‘They play so hard for me’: Predictability, communication, and selflessness make the Cates line so successful

Mistakes are bound to happen and every coach makes them.

When speaking Wednesday before the Flyers hit the ice for their morning skate, John Tortorella conceded that his would come. But the veteran bench boss has made one excellent choice and stuck with it.

Since the end of November, he has primarily kept the line of Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Tyson Foerster together. On Tuesday it paid off with the line combining for three goals, and Cates and Brink connecting for a fourth in the Flyers’ 6-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here are two reasons that the line had a breakout night.

Brink told NBC Sports Philadelphia during the second intermission that the Flyers are “predictable,” meaning that they know where each other will be. According to Natural Stat Trick, the line has played 345 minutes, 13 seconds at five-on-five, far surpassing any other forward group on the team. Chemistry is critical to a line’s success, and they had it from the moment Tortorella put them together at the end of November — despite his saying they kind of got thrown together because of other line combinations.

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This season, they have been on the ice for more goals (17) than they have allowed (15) but have an Expected Goals For of 10.39. It is almost twice the amount of the next line of Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, and Owen Tippett; they don’t play together anymore.

“Playing hard for each other, I think, is the biggest thing that I’ve said with playing with those guys,” Cates said after the game. “We’ve been together for a while, and they play so hard for me, blocking shots, doing the doing the little things. So I just want to not let them down because they’re such good players, and I want to stay with them.”

The predictability is what led to Brink’s goal that made it 5-1, just 10 seconds after Cates scored his second of the game. Knowing that Brink would head straight to the net played a key role in the goal’s being scored — and, of course, the cuff of his glove.

“You play good for a period of time, eventually stuff’s going to go your way. Tonight it did, but you’ve kind of got to keep bringing it every night,” said Brink, who registered his first career four-point game.

There has been a lot of talk about how they play together, with proper spacing, maintaining the foundational triangle, and not being too far apart. That has all led to their success, and with it, a boost in confidence. They hadn’t been scoring as much in the last few weeks, but they were doing everything else right.

“I was saying before the game to Angelo [Ricci], our skills coach, ‘When was the last time Catesy had a point? I think it’s been 10 or 11 games,’” Tortorella recalled about Cates, who last had a point on Jan. 18 when he had two assists against the New Jersey Devils.

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“The other night it was Coots’ line, tonight this line kind of surged for us there at an important time in the second period.

“Bobby Brink, it’s good to see him get rewarded; hasn’t scored a whole bunch, but has really worked at the other part of his game. They don’t do anything different, they just get rewarded tonight.”

There is no denying how tight the Flyers locker room is. Is there a group chat, like the Americans at the 4 Nations Face-Off? Assuredly, but these three guys don’t need that. They openly talk on the ice and off the ice about their game.

“Yeah, we definitely chat a good amount,” Cates said with a grin. “Who we’re playing, what we’re seeing in the game, and different stuff like that. We’ve seen all these teams now, so we have some past games. We knew these guys pinch hard, and they’re really on those wingers on the wall so try to look for me in the middle or whatnot.”

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Foerster’s tally exemplified this. While it was Jamie Drysdale who started the rush up the ice after intercepting a pass intended for Sidney Crosby and sent the puck up, it was Brink who carried the puck down the wall before skating a little more inside the circle to create space for the pass back to the trailing defenseman.

And that communication, aligned with their predictability, is what has made them one of the better checking lines in the game. They go up against other team’s top trios and hold them in check — outscoring, outshooting, and getting 59.85% of the high-danger chances in their favor.

The Crosby line may have had more shot attempts, but it was on the ice for two goals by the Cates trio. It all came despite the Flyers’ getting hemmed in a little on the first shift of the game by Crosby, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell. According to Natural Stat Trick, the three Flyers each played more than nine minutes against those three Penguins.

“Catesy doesn’t say [stuff] with a mouthful. He doesn’t really talk that much,” Tortorella said. “I just think he knows the role. All three of them knew I was going to check them against Crosby. And they see Crosby, I don’t even have to say who’s out there, they know they’re going.”

The coach said he thought Brink, Foerster, and Cates did a good job with their sticks and taking away time and space.

“I think they’ve embraced that role, and I think they’ve all kind of bought into bringing another step in not only checking but creating some offense. So thought they did a really good job tonight.”