John Tortorella spoke to the media about why he cut Scott Laughton’s ice time in the Flyers’ 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes.
VOORHEES, N.J. — After the Flyers had a day off Thursday, the team held its leading scorer Travis Konecny out of practice Friday.
The Flyers called his absence a maintenance day, so Konecny should be good to go Saturday.
The 27-year-old winger was banged up early in the first period Wednesday night after delivering a hit. He was seen favoring the area of his rib when he went to the bench. Konecny didn't miss any of the Flyers' 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes, finishing with 20:20 minutes.
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The club continues its five-game homestand Saturday when it welcomes the Blackhawks (1 p.m. ET/NBCSP). The Flyers are 1-2-0 on this stretch, losing the last two games by a combined score of 7-3.
As a team scoring 2.70 goals per game and being outscored 50-33 at 5-on-5, the Flyers can't afford to lose Konecny for any period of time. He leads the club in goals (11), assists (12), power play goals (five) and shorthanded goals (one).
At 8-10-2 through 20 games, the Flyers need more from their young wingers, especially with a banged-up blue line. Last season, Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee and Tyson Foerster combined for 70 goals last season. This season, they've combined for 11 so far.
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"All we can do is keep on trying to help them, try to get them in the spots," John Tortorella said Friday. "The only way coaches can help offense, I call it manufacturing offense — making sure when we don't have plays, get it in and let's grind a little bit, let's work in the blue paint. And I think they've improved that way.
"It's not to criticize them and hate your team because you don't have any offense; we've got to try to help them. And that's all we're going to try to do."
The Flyers have lacked playmaking down the middle of the ice. Has that impacted their wingers? Sure, but Tortorella knows the blame can't fall squarely on the team's thin center depth. The Flyers are hoping things start to turn. Foerster has two goals in the last three games, Tippett has shown prolific flashes and Farabee's shot volume has picked up.
"Tyson's close, you can see part of that," the head coach said. "Tip's in and out. Everybody talks about the centers; we need help from the wings because that was a big part of what helped us last year, with those two guys especially. And Beezer's first half, Beezer had a really good first half, fell off, but we need that now. It's not just the centers, it's our whole group."
In the loss to Carolina two days ago, the Flyers were outscored 3-0 during the third period and outshot 17-4.
"All we can do is try to help them," Tortorella said. "I'm really frustrated with the third period. It sucks being a punching bag and that's what we felt we were in that third period, but I've got to put that aside.
"We're going to try to stay positive and just keep on trying to bang away."
After being healthy scratched for four of the Flyers' last five games, Morgan Frost is expected to be back in the lineup Saturday. The 25-year-old center has six points (one goal, five assists) and a minus-10 rating in 16 games.
"I've seen Frosty answer," Tortorella said. "I saw him answer last year and play pretty well. Hope he does it."
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