end of the ice. It was the first of many such shifts to come.
Giroux did not have a shot on goal in the game, but he won 18 of 25 faceoffs (72 percent) and had a couple excellent backchecking plays and a pair of key blocked shots. On the power play, he looked consistently dangerous despite the Flyers going 0-for-2.
Tye McGinn won numerous board battles and was a key cog in the cycling game for his game. He also had four shots on goal.
Danny Briere had three good looks at the net between even strength and power play time. He didn't cash in but did generate three shots on goal. He also kept several plays alive in the offensive zone, forcing Tampa players to expend a lot of energy clearing the puck to safety.
At least twice last night, Tampa had to abort would-be counterattacks because their skaters were at the end of long defensive shifts and had to go off on line changes. On a night where the Flyers generally did a good job at supporting the puck and limiting Tampa's offensive operating room, Philadelphia's solid forechecking work made life a little easier when the puck finally went the other way.
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Timonen-Schenn pairing: Far and away, Kimmo Timonen played his best defensive game of the season to date. He bailed the team out on a couple of would-be shorthanded odd-man rushes for Tampa Bay and snuffed out several dangerous-looking plays at five-on-five as well. Last night, Timonen looked like a four-time NHL All-Star, three-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner and not an aging and ailing player.
Meanwhile, Luke Schenn had an excellent bounceback game after a rough night against Carolina in the first two periods of Saturday's 5-3 win. In 21:37 of ice time, he had three blocks, two hits, one takeaway and zero turnovers. Schenn kept his body under control and didn't over-commit or take himself out of position looking for big hits. He even rushed a puck to safety by himself at the end of a penalty kill when the ice opened up for him.
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Rinaldo pays back Crombeen: The Flyers were not too happy with Tampa agitator B.J. Crombeen for the way he targeted Claude Giroux the last time the teams met. Zac Rinaldo, who missed the first game due to injury, found Crombeen at the 6:19 mark of the first period. They dropped the gloves, and Rinaldo proceeded to beat the tar out of Crombeen (who was knocked out of the game).
At the end of the fight, Rinaldo appeared to violated "the fighters' code of honor" by tagging a downed Crombeen with one additional bomb. Rinaldo said afterward referee Kelly Sutherland told him he'd done nothing wrong and the last punch came with Crombeen going down and not already down). Tampa Bay's bench, I'm sure, saw it differently. To be honest, it looked like Crombeen was already down and vulnerable on the ice when Rinaldo threw his final punch.
Crombeen -- like Rinaldo himself -- is a live-by-the-sword type of player who is not exactly a sympathetic figure. He would do the same thing to an opponent in the same situation. Still, it doesn't make it right to hit a guy when he's down.
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Talbot assists on GWG, takes LeCavalier off for seven: Max Talbot had a career high 19 goals last season (although he has yet to score this season) and is an important defensive player for Philadelphia. But trading off Talbot for Vincent LeCavalier with 8:14 left the third period of a one-goal game is a good exchange for the Flyers.
Talbot pretty much ONLY fights under two circumstances: 1) His opponent is one of the opposition's best players and/or 2) the game's score and the clock are aligned for a "smart time" to drop the gloves. Talbot usually loses the battle -- but his team wins the war.
That was the case last night. Talbot and LeCavalier traded off slashes and then fought. LeCavalier "won" the fight against Talbot, who is nearly a half-foot shorter than him, and delivered an extra punch when Talbot was down in an obvious response to what Rinaldo had done in the Crombeen fight. But Talbot was physically OK afterward and got LeCavalier off the ice for seven minutes.
Seconds before the fight, Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko assisted on Sestito's second goal of the game. Sestito scored on another backhander from in tight, which was a quick Philadelphia response to Benoit Pouliot's game-tying goal less than two minutes earlier. LeCavalier was on the ice for Tampa when the goal was scored.
