PHILADELPHIA — Flyers coach John Tortorella’s latest viral moment, in which he berated a local, team-affiliated podcast host for, in his words, “causing Kevin Hayes a problem,” will inevitably get the bulk of the airplay on social media and elsewhere for the next couple of days.
But ignore that, if you can. Because if there’s one word from the presser that should be of most interest to Flyers fans, it should be this one: rover. That’s how Tortorella described his new toy, defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who made his Flyers debut in their 3-2 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
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Tortorella mentioned a few hours after the trade with Anaheim went down Monday that, after watching tape on Drysdale before the deal was consummated, “I just don’t think he’s up the ice enough offensively. The first time I see him face to face, that’s what I’m going to tell him.”
Consider that message, delivered over video meetings with the coaching staff over the past 36 hours or so, received. Drysdale was up, down and all over the ice in his first game in an orange and black sweater.
He notched his first assist with the Flyers on the power play, shoveling the puck to Morgan Frost for a quick shot that tied the score at 2-2 in the second period. He found Joel Farabee in the slot in the first period on a play that looked like a sure goal until Farabee missed the net. Shortly after his assist, he spotted Sean Couturier at the offensive blue line with a tape-to-tape pass that originated a few feet inside the Flyers’ defensive zone.
His strong skating was particularly evident in overtime. He hustled back into the defensive zone to stop a potentially dangerous play behind the Flyers’ net by jamming up Jake Evans, and he later found Frost again for a partial breakaway with 1:20 to go in the extra session that Frost couldn’t quite squeeze through goalie Cayden Primeau.
“Yeah, he was up the ice. I want him to go more,” Tortorella said. “He’s a candidate to be like a rover. Not a defenseman, a rover. He’s just on top of the ice the way he skates. There were a couple of times where he was up the ice and we didn’t get him the puck. He was aggressive. … I think he’s more than willing to do that.”
He is, evidently.
“Love the way this team plays, run and gun with speed,” Drysdale said. “I think I can fit right in.”
Fitting in juuuuuuust fine. #MTLvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/4JUcaeaJD5
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 11, 2024
That term, rover, has been used by more than just Tortorella to describe some of the NHL’s more talented defensemen over the last decade or so. Tortorella had one guy like that in Dan Boyle in Tampa Bay, and then he used it to describe Zach Werenski in Columbus, too. Brent Burns, in his heyday with the Sharks, was termed a rover by then-coach Todd McLellan. Ditto Erik Karlsson, now with the Penguins.
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That doesn’t mean Drysdale is going to turn into a Boyle, a Burns or a Karlsson. But Tortorella seems genuinely excited as to what Drysdale can add to the Flyers immediately and in the long term.
“I’m not going to jump up and down, but I am excited that we have a 21-year-old right-handed defenseman that can skate like that,” he said. “It’s perfect timing as far as where we are in our process.”
Speaking of where they are, the Flyers hit the midway point of the regular season with a 21-14-6 mark. They remain in the thick of the playoff race, and picking up the extra point in the shootout — courtesy of Couturier, who scored the only goal, and goalie Samuel Ersson, who stopped all three Montreal shooters — was vital, considering they got smoked by the Penguins on Monday and embark on a three-game road trip beginning Friday in Minnesota.
Wednesday’s game was odd. The Canadiens jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on a redirection on the first shot and a fluky bounce off Frost on their second. Those were their only two shots of the opening frame. Owen Tippett’s goal at 15:41 of the first made it 2-1 at the first intermission.
In the third period, with the score still tied at 2, Montreal had the edge territorially before the Flyers eventually matched their energy to force overtime.
“We battled hard most of the night, even when we were down 1-0, 2-0 — those were their only two chances, lucky bounces,” Couturier said. “We were controlling play pretty well, just stuck to it. It could have been easy to go on our own and try to do our own stuff, but we stuck together and found a way to get back into the game. Huge win.”
Ersson, who improved to 10-5-3 with 17 saves, the first of which didn’t come until early in the second period, said: “I think for myself I put this win in the mentally strong file. It’s hard to start a game like that. But it happens, and you’ve got to deal with it. I think I did a good job, the team did a great job how we battled back and got ourselves this win.”
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For the first time this season, the Flyers have power-play goals in three straight games, too. They had only two power-play chances against the Canadiens, but on their first, it was Drysdale, Frost and the second unit that took all of 29 seconds to cash in.
If the Flyers are going to remain in the hunt for the postseason, their 31st-ranked power play is going to have to be much better over the second half. It undoubtedly cost them points throughout the first half: The Flyers are 9-5-6 in one-goal games, and in 10 of those 11 losses, the power play failed to convert.
It’s been noticeably better for the past week, even when it’s not scoring.
“We seem to be starting to find a little more chemistry and create some more plays and chances,” Couturier said. “Guys know where they are. It’s a lot more fun these days than it was earlier in the year, that’s for sure. We can still build and be better, for sure.”
Drysdale should help, particularly with his lateral movement which can create open space for his teammates.
“From what I saw, not only power play, but he walked the line really well, really smooth,” Couturier said. “Gets guys to bite and get out of the lanes. He looks good back there. You can tell he’s really mobile and has that offensive mind, sees the play really well.”
In a postgame self-evaluation, Drysdale said there were “a couple of slip-ups on my end.” Maybe there were, although none were overly obvious.
But even so, after doing the best he could to catch up on sleep after a pre-dawn flight Tuesday morning to Philadelphia, he couldn’t find much to be critical about after game No. 1.
“I feel like you can’t draw it up better,” Drysdale said. “Exciting game, great crowd, great fans. Came out with a win.”
(Photo: Eric Hartline / USA Today)
