Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula gets another chance in the Flyers lineup

Egor Zamula is back in the Flyers lineup.

The rangy 23-year-old defenseman was a healthy scratch for a pair after playing in five straight games.

“It [expletive] when you’re not playing,” Zamula said. “Every player wants to play every night. But, I learn a lot ... when you watch the game, you’re focusing on good plays, bad plays, mistakes from another player. I hope it’s going to help me tonight.”

Zamula has played in 17 of the Flyers’ first 22 games and has notched four points, including his first NHL goal. Despite being plus-10, the defenseman has struggled with his consistency, decision-making at times, and pace.

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“I still think he’s inconsistent,” John Tortorella said. “I don’t expect that to change overnight. Our job is to continue to send the message. The determination part, he’s a determined athlete, I just want to see a more determined personality on the ice.”

Tortorella specifically mentioned that, although he has a good stick, Zamula needs him to use his 6-foot-3, 200-pound body to close opponents out and kill plays. Asked about Tortorella’s assessment, the Russian blueliner agreed that he needs to be quicker with his play and puck movement.

“When you’re in NHL, you can’t play up and down,” Zamula said. “You need to play every time in a perfect zone. ... I try to do my best, start from practice, and I watch with [Brad Shaw] a lot of clips to try to help me. ... I need to try to not do the same mistakes again.”

Zamula added that he had spoken with Tortorella once and he told him to, “play hard every shift, be a little bit stronger,” and to make the play as soon as he sees it. He will now get a chance alongside Rasmus Ristolainen with Marc Staal heading to the press box. The new pairing has played together once before, two years ago.

After being one of the hottest teams in opening frames, the Flyers have struggled to score early in games of late. But Tortorella is not panicking because, despite the inconsistencies on the score sheet, he’s happy with the aggressive style of play the team is implementing and focused on.

In particular, the bench boss noted the vastly improved transition offense that he knows will be key when guys like 2023 first-round draft pick Matvei Michkov don the Orange and Black.

“Sometimes in my mind, you get to the future, you start moving away a couple years from now, when the ‘Mad Russian’ comes over here and yet you start bringing in maybe some free agents when the time’s right with some more offensive skill, I want that to fall into place when they come in,” Tortorella said. “I want to stay with this style.”

Asked about Shaw’s communication style, Tortorella brought up how today’s athletes have changed, in terms of their ability to retain information.

“As coaches we’re trying to evolve too, with the athletes,” Tortorella said. “And I think we have athletes right now that I mean, my God, you put a video in front of them, if you can get a good couple of minutes in, you should leave that room happy. Because if you go by a couple of minutes, they’re kind of looking around. It’s amazing what the athlete is like right now as far as that attention span.”

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Carter Hart will start in net against the New Jersey Devils. ... Despite having higher expectations, the Devils also have been inconsistent to start the season. Winners of two straight — 7-2 over the Buffalo Sabres and 5-4 against the New York Islanders — they had lost six of their prior seven games.