Tag: Owen Tippett

The Flyers made it two wins in a row for the first time this season, thanks to a 5-2 thrashing of the Seattle Kraken Monday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. 

Owen Tippett scored twice, Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates notched a goal each, Dan Vladar saved 21 of 23 shots to stay steady in net, and when push came to shove, Nikita Grebenkin and Travis Konecny weren’t shy about throwing any punches. 

The Flyers are 3-2-1 still early into the season, but here’s what’s starting to click for them…

Tippett turns it on

Owen Tippett has been flying to begin the season, and especially throughout the last three games.

He’s been using his size and speed to bulldoze the puck through along the wall again, is finding those soft spots in the offensive zone ice, too, and with Monday night’s game against Seattle, he scored twice to make it four goals in the past three nights – first on a Nick Seeler redirect in the first period, then on a tough-angle shot just ahead of the goal line that slipped under Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord’s pads in the second.

Tippett has looked good. He looks more like that power forward who was scraping up against the 30-goal mark a couple of years ago, and that young piece the Flyers felt comfortable enough to put an eight-year contract into.

“He’s taking charge,” head coach Rick Tocchet said of Tippett after Monday’s morning skate. “I think whatever line I put him on, he’s really helped that line. He’s driving play.”

And it’s been adding up early. 

Tippett was a noticeable presence throughout Monday night skating on a line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. 

He generated several other chances outside of his goal in the first period, including a high-danger one on a rush down the ice with Matvei Michkov late in the opening period, where Michkov had the puck along the wall and Tippett crashed the net looking for the pass inside. 

Daccord just managed to fight the look away, but couldn’t way later on in the second, when a Couturier drop pass down low setup an unconventional shot that Tippett just went for and fired away. Daccord wasn’t ready and the Flyers went up, 5-2.

Tippett was one of the key Flyers in need of a bounce back year after taking a step back in what became former coach John Tortorella’s last. 

He knew he needed it, too, as Tocchet noted the 26-year-old’s level of buy-in seemingly from Day 1 of his tenure behind the bench.

“He’s one of the guys, since the new crew got in here, the coaching staff, like he’s been really attentive,” Tocchet said. “Like I noticed that in camp. When you tell him something, sometimes players, they get the information and go ‘Okay, we get it,’ and they leave. But he hangs aorund, and he’s been aksing a lot of questions. I think he’s emotionally invested in this year, I’ve seen. There’s a long way to go, but I’ve felt that he’s really emotionally invested in the group, in the team.”

And so far, it’s been showing. 

Tippett looks fast again. He looks powerful, and he’s finding the back of the net, in any which way.

“The fastest skater I’ve ever seen, it’s awesome,” Trevor Zegras said of Tippett with a sigh of disbelief after Saturday night’s 2-1 overtime win over Minnesota. “I’ve never played with a guy that has much speed. He does some wild stuff sometimes…Somebody so big that skates that fast, it’s fun to watch.”

And right now, adding up on the scoreboard.

The three-headed monster

Contuining to pile up just as much has been the production from Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink.

“Three-headed monster, those three,” Zegras quipped of the line after Saturday night’s win. 

And no kidding. 

Cates scored the overtime winner to beat the Wild on Saturday night. 

Foerster delivered the setup for it, then came back on Monday night against the Kraken to laser a goal home to the far post, which was followed by another Cates tally on a redirect through traffic later on. (And both on the power play!)

Entering Monday night, that entire line had a combined five goals and 11 points between them after five games. 

Last season, they ended as the Flyer’s most consistent and relentlessly checking line. So far this season, they didn’t just pick up where they left off, they got better. 

They’ve been all over the ice, and they’re putting up points, too.

Actually taking advantage

Staying with Cates, Foerster, and Brink, they contributed heavily to a pretty successful night on the power play for the Flyers, running with their specialty unit that also includes Zegras and then Cam York on the point. 

With Foerster’s and Cates’ goals, they left the Flyers with a 2-for-4 night on the power play, with some considerably clean movement and exectuion, especially on the latter goal – that went from initially being credited to Cates, then to Foerster, then back to Cates on the official scoresheet:

Moreover, York got a better look on the power play after only getting 39 seconds to skate on it Saturday night against Minnesota. 

York got 1:28 of power play time on Monday night, and the defenseman’s shot from up top on Cates’ goal in the second period threaded it’s way through traffic to set up for the redirect. 

York has been waiting for an outlet to produce more points – he ended up with three assists for Monday nigh alone – and the Flyers have been waiting for their man-advantages to actually be advantages after years of toiling in the league’s basement of that category.

They might just be inching toward both now.

Grebenkin the gladiator

Garnet Hathaway got decked along the boards pushing late into the first period by Seattle defenseman Cale Fleury. 

Nikita Grebenkin, who checked back into the lienup and slotted onto the fourth line as Hathaway’s opposite winger, made a beeline straight to Fleury and started throwing punches as he tackled him to the ice. 

Grebenkin got a two-minute penalty for instigating, five for fighting, and a ten-minute misconduct. 

It did take him out of the picture for a bit, but the act definitely won him points among his teammates and the Flyers faithful for sticking up for his guy. 

Grebenkin later got a clean look right between the hashmarks that he just missed wide on with the shot, but when the Flyers had already built up their lead.

The winger made the team out of camp, but doesn’t have a steady spot just yet. His skill was the highlight as the prospect coming over from last year’s Scott Laughton trade with Toronto, but he showed Monday night that he can be plenty tough, too.

TK fire

Travis Konecny showed Monday night that he cetainly hasn’t lost any fire either. 

He scored his first goal of the season early into the second period on a slick setup by Michkov and defenseman Egor Zamula that gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead:

Then, in the third period, he got into it after the Kraken took a run at Tippett and left Seattle’s Ryan Lindgren with a bloodied up visor:

Yeah, Flyers hockey is back.

“We’re trying to create a culture of sticking together,” Tocchet said after Monday night’s win.

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