Flyers getting closer to playing the way John Tortorella wants ― but he says they aren’t there yet

OTTAWA, Ontario ― Consistency.

It may be an 11-letter word, but for the Flyers this season it feels like a four-letter word.

Looking at their win-loss record, it’s two wins here and one loss there. The Flyers have not found stability — unless you want to count the six-game losing streak. But maybe things are starting to turn as they head into Thursday’s matchup with former captain Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators, who have won two straight (7 p.m., NBCSP).

After earning points in three straight shootout games, two wins and one loss, the Flyers have started to regain the game that made them successful last season. They are starting to stick more and more to the structure dictated by coach John Tortorella and his staff.

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“The difficulty we’re finding right now is just traction,” Tortorella said. “We’re just trying to get there. And I think in the past week or so, we have found our identity a little bit. I think when you find the identity, you have something to shoot for every game, and I think that’ll help the consistency. We’re not there yet to be consistent, we’re just trying to try to find a little bit of traction to stand.”

Identity is a word uttered often by the veteran bench boss and his players. What exactly is the Flyers’ identity then?

“Checking forward, taking a chance, pinching. I don’t want guys skating backward, I want them checking forward,” Tortorella said, hinting at his structure, too. “When we find our third man and people see him, it gives us a chance to skate forward and just try to push it that way. And I think that helps our pace. When we are getting chances off the rush — and we have really gained traction that way the past four or five games — I know our system, I know our style of play is beginning to present itself. It’s been a struggle to get it there and I don’t know if we’re going to keep it there. I’m still waiting to see.”

Things started to get better for the Flyers against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 26 as they started to bring a nose for the net and intensity to their game. Before that 7-5 win, the Orange and Black were 1-5-1, averaging 2.29 goals for and 4.43 goals against, and were tied for worst in the league with just seven goals at five-on-five. Their opponents had 21.

Standing in the hallway outside his team’s locker room on Oct. 23 before the Flyers fell to the Capitals in Washington, their sixth straight loss, Tortorella said, “We’re just not to our identity at all. ... We have no depth, no tracking, no support, as far as us jamming the neutral zone.”

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In the nine games since, the Flyers are 5-3-1, with one of the losses coming on a goal with 31 seconds left in regulation against the Carolina Hurricanes. They are averaging 2.78 goals, an uptick, and allowing 2.89 against, a considerable drop. In that span that they are tied for 15th in the NHL with 17 goals at five-on-five, compared with 22 against.

“I think it’s more coming back from the offensive zone allowing us to gap up better, whether it’s pinching down low, stepping up in the neutral zone — as D-men, we can’t do that unless we have the support coming back,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “I thought early on we weren’t really able to do that. ... I think now we’ve kind of got it back to where it needs to be and have that ability, and that’s why we’ve had the success that we have had.”

According to Sanheim, the better coverage has allowed the Flyers to shut plays down earlier and create more offense and attacks off the rush, resulting in more time in the offensive zone. And it all boils down to playing more as a five-man unit, something defenseman Erik Johnson thinks the team has gotten back to at both ends of the rink. It is something Tortorella has focused on to find success.

“More consistency just in our play in fives,” the coach said. “If you play in fives on your arrivals, and if you arrive with five, you’re going to be able to break out in five. If you lose the puck in the neutral zone in fives, you’re going to be able to stand up and check forward in fives just to create turnovers that way. It’s how it has to be done. We were so disjointed the first part of the year, I think we’ve gathered ourselves a little bit in playing in fives. Have we solved everything? No, but that’s all we’re concentrating on: playing in fives, and are we seeing the third man so we can check forward.”

Ivan Fedotov will start against the Senators.

After a rocky beginning in which he allowed four or more goals in three starts, the Russian netminder roared back with a vengeance against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 7. He allowed one goal on 23 shots in the Flyers’ 2-1 shootout win, earning his first NHL victory.

“I think you saw him in the last game, it wasn’t a lot of extra movement,” Tortorella said. “He just looked different to me. I’m not going to sit here and talk about technique, and I don’t know enough about the position, but he just looked more confident and I really thought that the compete level was higher than I’ve seen in the other games.”

Aleksei Kolosov will serve as the backup for Fedotov. Kolosov has not played since suffering a lower-body injury in the morning skate before the game against the Lightning. He was the scheduled starter for that game.

Sam Ersson did not participate in the Flyers’ optional morning skate at Canadian Tire Center and his gear was not in the locker room. A team source said he tweaked an injury and they are holding him out to prevent making it worse. Ersson recently missed two games with a lower-body injury suffered against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 2. The Flyers’ No. 1 goalie, the Swede started the last two games and is 4-0-1 in his last six starts with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.

Forward Nick Deslauriers remained a healthy scratch. ... Morgan Frost was a late addition to the lineup with Sean Couturier a late scratch due to a lower-body injury. Couturier is listed as day-to-day. ... Defenseman Cam York participated in the optional morning skate wearing a regular jersey. ... Defenseman Erik Johnson is in the lineup and will play in his 999th NHL game.