Flyers embracing the ‘ugly’ as belief in the process continues to grow under John Tortorella

The Flyers’ Wednesday night performance had moments of beauty and grace — Tony DeAngelo’s outlet pass to spring a breakaway, Travis Konecny’s late consolation goal, a handful of Felix Sandström’s saves — but, for the most part, the 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers could be described by one word: ugly.

But that’s just how it’s going to be this year. First-year coach John Tortorella warned the Flyers community it would be this way before the season even started.

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“We’re going to have to learn to defend,” Tortorella said Oct. 5. “I think we’re going to have to grind to score goals. ... We’re not winning games, 4-1, 5-1, 4-2. I just don’t think we are. We’re going to be in some close games.”

Even the Flyers’ three wins so far have proved him right.

In their season opener Oct. 13 against the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers were outshot, 37-25. They gave away the puck 14 times. Despite the five goals they scored to the Devils’ two, the Flyers relied on the “hard to play against” mentality to carry them through, highlighted by 28 hits and 28 blocked shots.

Against the Vancouver Canucks last Saturday, they came out slow, resulting in a two-goal deficit, even with the Flyers, aided by several first-period power plays, outshooting the Canucks, 14-4, after one. But they showed resiliency and scored twice in the second to tie. Carter Hart (28 saves) was peppered the rest of the way, with the Canucks outshooting the Flyers, 26-17, over the final two periods, yet, once again, the Flyers emerged victorious, thanks in part to a late, opportunistic goal from Konecny.

On Tuesday against the Lightning in Tampa, Fla., the Flyers were outshot, 38-24. When they didn’t have the man advantage, they struggled to establish offensive zone time and even sometimes struggled in this regard when on the power play. They quickly fell behind by two goals, but, once again, they didn’t give up and ultimately clawed their way back to win.

A win’s a win. And while the Flyers have acknowledged there is room for improvement, they’ve gladly accepted the victories.

“They’re showing me they’re ugly,” Tortorella said after the Lightning game. “They’re showing me it doesn’t matter. They still have a little bit in the tank to just get things done. So first three games, they found a way to do it.”

Players and coaches frequently say they need to play a “full 60 minutes,” but Tortorella acknowledged it’s rare that actually happens. Sometimes it’s hard to even play 40 minutes well, he said.

Sure, Tortorella would like to have more puck possession and more good moments in the offensive zone within those 60 minutes. But it’s still early in the process, and the Flyers consistently finding themselves in situations where they have to come back from early deficits provides learning opportunities.

“We hope we’re building a little bit of a mindset of resiliency,” Tortorella said. “I think each time it happens that way and you succeed, it just builds it or for you.”

The early signs of that mindset forming are good, as the Flyers already have three comeback victories, including two in which they recovered from two-goal deficits. Last season, the Flyers had a league-low nine comeback wins and none when trailing by two goals or more.

Even in defeats, like Wednesday against the Panthers, Tortorella still sees positives in the progress.

After the Flyers fell behind the Panthers, 2-0, for the fourth game in a row, they fought back from a deficit to tie the score. The Flyers kept plugging away, even as the clock ticked down, and Konecny scored with just three seconds left to cut the Panthers lead to 4-3.

“I’m happy with the effort,” Tortorella said. “We stayed in it. Back-to-back situation, and I thought we played better as the game went on.”

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His message to reporters and fans seems to be consistent with the message he’s sharing in the locker room because the players conveyed the same thing after the game. Defenseman Nick Seeler, who scored the Flyers’ first goal on Wednesday but was also part of the breakdown that led to the Panthers’ third goal, echoed Tortorella.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Seeler said. “We showed a lot of resiliency and fight and effort, so that’s positive, but obviously not the outcome.”

Four games into the Tortorella era, the Flyers are far from a finished product, and it shows. But the guy with the plan is happy with the team’s progress, and so are his players. It might be ugly, but the locker room seems to believe looks aren’t everything, and belief is something that was in short supply last season.