‘We need to relax more’: Flyers focused on maintaining puck possession in the midst of stagnant scoring

TORONTO ― Coach John Tortorella, perhaps infamously, isn’t paying attention to most of the traditional stats surrounding his team, having referred to most of them as “trash” on Friday.

So, he’s not all that concerned about the offensive stats that reflect poorly on his team, including their 238 shots on goal (30th in the league). But he doesn’t need numbers to tell him that the Flyers haven’t been playing with the puck enough, leading to just 24 goals (31st) and 43 high-danger scoring chances (30th), according to Hockey Reference.

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The Flyers’ scoring prospects don’t solely hinge on their ability to finish, a problem they encountered last season — they need to maintain possession of the puck in general, an issue they faced on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers in their 1-0 overtime loss.

“I think a lot of problems, especially last night, it’s just fresh in my memory, is we have chances to move the puck and make a play,” Tortorella said. “And we either don’t complete the play or we just turn it over. We just don’t see the play. We’re trying. The effort, there’s not a single moment I’m questioning the effort of our team. But we need to relax more and have the puck more and not give it back to the other team.”

On Tuesday night in the second period against the Rangers, the Flyers again had a hard time killing plays in their own zone, leading to prolonged defensive shifts that left little opportunity for offensive zone time. For second-line center Scott Laughton, the Flyers’ ability to reignite their stagnant scoring starts in the defensive zone.

“I feel like in spurts of the game, we kind of get caught watching and not moving our legs and then teams get a lot of O-zone time,” Laughton said. “And Carter [Hart] has been obviously really, really good for us. So I think moving our legs and quicker to check and then holding on to pucks when we get them in the offensive zone and making plays with it and through the neutral zone.”

To make up for a lack of high-end scoring talent, Tortorella is looking for his team to notch goals by committee. The Flyers found more success at that task on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes when they received scoring contributions from fourth-liners Nicolas Deslauriers and Wade Allison, as well as second-line right winger Owen Tippett.

The Flyers could use even more scoring help, especially from players including Joel Farabee, who has two goals and three assists in nine games while playing the last six games on the top line alongside winger Travis Konecny and center Kevin Hayes.

“Definitely want to create a little bit more,” Farabee said. “I thought we had some good chances yesterday. I thought their goalie played good. But just got to keep trucking. I think you can’t get too worried about one game or five games. I think it’s just each game, come in with the same mindset. Our roster this year, it’s got to be everybody.”

Forward Tanner Laczynski missed the last three games, two of them to spend time with his family after the birth of his son, Leo, and one as a healthy scratch. But on the second night of the Flyers’ back-to-back against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Laczynski will return to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 23.

In turn, center Morgan Frost will come out of the lineup, marking his first time being a healthy scratch this season. Frost mostly has centered the Flyers’ third line through nine games, most recently alongside waiver-wire pickup Kieffer Bellows and left winger Zack MacEwen, averaging 13 minutes, 32 seconds of ice time. He’s also seen special-teams time on the Flyers’ second power-play unit. However, Frost hasn’t been particularly productive, scoring twice in the Flyers’ season opener and then going quiet.

“I just need to see more out of him as far as playmaking because he does not do enough for us on the other side of the puck,” Tortorella said.

Additionally, defenseman Egor Zamula will return to the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch for the last two games. Zamula struggled with turnovers in his last game against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 27, when Tortorella limited him to just 6:41 of ice time. Defenseman Justin Braun, who played his 800th career game on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers, will sit.

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Goalie Felix Sandström (.900 save percentage, 3.14 goals against average) will get the start in net against the Leafs. He is still on the hunt for his first NHL win (career 0-6-1).