If home opener is any indication, Flyers may be more fun than expected -- even if they're not the Phillies

There was no way that the Philadelphia Flyers weren’t going to be overshadowed on Tuesday night.

Back when their home opener was scheduled months ago by the NHL, the Flyers could never have known that the Philadelphia Phillies would still be in the MLB playoffs come the middle of October. It would have been impossible to predict that somehow, that Phillies team would become even more popular than it was during its 2022 run to the World Series. And, of course, no one could have divined that not would the Phillies be playing on October 18, but would have a home game scheduled for the very same night as the Flyers’ battle with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flyers played the part of the accommodating neighbor. The first regular season home game of the season is always a big moneymaker, but the Flyers took the hit and moved their game’s start time up to 6 PM, knowing that surely such change would have a negative impact on attendance. And they were already going to be behind the proverbial eight-ball in that area for multiple reasons: competition for in-person viewing (the third period fully overlapped with the start of the Phillies game, even with the start change), competition for eyeballs (stay home and watch the Phils, or attend the Flyers and miss part of the more important game) and the ridiculous traffic logjam that resulted from the three games (add in a Germany-Mexico soccer friendly match at Lincoln Financial Field and it made the South Philadelphia sports complex essentially impossible to navigate).

As one would expect, the Wells Fargo Center was far from full, as empty as it possibly will ever be for a home opener. The city’s focus remained on the Phillies, who blew out the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the NLCS by a 10-0 score to come within two games of a second consecutive World Series berth. Few cared much about the team playing on the other side of the street, a club that even in good times probably has the smallest bandwagon potential of the four major Philadelphia pro teams, and has been going through the opposite of good times over the past few years.

But those who did pay attention — whether in person or from afar — may have been surprised at what they saw. The Flyers didn’t just defeat the Canucks, a club with serious designs on returning to the playoffs. They took them apart, winning by a 2-0 final score that easily could have been far more lopsided.

“The second period is probably the best period we’ve played this year — really quite honestly, the best period we’ve played in quite a while,” head coach John Tortorella said after the win.

Torts wasn’t kidding. After a first period that saw the Flyers escape with a 2-0 lead despite chasing the play for long stretches, the home team completely took over in the middle stanza. They were all over the Canucks, forechecking them to death, spreading out Vancouver in coverage, and peppering goalie Thatcher Demko with shot after shot. The final damage: 22 shots for the Flyers and a mere three for the Canucks.

“We did an unbelievable job, just keeping the pressure on them,” Carter Hart said.

But it’s not just that the Flyers played a strong game, winning both on the scoreboard and by all advanced metrics as well. Even the most moribund NHL teams have a few nights per season when they fire on all cylinders, and it’s not like the Canucks are some juggernaut. No one is saying that the Flyers are going to cruise to a playoff berth or anything.

They might be fun, though. Or at least more fun than they have been in quite a while.

Start with Sean Couturier, who after missing a season and a half due to two surgeries, isn’t merely back in action — he’s back, period. After three games, the Flyers have won the shot attempts battle by a 46 – 28 margin with Couturier on the ice (62.16 percent share) and have collected a whopping 74.47 percent of the expected goals as well.

Small sample size? Maybe. But when Couturier has been putting up elite five-on-five metrics his entire career, it’s easier to accept as reality.

“He’s just so positioned,” Tortorella raved. “Sometimes I look at him and I’m not sure he’s moving or not, but he knows exactly what he’s doing as far as his positioning, and putting himself in a spot where he’s not going to chase the play. The play is going to have to come through him.”

The last step for Couturier is bringing back his offense, and perhaps a highlight-reel penalty shot goal — his first NHL tally since December 10, 2021 — can spark him in that regard.

“I hope it helps him,” Tortorella said. “He’s going along, slowly gone about his business. He’s been so sound defensively, hope that helps him with his puck movement and the offensive part of the game.”

“I think I’m starting to feel pretty good,” Couturier noted. “Just trying to get to know my teammates, use their strengths or weaknesses. I’m a thinker. I’ve just got to focus on not overthinking things. But my legs are there. I feel good, in shape. It’s just a matter of connecting with with my teammates, I think now.”

In the wake of the Claude Giroux trade, the Flyers have been absent anything remotely resembling star power, with Travis Konecny coming the closest but lacking the kind of two-way soundness that would put him on that level. Couturier may not be as dynamic as the league’s top stars — or Konecny, for that matter — but in terms of results, he was right up there with them for years. If the Flyers can get that version of Couturier back for the entirety of 2023-24, the on-ice impact will be enormous.

But the increased fun quotient goes beyond the potential reintroduction of peak Couturier to the lineup. There are prospects making plays on a nightly basis, like Egor Zamula, who scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday night via a slick hesitation point shot, and Bobby Brink, who looked every bit the creative playmaker in Game 3 as he did throughout the preseason.

