TORONTO — This can’t be the Andrew MacDonald effect, can it?
Eleven goals surrendered over the past two games.
Prior to MacDonald’s injury, head coach Dave Hakstol had his defense pairings configured to specifications. Ivan Provorov with MacDonald, Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hagg along with Travis Sanheim and Brandon Manning splitting time with Radko Gudas.
Whether it's MacDonald's absence or just poor play, something has gone awry. Ever since Tuesday’s game against the Ducks, Hakstol has been furiously trying to find the right combinations so the Flyers can resume normalcy on their blue line.
“As soon as Mac goes out, jumble, jumble” general manager Ron Hextall said. “We always go through preseason trying to figure out what our lines are and what our defense pairings are, and it’s hard. It’s hard, you only have eight games, and you don’t get a great feel. Two games ago, we didn’t have a very good game. Was it your pairs or was it one of those games?
“You hope we correct it right away, and guys get familiar with each other, but a lot of these guys haven’t played together much and that’s the reality. There’s nothing you can do about it. There’s no excuses, that’s for damn sure, but Thursday night toward the end, they looked like they felt comfortable together so we’ll see.”
One of the biggest changes that came out of Thursday’s game in Ottawa was the Provorov-Gostisbehere pairing, where the two players switched sides periodically to take advantage of their offensive instincts and awareness.
“I think Ghost and I see the game similar, definitely on the offensive side,” Provorov said. “It was easy to play with the puck to do all those switches and passes, finding each other in the neutral zone and in the offensive zone. We’ll try and continue to get better and see what happens.”
Losing the shield
For tonight’s game in Toronto, Wayne Simmonds will finally ditch the extended face shield that has protected the lower part of his face, most notably his dental work after losing teeth after taking a stick to the face in a game against the Predators. Simmonds says breathing had been an issue and the shield has a tendency to fog up, which has impaired his vision when looking down at the puck.
Simmonds is hoping it will improve his concentration and focus as the Flyers' second line was arguably one of the team’s worst in Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Senators in Ottawa.
“We’ve got to be better,” Simmonds said. “I think over the past few games, (Jordan) Weal was out for a couple and he got back in and our chemistry was a little bit off. We just got to find a way to get it back. We’ve got to figure it out quick.”
No suspension for Gudas
As expected, the NHL did not hand down supplemental discipline Friday against Gudas for his check on Ottawa defenseman Chris Wideman. Gudas was slapped with a five-minute major for charging, and with that, a 10-minute misconduct for a hit that appeared to be rather routine.
“Radko hits hard. He hits as hard as anybody in the league,” Hextall said. “His hits are impact hits. If one of our other 17 skaters makes that hit (Thursday) night nothing comes of it. Exact same hit, exact same body position, everything. It’s just that Radko is so strong that his hits make an impact, and at times, it’s not fair.”
Knowing Babcock
A typical Maple Leafs practice day doesn’t usually make headlines within the Toronto media, but Friday’s intense but abbreviated workout was unusual coming off a lethargic 6-3 loss Thursday night to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Despite the Leafs' 7-3-0 record, Babcock put his team through an intense, hard-skating 24-minute session and then ordered every player off the ice in a move to help them conserve their energy for tonight’s game against the Flyers. No Flyer is more familiar with Babcock’s motivations than center Valtteri Filppula, a 2002 third-round pick who played in Detroit under Babcock from 2005-13.
“I think he’s really good with details,” Filppula said. “He gets the guys to play the system really well. Obviously, he’s had some good players too, and you always need that to be a good coach, but I think he prepares the team really well and I think that’s his strongest suit.”
Projected lines & pairings
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Jakub Voracek
Jordan Weal-Filppula-Simmonds
Matt Read-Jori Lehtera-Travis Konecny
Taylor Leier-Scott Laughton-Michael Raffl
Provorov-Gostisbehere
Sanheim-Gudas
Manning-Hagg
Brian Elliott
Michal Neuvirth
