Flyers prepare to face historic power play with roster that lacks ‘a superstar offensive player’

Flyers coach John Tortorella said during training camp that his team lacks a “superstar offensive player,” and that the Flyers must work harder to manufacture goals as a result.

Well, the Flyers’ opponent on Thursday night has not just one, but two bona fide superstars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

The Edmonton Oilers are fresh off a 6-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, after two shaky losses to Vancouver — including an 8-1 drubbing — to open the season. But although the 2-1 Flyers have a slightly better record at the moment, the Oilers aren’t to be taken lightly, especially with the threat of their power play.

“When you have the skill that especially those two guys have, you can’t be intimidated; you still have to take your chances when you have a chance to pressure,” Tortorella said. “The biggest key is going all together. Because if you’re disjointed with your pressure, they will pick you apart.”

The Oilers power play isn’t just great, it’s historic. Last season, the Oilers’ 32.4% scoring rate on the power play was an NHL record, unseating the 1977-78 Canadiens (31.9%). That Montreal team had nine future Hall of Famers on its roster, including Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt, and the Habs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup.

On Tuesday, Draisaitl scored two power-play goals against the Predators, the 127th and 128th of his career, to secure the most power-play goals in Oilers history. Wayne Gretzky sits at fourth with 125 over his 10 seasons with Edmonton.

“We’re not just going to sit back and say, ‘Holy [expletive], we’ve got McDavid and Draisaitl here,’” Tortorella said, “because they’ll destroy us. They’ll be throwing the puck through the seams. We’ll get destroyed.”

The key will be keeping the Oilers’ unit off the ice by staying out of the box, both Tortorella and Scott Laughton reiterated. But that’s not always feasible.

“First and foremost, you need [Carter Hart] to be really good for you. It’s tough to control where they’re going, because you don’t really have set spots on their power play,” Laughton said. “You got to watch the seam pass, but I think we got to dictate a little bit up ice, and try and make it hard on them to enter our zone.”

Laughton had three shorthanded goals last year, and had a couple of shorthanded scoring chances against Vancouver on Tuesday as the Flyers’ penalty kill shut down the Canucks three times. He said the game plan wouldn’t change against the Oilers.

The Flyers’ penalty kill has a new look this year, with Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson back from injury, and with the additions of Sean Walker, Ryan Poehling, and Garnet Hathaway over the offseason.

“It just adds something, and adds some speed to your kill,” Laughton said. “It takes time to get used to the system. I’m sure the first 10 games it’ll be not hit-and-miss, but a little bit slower developing, and then we’ll go from there.”

Morgan Frost will sit out for the second consecutive game, Tortorella announced. Frost played in the Flyers’ first two games and was benched in Tuesday’s home opener, a 2-0 win over the Canucks. The center signed a two-year contract extension in September, after finishing fourth on the Flyers in points last season with 46.

Emil Andrae will swap in at defense for Egor Zamula, as the only lineup change from Tuesday.

Hart (2-1, .922 save percentage) will get the start in net. ... Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen remains on the injured list, though he practiced with the team on Wednesday and participated in Thursday’s morning skate. Tortorella said he was “day-to-day.”