“The part of the game that I’m impressed with is away from the puck, how strong he is on the puck, how deceptive a skater he is,” Tortorella raved regarding Brink. “He deserves what he’s getting. He’s played very well, and he deserves what he’s getting.”

There’s Konecny, who is proving with five points in his first three games that 2022-23 was no mirage for him, while remaining the yapping agitator (just ask Sam Lafferty, who dared to try and slip the puck between Konecny’s legs after a whistle) that was so endearing to Flyers fans in the first place. There’s the fourth line, which is both racking up hits and driving play in the early stages of the season, to the point where Nicolas Deslauriers — who delivered an early monster check that had the fans who did show up roaring — actually has the best five-on-five on-ice xG share (75.39 percent) on the Flyers, better than even Couturier. There’s the aggressive PK, which now isn’t merely attacking with the puck in shorthanded waves but all over the ice to force turnovers and deny entries.

Now, to be clear — “fun” doesn’t necessarily mean “good.” Couturier might still be an impact player even after two back surgeries, but he’s not on the level of Jack Hughes or Adam Fox or even an aging Sidney Crosby in terms of Metropolitan Division stars. The Flyers’ best prospects remain either in college or overseas. Hits and post-whistle extracurriculars may rile up the fans and help bring a team together, but they’re not going to make up for significant talent gaps and a thin blueline corps. The aggressive PK may be a blast to watch when it’s working, but it can also be exploited, as Ottawa showed on Saturday, going three-for-five against it.

But the Flyers have now played three games, and measurably outplayed their opponent in two of them. Not only that — their two wins haven’t been slogs or defensive slugfests. Philadelphia is playing an active, attacking style of hockey, and at least so far, encouraging their youngsters to be creative and take risks.

The Flyers aren’t going to reach Phillies levels of love from the local fans overnight. It took the Phils a decade of wandering in the wilderness, of half-filled stadiums and apathetic fans to get back there, and even then, many weren’t fully sold until a miracle World Series run. The Flyers are years away from embarking on even a darkhorse bid for a Stanley Cup Final appearance.

But that doesn’t mean that they can’t start laying some early groundwork for becoming an enjoyable hockey team to watch. Tuesday may not have been the night to start winning over converts. But after a season’s worth of performances in line with the one they produced against the Canucks? Who knows.

Assorted observations

2. The big pregame story was a surprise healthy scratch — Morgan Frost, who sat so that both Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster could remain in the lineup.

“Other guys are playing better. There’s not too much science to my thinking, in terms of lineups,” Tortorella said when asked about the decision after the game.

But while Tortorella wanted to present his decision as simple and straightforward, it really was anything but. On one hand, Tortorella is correct that Frost was off to a rough start — no points and a team-low 24.42 percent xG share at five-on-five speaks to his very real struggles. And it’s difficult to argue that Tortorella is betraying the rebuild when the Frost scratch is in large part meant to facilitate more playing time for two younger prospects — both of whom have outplayed Frost thus far.

That said, there’s more going on here. Frost wasn’t the only forward off to a slow start — all of Owen Tippett, Noah Cates and even veteran Scott Laughton weren’t exactly at their best through two games. But Frost is the player who Tortorella chose, and it lines up with his long-expressed skepticism regarding Frost as a player. Tortorella’s decision may have been justifiable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t colored by bias — especially given the fact that it was the home opener, a game with serious meaning for players. For Frost, it had to hurt to be introduced to the home crowd in a suit rather than a jersey, and he would be forgiven for feeling like Tortorella unfairly singles him out for criticism and punishment.

The head coach’s hope is clearly that Frost is motivated by the slight, and returns to the lineup the same player who led the Flyers in scoring during the second half of last season. But this likely won’t be the last we hear of Morgan Frost drama this year. Tortorella will make sure of that.

3. Travis Sanheim delivered a strong bounceback game after an uneven performance in Ottawa, again leading the Flyers in ice time with 24:28 minutes, and finishing with an on-ice xG share of 76.31 percent in those minutes. Those Sanheim detractors who have long tagged the defenseman with the dreaded “soft” tag had to have been surprised to watch Sanheim sitting on Dakota Joshua during his first shift of the third period, holding the 6’3 forward down on the ice for a good 15 seconds in the midst of a physical battle and then exchanging blows with him after Joshua finally returned to his skates.

Those extra 20 pounds of muscle are seemingly going a long way towards improving Sanheim’s confidence in throwing his weight around, even if he’s never going to be a big hitter.

4. Tippett was again held off the scoresheet, but he does appear to be getting closer to breaking through, hitting the net with four of his five shot attempts and racking up multiple scoring chances in the process.

5. The team’s “new” goal song appears to be ‘Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love’ by Van Halen, which was their goal song years ago in the late 1990s. It’s certainly a choice that will appeal to older fans (release year: 1978), but it doesn’t exactly scream “New Era of Orange,” especially when other local teams like the Phillies and their fans are embracing more modern songs like ‘Dancing On My Own.’