What started as a 3-0 waxing by the Philadelphia Flyers has suddenly turned into a series as the Pittsburgh Penguins have won two straight to force a Game 6 back in Philadelphia.
Now, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet is letting his boys know that he needs quite a bit more from them if they’re going to close out the series and move on to face the Carolina Hurricanes.
Tocchet spoke to the media after the Flyers’ 3-2 Game 5 loss, and while he was sure to give the Penguins — a team he played for and was previously an assistant coach for — their flowers for a solid performance, he made it clear that some of these guys need to step up.
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“I thought Bumper (rookie Alex Bump) was great, (Denver) Barkey,” he said. “The young guys are good.”
The young guys certainly were good. In fact, Bump — who was drawn into the lineup after Tocchet scratched forward Matvei Michkov — scored a massive goal to get the Flyers on the board after falling behind 2-0.
Of course, the flukey game-winner bounced off of him before taking a strange carom off the endboards, but that’s hardly his fault.
But while the young guns are firing, it’s the old dogs that Tocchet needs more from.
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“We’ve got to get some guys, though — they’ve got to step it up,” the Flyers bench boss said. “They’ve got to play (with) a little more pace, shorter shifts.”
Tocchet said he liked how the team played upon evening the game up at 2-2, but said that the Letang goal — like some other flukey goals this series — took the wind out of their sails.
So, the answer?
Creativity.
“We’ve got to come up with some stuff here,” Tocchet said. “You know, we’ve got to fake some shots; deception. I think we’re buying our head and shooting stuff into shin pads, we’ve got to have a little more creativity, and we’ve got to talk about that.”
The Flyers and Penguins are back in action on Wednesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena for Game 6.