So the sum total of the shift was that the Flyers' fourth line scored with LeCavalier and Victor Hedman on the ice for Tampa and then took LeCavalier out of commission for most of the remainder of regulation. Game, set and match to Talbot, no matter how he fared when the gloves were dropped.
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Active game for Couturier: Second-year center Sean Couturier was around the puck frequently and made several heady plays in both the defensive and offensive zones. He was also credited with a pair of takeaways. Couturier didn't get a shot or a point and lost 6 of 10 faceoffs but his coverages were very good.
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Stellar penalty kill for Grossmann: Nicklas Grossmann was not as much of a shutdown defensive force against Tampa Bay as he was in the Carolina game. Even so, he was outstanding in a third period penalty kill with the Flyers clinging to one-goal lead and Fedotenko playing without a stick. Grossmann had a blocked shot (one of three for the game) and a critical zone clear that let the Flyers get fresh troops on the ice.
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Points for Voracek and Brayden Schenn: Last night's game was not an especially good one on the whole for Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek. Their ice time reflected it; Schenn played 10:42 (second straight game of reduced time) and Voracek skated 13:11. However, both players turned in great work on the shift that led to Sestito's first goal. Schenn made a good play along the walls and Voracek made a picturesque pass to an open Sestito, who beat Anders Lindback with a backhander from in close.
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Subtle but crucial defensive plays by Knuble, Fedotenko, Read and Foster: No one but coaches ever talk about about defensive zone chip-outs as being a deciding factor in a one-goal win or loss, but even the most casual of followers notice the plays where the zone isn't cleared and bad things happen as a result -- a goal against, a penalty or an icing by a tired team.
The slim margin between finessing a puck just over the defensive blueline from the side boards or having it kept in by the forechecking team can make a huge difference. There were at least seven such plays by my count last night where Matt Read, Mike Knuble or Ruslan Fedotenko were able to clear the zone, forcing Tampa's attackers to re-touch the blueline or regroup in the neutral zone. Third-pairing defenseman Kurtis Foster easily played his best game as a Flyer, stopping two rushes cold, doling out two hits and blocking three shots. He did get beaten away from the puck by the speedy Cory Conacher on one shift, but Bryzgalov made a stellar save to keep the game scoreless in the first period.
All but the last of the aforementioned plays will look good to the Flyers' coaches after reviewing the game video from last night. Plays like those were a big part of the reason why Tampa only had 21 shots for the game. The Bolts were kept to the perimeter and many would-be extensive forechecking shifts got short-circuited before Tampa could wear down the Flyers' defense and create overloads and coverage breakdowns.
The Flyers will try to pull one step closer to .500 tomorrow night when they take on the Florida Panthers.
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Most NHL role players were once scorers at the lower levels of the game. As players move up the competition ladder from junior hockey to the minor leagues to the NHL, the speed of the game gets faster, opposing players get physically stronger and the quality of both the defense and goaltending gets better.
In addition, there are only so many players who can be scorers on a given team. There's only so much power play time and so many offensive zone faceoffs to go around, and the most skilled players get this ice time. The role players have to find other ways to be useful.
In the case of Tom Sestito, his role in professional hockey is to use his size and strength to bang bodies. He fights frequently, although he is not quite as balanced on his feet during fights as some similar sized heavyweights such as former NHLer Sandy McCarthy (an ex-Flyer). Sestito is not expected to score goals, and he neither gets enough ice time nor is used frequently in the types of situations that present many scoring opportunities.
That does NOT mean, however, that Sestito is just some big ham-handed goon. He has shown some finishing ability outside the NHL level. Even in the AHL, where he primarily played a third-line role and only occasionally got worked into a little secondary power play duty as a net-front presence, he showed some scoring ability when the chances presented themselves.
You don't expect two-goal games from Sestito in the NHL. In fact, he may not score another goal for the Flyers this season. But his good fortune last night was simply in being in the middle of two scoring chances, not in actually finishing off the plays once he got the puck near the net.
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HockeyBuzz readers often ask me about whether the Flyers should target specific players and propose what Philly should send in return for that player. Often, the suggested return to the other team is artificially low, especially where defensemen are concerned.
Defensemen command a premium both in the trade market and in terms of salary. Leaguewide, it's common-knowledge that overpayment is a virtual guarantee, and the trick is either to a) minimize the overpayment by dealing from a position of strength (i.e., helping the other team to address a glaring need) or b) being willing to take on some bad contracts or reclamation projects.
Here's a theoretical example of why it can be difficult to trade for blueline help. I'll use Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley as the example. Again, it's only a hypothetical situation based on my own read of a potential trade fit or lack thereof.
Daley is not a marquee name around the NHL but is a mobile and durable puck-mover and good shot blocker who logs 21-to-22 minutes per game. Each year, he chips in occasional offense (although he is pointless and minus-six through Dallas' first 10 games this year). Flyers' fans wouldn't be enamored with him because he's not a physical player and not a huge point producer but the specific things that are his main strengths are also things that the Flyers could use.
Let's suppose that Flyers pro scouts have told Holmgren that they think the 29-year-old Daley could be a good minutes-eater who can address some of the mobility concerns on the Philadelphia blueline. The Flyers' GM then does some homework on the player.
Before contacting Dallas, Holmgren looks at Daley's contract. He finds that the player has a rather unfavorable contract that carries a $3.3 million cap hit, runs through 2016-17 and carries a partial no-trade clause. He also looks at the Dallas system as a whole and rationalizes that Alex Goligoski, Jamie Oleksian and Brenden Dillon are long-term keepers at the NHL level. Philip Larsen has some upside as well. Patrik Nemeth appears to be a Grossmann-in-training at the AHL level. What's more, the Stars appear to be a bit of transitional or retooling phase.
Might the Stars be interested in unloading Daley's rather hefty contract? The team can use a boost in young forward talent, which is why they signed 40-year-old Ray Whitney and Jaromir Jagr last summer.
OK, now put yourself in Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk's shoes. The Flyers' blueline needs are glaring, and he's under no pressure to move a player like Daley. So when Holmgren comes calling about Daley, whom do you ask for in return?
If I'm Nieuwendyk, I ask for Matt Read.
I'd cite the fact that he's a season away (2013-14) from becoming an unrestricted free agent and will only be a "bargain" for one more year before he cashes in on a contract extension or a UFA deal elsewhere. I'd also not that Read is more of a versatile utility player who moves all around the lineup than a bonafide standout offensive player. I'd say, to me, Read for Daley is a fair swap of two players who play in a variety of different game situations but aren't top-of-lineup players.
Now, if I'm Holmgren, I say thanks but no thanks.
There are better defensemen out there both defensively and offensively than Daley (especially in light of his contract) and Read is an important member of my own team for whom there is no viable replacement on hand. Reads adds favorably to team speed. He scores and sets up goals on a reasonably frequent basis for a role player. He plays a solid defensive game even when not scoring.
After saying no to moving Read -- and being equally unwilling to discuss Jakub Voracek for a player like Daley -- I'd counter with this: How about prospect forward Nick Cousins -- a projected NHLer, although probably not an impact player -- and a third-round pick?
From Nieuwendyk's standpoint, I'd say that's not good enough. I want an NHL roster forward with some offensive ability in return for my established NHL defenseman, not a prospect. I'd add that I've gotten better offers elsewhere (whether I have or haven't).
There would be no Flyers-Stars deal consummated, despite each team having something the other one wants. Down the line, who knows? Maybe one side gets desperate. Maybe one of the GMs becomes interested in a different player that the other side would be agreeable to moving. More likely, nothing ever comes of it.
That hypothetical example is how the "trade negotiation dance" goes in the real world. It isn't like swapping hockey cards like many of us did in our youth.
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