Flyers are exercising patience to improve their line chemistry: ‘We’ve just got to keep working’

CALGARY, Alberta — Although consistency may have been the word thrown around training camp, patience is now the focus for the Flyers.

“That’s my battle,” coach John Tortorella said Monday at WinSport arena before the team boarded a bus for Edmonton. “You don’t think we have a lot of different players, but we have a couple of players offensively that I’ve got to figure out where they sit. … I think we’ve got a couple of good sets of wings — but I’ve got to figure out where the centers fit with that.”

It does take time to build chemistry. As general manager Danny Brière said in his news conference before training camp, connecting with linemates can be “unexpected, but it’s also the best feeling in the world when you find you know that chemistry with someone.”

The Flyers are still waiting for the feeling to come with their top three lines; the fourth line skating Monday included Nick Deslauriers, Noah Cates, and Garnet Hathaway, a trio that spent some ice time together last season.

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With a roster that looks relatively the same, the Flyers added only two new players — literally — in rookies Jett Luchanko and Matvei Michkov. But these are guys who fit into the top six for Michkov and middle six for Luchanko, so there has been some tinkering from last season.

Luchanko at center has jelled well with Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink but in trying to find chemistry across all lines, he skated with Tyson Foerster and Travis Konecny on Monday. The fresh-faced 18-year-old did not look out of place in the one game he played.

“I think whenever I’m out there, I’m trying to make plays and try not to shy away from anything,” Luchanko said. “No matter what shift it is, I’m really trying to just get my feet wet and trying to make differences.”

It is clear from watching him play that Michkov is also trying to make a difference. Although he has just one assist, the budding star should have more with his high-end passing and just-misses onto the sticks of teammates.

Konecny, who leads the team with 13 shot attempts in five-on-five situations, has been on the receiving end of a few of those passes. The Flyers leading scorer from last season has been skating on the opposite wing of Michkov; the pair did connect for a power-play goal against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. But Tortorella doesn’t think Michov “feels that comfortable on the left wing,” and put him back on the right side of Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett at WinSport.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers have scored only two goals at five-on-five, tied for the third fewest with several teams, including Tuesday night’s opponent, the Edmonton Oilers (10 p.m., ESPN). The one caveat, or plus, is that the Flyers’ season is only 125 minutes old, and they’ve played only 85 minutes, 10 seconds at five-on-five.

But last season, the Orange and Black struggled playing at even strength. They were tied for the eighth-fewest goals at five-on-five (159) despite ranking ninth in shot attempts (4,104). Let’s not even do the math on that shooting percentage.

It’s not ideal but, for the Flyers, last season is in the past. “Doesn’t matter,” Konecny said.

“It takes time. But, I mean, you’ve got to think, too, we played with a different line every day during camp, so it just takes a little bit of time. Priority, I think it’s just getting our five-on-five game back to where it needs to be, as far as moving our feet and playing fast.”

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On Monday, the Flyers spent time working on net-front presence, whether pouncing on rebounds or tipping pucks.

“We’ve just got to keep working on it,” Tortorella said. “… We’ve got to get people feeling good about themselves offensively, that maybe it’s not passing the puck into the net, maybe it isn’t ugly goal, a tip-in or whatever it may be. So we’re trying to work on all facets of things.

“I told you guys, it was a huge mistake of mine, at the end of last year that we did not do enough work on this part of the game, and I think it cost us.”

Farabee watched in an orange hoodie from behind the glass as the team practiced. According to Tortorella, it was a maintenance day and Farabee is “just a little banged up.” When asked if the forward would be good to go against the Oilers, Tortorella said he didn’t know but added that he thought he had played well to start the season. … Hathaway sat on the bench for a while after getting knocked down in front of goalie Sam Ersson. He did return to practice. … Nick Seeler has missed two games and several practices since blocking a hard pass on Oct. 1. The defenseman is on injured reserve and, according to The Athletic, skated before practice. … Connor Bedard, who was the No. 1 pick in the same draft as Michkov, was skating with his teammates on another sheet at WinSport. The Chicago Blackhawks play the Flames on Tuesday.