After a ‘slow start,’ defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is working to improve his game

For the first six games of the Flyers’ season, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen watched his team from afar while recovering from a lower-body injury sustained during training camp. But when he was finally healthy enough to return to the lineup on Oct. 27, he got off to a self-described “slow start,” culminating in head coach John Tortorella scratching him just one week later.

“I don’t think anything went well,” Ristolainen said.

Even during his lowest points, averaging a career-low ice time of 16 minutes, 12 seconds through his first 12 games, Ristolainen maintained his confidence. Having gone through rough stretches throughout a 10-year NHL career, he understood that he wasn’t going to have an “A-plus game” every night.

Now, save for the Flyers’ 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center that saw each skater struggle, Tortorella asserted that Ristolainen showed improvement in his two games against the New York Islanders on Nov. 26 and 29. That was reflected in his average ice time (20:29) and his placement on the top defensive pairing alongside Ivan Provorov in place of Tony DeAngelo on Nov. 29.. Ristolainen is also back on the penalty kill, a responsibility that he gradually earned this season.

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“I think he’s listening, he’s trying to work at his game, [he] has been better at stopping plays, which is a key for our defense,” Tortorella said.

Ristolainen has kept an open mind while working with assistant coach Brad Shaw to reverse bad habits in an effort to produce a better defensive performance. While Ristolainen has always been a physical defenseman, he doesn’t always use his physicality with the purpose of killing plays.

Together, Ristolainen and Shaw watch game tape to analyze his positioning, the way he plays with his stick, how he gaps up, and how he can improve at moving his feet. Gradually, Ristolainen is making an effort to take those notes from the film room to the practice surface — and now to game action.

“Obviously, [I’m] not the fastest skater,” Ristolainen said. “But my old habits, kind of being stationary a little too often and watching the play and not moving my legs [is what I need to improve upon]. I just try to be more involved and use my legs.”

Still, Tortorella needs more from his entire defensive corps, not just Ristolainen. Tortorella was high on the team’s defensive structure in both games against the Islanders, but it vanished on Thursday against the Lightning. As a result, the Flyers gave the Lightning too much time and space with the puck, especially in the second period when the visitors outshot the home team, 17-2, and outscored them, 2-0.

Whether it was sloppiness or a lack of concentration, Tortorella said he isn’t quite sure why the Flyers’ structure disappeared.

“[We’re] getting people back, but when you’re not one of the top teams in the league, and you’re trying to fight your way to competitiveness and stay afloat, structure is something you need to lean on,” Tortorella said. “And that’s what was frustrating to me in the last game [against the Lightning, and] after the two prior ones, we were taking steps and structure, really good structure. And then it just kind of fell off the map the last game.”

In response, Tortorella will take some of DeAngelo’s minutes away, acknowledging that the defenseman has “struggled” recently. He is expected to play on the third pairing alongside Nick Seeler on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils (7 p.m.), while Ristolainen continues to fill his former spot on the top pairing with Provorov. As Ristolainen’s latest partner, Provorov has noticed an improvement in his game from the start of the season.

“The more games you’re in after missing a little bit of time, the better you’re going to get,” Provorov said. “I think that’s the same story with him. Skating, stickhandling, body checking, positioning, it gets better and better if you’re able to process and learn from what happened in games before. I think he’s done a great job of that. I think overall, for him and us as a [defensive] corps, I think we’re all going to continue to get better.”

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Carter Hart (.914 save percentage, 7-6-4) will start in net for the Flyers against the Devils. ... Defenseman Justin Braun will come in for Egor Zamula and forward Patrick Brown will replace forward Tanner Laczynski in the lineup. ... Winger Wade Allison (hip pointer/oblique muscle strain) participated in a solo rehab skate following the conclusion of the Flyers’ morning skate. ... Wingers Cam Atkinson and James van Riemsdyk participated in morning skate, but neither will play on Saturday night. Van Riemsdyk is expected to play in a week. However, Atkinson still does not have a clear timeline for a return. “The last two weeks, I’ve slowly but surely revved it up to get to back-to-back game situation,” Atkinson said. “And it’s good that obviously my legs and everything are there, my recovery is there, but I’m still not comfortable putting myself in a position to play a game. Until that, I’m just going to have to keep going day by day.”