John Tortorella shakes up the Flyers’ lines after back-to-back losses

EDMONTON, Alberta — With the Flyers losers of four of their last five games, coach John Tortorella has shaken things up a bit.

At Tuesday’s morning skate before their matchup with the Edmonton Oilers, the Flyers appeared to be sporting changes to their forward lines. The “HDL” line of Garnet Hathaway, Nic Deslauriers, and Scott Laughton looked to still be together, but the top three lines had swaps at left wing.

Joel Farabee was elevated to the top line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny; Owen Tippett will skate with Morgan Frost and Bobby Brink; and Tyson Foerster will be on the left side for Ryan Poehling and Cam Atkinson.

“I know Tyson plays a quick game. He plays fast, he plays hard, so I think just getting on the forecheck for us is going to be important,” Poehling said. “Honestly, just collectively as a team, the last few games we haven’t created much offense off the forecheck. So for us, just playing quick and supporting one another and getting on the forecheck will be good.”

After collecting points in nine straight games, the Flyers have struggled to get going and are 1-2-2 in the last five while being outscored 17-16. It comes after a stretch when the team went 14-6-2 from Nov. 1 to Dec. 20 and outscored opponents 60-53. The Flyers are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames in which they cut into 3-1 and 4-2 leads but didn’t offer much after the first 10-15 minutes of the game.

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“There’s going to be ups and downs in every season,” Konecny said. “We went through a really good high stretch and then now, I wouldn’t call it a low but we’re in a spot where we know we can do better. So, it’s just a good opportunity to learn and keep moving forward.”

The new top-line trio has familiarity with one another, but not necessarily all together. According to Natural Stat Trick, the combination of Farabee and Couturier has an expected Goals For percentage of 52.35% during five-on-five action, Farabee with Konecny is 48.11%, and Konecny and Couturier is 55.96%.

“He’s been having a great year,” Couturier said about Farabee. “Five-on-five he’s putting up a lot of points and he’s playing great. So, looking forward to having the opportunity to play with him. He’s a guy I have played with in the past and we’ve had some good chemistry and he’s a guy that’s easy to play with. He’s smart and pretty responsible, so it makes it easier to kind of adjust.”

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There may be small adjustments with the switch, but every new line combination has some familiarity, whether this season or in the past. Frost and Tippett, who are close off the ice, have also played together and have an expected Goals For percentage of 56.51%, per Natural Stat Trick.

“I don’t think so,” Frost said when asked if the shuffling signals concern. “Last year, we were switching it almost every game it seemed. … Sometimes you just need to switch it up. Everyone’s pretty much played together for the most part at some point. I think that speaks to our team, we have a lot of depth where we can switch around like that and hopefully it gets us going.”

Carter Hart gets the start in net. Hart grew up in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, but did not grow up an Oilers fan. The 25-year-old grew up a Carey Price fan and would sport the goalie’s Montreal Canadiens jersey around the outdoor rinks where he’d get a chirp here or there. “Carter’s played very well,” Tortorella said. “Our goaltending, him and [Sam Ersson], have played very well. He keeps growing. The short time I’ve been with the organization, I’ve just watched him grow. He is so much more consistent for me than when I first started with the team.”