Flyers thinking ‘next game’ as they begin Western road trip against the first-place Canucks

VANCOUVER, B.C. — John Tortorella was very vocal as the Flyers hit the ice for their first practice after a four-day break.

There was a purpose to the team’s practice Wednesday afternoon at Rogers Arena. It allowed the players to get some body contact, puck touches, and get adjusted to the time change as the Flyers hit the road for their annual Western road trip after the holiday break.

Tortorella knows his team is “not going to be perfect” on Thursday night when it faces Flyers Hall of Famer Rick Tocchet and his Vancouver Canucks. But to Tortorella, it’s not a critical juncture of the season.

“I don’t look at it that way at all. I look at the next game,” Tortorella said. “Long travel day today, had a good practice. I’m concerned about the quick turnaround, usually have another day when you get out west here. We didn’t. ... I don’t look at it as an important juncture, I look at it as the next game and I want us to be the best we can be. That’s all we can look at.”

The next game is against a Canucks squad (23-9-3) sitting atop the NHL standings in points and second in points percentage behind the New York Rangers. It’s one stop on a West Coast swing that will include matchups with the Seattle Kraken, Calgary Flames, and Edmonton Oilers.

There are ghosts from trips past that will haunt the Flyers. Two years ago, the Flyers won in Seattle before embarking on a 13-game losing streak. During the 2019-20 season that was shortened by COVID-19, the Flyers were 21-11-5 before winning just one game on a six-game trip. A nine-game winning streak before the league shutdown certainly helped to balance that out.

“I would stop you right there and say no,” winger Garnet Hathaway said when asked if this trip was make-or-break. “... [On Thursday] we have a game against a really good team. Most points in the league, who’ve been playing really good hockey. And they had the same break we did and it’s going to be who can get back to playing their best hockey faster and that’s where I would leave it.

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“I think you see how tight this league is. You look at the standings once and you’ll notice that every team is fighting for something every night and every team can beat any other team on any given night. ... And we’ve been a team that doesn’t take long to get going to play our best hockey, on any given night. And so that’s the same game plan going into tomorrow. And then [Bill] Belichick-esque, you can’t you can’t go past that. And once you do, you start pulling yourself in the wrong direction.”

Sam Ersson got some time in the starter’s net and could be the guy in goal on Thursday for the Flyers. But it was Carter Hart who was in net in October when the Flyers topped the Canucks, 2-0. It was a key moment for the Canucks, who have since gone on a tear.

“I don’t know if we thought it would be easy, but we got a rude awakening,” Tocchet said. “That team works, they still work hard. Probably one of the top teams for me of effort. They work hard every night. I don’t think I’ve seen them have a game where they’ve not had effort. So I respect that and we have to respect that. So I think that was a wake-up call for us.

“It actually helped us. I told [Flyers president Keith Jones] a long time ago, ‘Thanks for waking us up a little bit.’ But still, like, we know the same thing, [they’re] going to come in hard again. That’s their forte, their identity.”

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Winger Travis Konecny appeared to take a puck to the face or head but was back on the bench very quickly. ... It looks like Owen Tippett will remain on the top line with Sean Couturier and Konecny as the trio took reps together at practice.