PHILADELPHIA — John Tortorella has been around hockey long enough to know that claiming back-door satisfaction cannot become a habit.
Every once in a while, though, he will grab for the positives on an otherwise deflating night. Monday, when the Flyers lost, 3-2, to the Carolina Hurricanes, was one of those nights.
“I’m not going to stand up here all year long and talk about moral victories,” Tortorella said after his team lost for the fourth time in five games. “But I’ve got to remember where we are as an organization in the process where we are at. I’m certainly not going to boo the team. I am going to try to help.”
Though the Flyers controlled much of the third period against a team said to be championship-ready, they fell on a Teuvo Teravainen goal with 3:47 left. With that, the rationalizations began.
“We generated a lot of chances there in the third,” said Carter Hart after his 200th career start. “We just weren’t able to capitalize. So we have a lot to take from this game.”
So Tortorella would take a rare chance to do just that.
“That’s a potential Stanley Cup team,” he said. “And I watched how our back end played and honestly our whole team as we got going. My thought is I just wanted to keep believing. We came away empty with points, but I think we can talk about the good things.”
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Insisting it was not because he hadn’t scored a goal through eight games, Tortorella rested Ryan Proehling and dressed Morgan Frost at center.
“He hasn’t been bad,” the coach said. “It’s not like he did anything to warrant coming out for something bad. I think this is the evolution of our team. We have more people this year and I think there has to be decisions made with our lineup.”
Frost had played in two games this season, both on the road, last appearing Nov. 14 in Ottawa. He had not scored.
“I wanted to get Frosty in there, because he didn’t do anything terrible to be out,” Tortorella said. “He wasn’t benched or anything like that. The other guys played better. Those are the healthy decisions I have to make with the lineup, and not just put a lineup out there every night with no thought.
“That’s healthy as the organization keeps growing.”
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Among the reasons for preseason optimism — scant as they were — was the late development last season of Owen Tippett as a scorer. Through the first eight games, though, the left wing had one goal.
Then he made it two, muscling into the zone, taking a lead tip from Sean Couturier and beating Frederik Andersen to forge a 1-1 tie at 15:09 of the first.
“He’s had some chances,” Tortorella said. “He had five (chances) in the last game and set up a couple. I want him to have the puck more. I want him stronger on the puck.”
After arriving in the 2021 Claude Giroux trade with Florida, Tippett scored 27 goals last season, his first full-time with the Flyers. That included nine in his final 15 games.
“I think what turned Tip’s game around last year was that he started being more physical,” Tortorella said. “I think that really needs to come into his game. I think he’s adjusted to playing left wing as a right shot, how quick he comes off that wall and generates offense has been really good. But he tends to lose the puck sometimes and exposes the puck.
“I want more of him having the puck and keeping the puck and just being involved physically, because I think that will help his game even more.”
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Sean Walker was popularly viewed as something of a veteran placeholder flipped by the Kings into the three-way deal that pushed Ivan Provorov to Columbus. But the 29-year-old has two goals, two assists and his coach’s attention through eight games.
“He’s been really good,” Tortorella said. “He’s probably one of our most aggressive defensemen in what we call ‘surfing,’ which is basically taking a chance as far as getting your gap very early, not waiting for them to cross the red line. He is surfing the offensive zone to create his gap and has done a terrific job.
“I talked to (Los Angeles coach) Todd McLellan when we got him and he loved him. One of the first things out of his mouth was, ‘He’s so competitive.’ And he’s done some really good things for us.”
