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What to do with Jett Luchanko
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The Flyers were back in preseason action Tuesday night, as they took on the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. It was a completely different crew for Philadelphia on Tuesday, with Rodrigo Abols being the only repeat skater from Sunday.
The Flyers fell 4-2 to the Canadiens. Sam Ersson, who was supposed to play the whole game, was pulled for Aleksei Kolosov after allowing two goals on nine shots. Cole Caufeild and Nick Suzuki score for the Habs, alongside both Xhekaj brothers. For the Flyers, Anthony Richard scored first, with Owen Tippett notching one on the power play.
The Flyers are now 1-1-0 during the preseason.
Much like the last preseason game, this was the first time most of the players had seen this ice in a real game scenario. It’s too early to make a judgment. That said, there were significantly fewer positive takeaways.
Let’s start with the first: a power play goal! I will say, I am not so sure that this goal was a product of great power play movement. It was more or less just a back-and-forth between Tippett and Christian Dvorak. Nonetheless, that power play opportunity turned into a goal for the Flyers, something that doesn’t happen too often.
Another positive: Jett Luchanko is going to be a problem for defenses on the zone entry. The Flyers were far from the best zone entry team last season. They don’t really have too many guys that can skate through the neutral zone and into the O-zone cleanly, while maintaining possession. Luchanko put on a clinic on Tuesday. That will undoubtedly be something to keep an eye on moving forward, and even if it gets him a line promotion.
Lastly, for what it’s worth, Travis Sanheim looks good. The Flyers’ top defenseman notched an assist on Tuesday, but as usual, he was the Flyers ‘ most-used skater. This needs to be a big year for Sanheim, and it feels like one is loading.
Obviously, there is a lot to improve on before the third preseason game. There was one thing that stood out from game one vs. game two, but the second group lacked aggression. When Rodrigo Abols leads the team in shots… with three… preseason or not, that is far from ideal. The Flyers have to become more aggressive on the attack. That is not methodical; that is a lack of aggression.
I’d also like to see a little more success come from the faceoff circle. The Flyers were absolutely dominated at the dot on Tuesday, and that’s with Sean Couturier in the mix. Even Couturier had a sub 50% percentage at the dot on Tuesday. As a team, they won 38% of faceoffs, 38% of even-strength draws, 47% on the power play, and 0% while shorthanded. Yikes.
Again, it was the second preseason game, and for many of the Flyers on the ice, their first. It can be easy to be overly judgmental, but the reality is, it was always going to be sloppy. The next few games will be critical, and play should be cleaned up by then.
All eyes shift to Hershey, where the Flyers will take on the Washington Capitals on Thursday at the Giant Center, the home of the Hershey Bears. The puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. EST.
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