EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – John Tortorella took the podium from the ground floor of MetLife Stadium on Friday while his players were outside getting ice time with their families.
The Flyers head coach knows an important two points in the standings are going to be at stake Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils, but against the backdrop and late-winter spectacle of playing in an 80,000-plus seat football stadium for the NHL's annual Stadium Series, he knows that he needs to let his team enjoy this too.
He also knows, at this point, that when it is finally time for puck drop, they'll be ready to go.
"I'll leave 'em alone," Tortorella said of his preparations for Saturday night's outdoor game. "We had our practice. There probably won't be [a morning skate] tomorrow. I'm thankful that we were able to get them out there for a half hour with their families to let them enjoy it, but it's as I've said all year long: I trust our team.
"I want them to enjoy the experience. They'll be ready to play. I don't have to worry about that."
Because he's been given little reason to.
For the better part of a season now more than two-thirds of the way complete, the Philadelphia Flyers have shown up and gotten results, much to the surprise of many around hockey, but not all that much to themselves.
Even as an organization in an openly-stated rebuild, the team on the ice now has played overall solid hockey, some of the best in the NHL even at certain stretches, which all added up to put them at 29-19-7 (65 points) on the year and third in the Metro division entering Saturday night – a playoff spot, and one that the Flyers have a 79.9 percent shot at clinching after 55 of 82 games, per MoneyPuck.
- MORE FLYERS
- The history of the Flyers' outdoor games
- Morgan Frost is becoming the center the Flyers need
- Sean Couturier named Flyers' next captain
They looked decent out of the gate in October, but at the time, that could've easily been chalked up to early-season juice. Then November got shaky with a loss to a league-worst and at that point winless San Jose Sharks club, which could've easily been where a team in the Flyers' position leveled out into its typical trajectory of a couple of lean years of losing before fully stocking up on young talent.
But none of that happened. The Flyers rung off five straight wins after that defeat and just kept going, even with more bumps in the road that followed. In fact, ever since that November 7 game in San Jose, they've gone 24-12-6 for 54 points, the seventh-best output in the league during that span and tied with the rival New York Rangers for the second-best rate in the Eastern Conference.
And the reasons why are numerous.
Travis Sanheim, who was one "yes" away from getting shipped to St. Louis in the summer, regrouped and came back as a much sharper defenseman; Joel Farabee developed into a much more complete forward and leader amongst the team; Owen Tippett continually unlocks more as a goal-scoring power forward; Sean Walker has been a revelation on the blue line after originally being a throw-in from LA for the Ivan Provorov trade; Samuel Ersson keeps stepping up in goal with the more starts he gets; Morgan Frost finally looks like he is emerging as the top-six center the Flyers need; Travis Konecny has taken the leap into a high-flying All-Star and face of the team; Sean Couturier, after nearly two years away from back issues, returned to the lineup healthy and as skilled as he was before, all finally earning him the captaincy; and the list goes on.
For the Flyers themselves, there wasn't any one specific moment this season where it all clicked of how good they could be, but they knew in training camp that they had something different, and knew just as well what was thought of them outside of the building.
"It was pretty funny, like everyone had us, bottom three, bottom five, whatever it was, and I think it just fueled a little bit of a fire," Farabee said from the New York Jets locker room the Flyers are borrowing for the weekend. "Obviously we've got some guys that came back healthy this year. I think we just kinda came in with that 'F you' attitude the whole year, and obviously we've put ourselves in a pretty good spot here. So we'll just try and keep things going."
"I think we had that inner belief before the start of the year," added veteran Scott Laughton. "We didn't really need to say it. Guys just knew where people had us projected and what they thought of our team, and we kinda let it roll out that way. We had the belief in this room, so we need to keep it going here. It's a lot of games left in a short period of time and we need to keep it rolling, but guys have really come together here and bought into this."
It's carried them this far – through a lot, too – and might just a little bit further if the play can keep matching.
"You win a few games early on, you get off on the right foot, that helps," Tortorella said. "We've had some stretches here where we've struggled. I watched how they handled it then, and you just saw it build.
"The word 'belief' is used for us. We're not a team full of stars and we certainly don't have things figured out yet at the beginning of our process of rebuilding this, but belief brings in a lot of good things. If you have the effort and you have the mindset that we're gonna do this together, you can stay competitive in this league. That's how we're going about it and we're gonna continue."
Which leads onto the big stage and into the bright lights of Saturday night's Stadium Series game up here in the Meadowlands. It was always going to be a show – it's the nature of the league's outdoor games, after all – but now the Flyers arrive to it knowing they're fully in the playoff race and needing these two points over a Devils team that isn't all that far behind in what could now stand as a potentially pivotal divisional matchup.
There are 27 games left. The Flyers have come this far and have shown how good they can really be, much to the surprise of many. But the road only gets tougher from here as they move to try and close this last stretch out.
The 82-game marathon is becoming a sprint, and it could very well shift into high gear for the Flyers on Saturday under the cold night sky of MetLife.
"I haven't followed where the guys were in the standings in the other games, but this one is right in front of us here," Tortorella said after Friday's practice. "Twenty-plus games left for each team, you can see where the East is. That's what I try to balance. I do not want to disrespect our team or their families, so let them enjoy this. But when that puck is dropped, I know we'll be ready to play. I think they're zeroed in on how important it is."
"I think we've stayed pretty even keel throughout the year," Laughton said. "Even when we get down in games and things like that, guys know on the bench what to expect out of each other and have kinda gone about it that way. I don't think this really changes for us. I think we'll handle the situation pretty well and go out there and have some fun."
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports