VOORHEES, N.J. -- The two most important changes that Peter Laviolette is making with the Philadelphia Flyers is to upgrade their speed and lower their penalty minutes. Pushing team speed higher was the focus of Tuesday's practice at the Flyers SkateZone training facility, as it has been since he was hired Dec. 5.
"That's been every practice. That's just a typical practice," Laviolette said. "It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I'm a big believer that if you want to play a certain style, you want to play a certain way, you have to practice that way and you have to practice it hard and fast. The guys did that. It was a good tempo today."
The biggest change in the Flyers is that they have gone from a one-man forecheck that directed opponents up one side of the ice where they intended to have defenders ready. The new style employs a two-man forecheck that intends to thwart the opponent from getting even a pass out of its zone. It requires relentless skating and there was an adaptation period that wasn't pretty. The Flyers went 2-7-1 in Laviolette's first 10 games.
He was asked if this system, one that helped the Carolina Hurricanes win the 2006 Stanley Cup, is hard to adopt with a team used to playing a different style.
"I don't think it's so hard but if you do something one way for so long, you become programmed," Laviolette said. "Maybe it's not physical, maybe it's mental. You become programmed to do something and when you've done it for an extended period of time and you go to change that, there's maybe a pause, maybe a thinking process, and that thinking process may cost you or may paralyze you.
"But, hopefully we've taken a step and the players seem to have caught on and they played a pretty good game against the Islanders. The night before, I think we executed a really good game. The players were tight defensively. Offensively, they generated chances. They generated a lot of zone time and it was a good 60-minute win for us. So, again, these are just small steps. You look at the standings and we're not even near where we need to be to find success this year, so it's a step. We'll take another one hopefully tomorrow.
Team leaders say they seem to be getting the hang of the system after consecutive victories against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Hurricanes and Islanders. They take on the Rangers in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night before meeting the Boston Bruins Friday in the Bridgestone 2010 NHL Winter Classic.
Veteran left wing Simon Gagne was asked what was the hardest thing to learn in the new system.
"Little things, that's for sure. Every time you have a new coach you have to expect some change," Gagne said. "Every coach has a different approach of the game. Peter had a lot of success in Carolina by playing that system. It's a little bit different than Johnny (Stevens); a lot of movement, offensively, a lot of criss-cross. So doing that, the other team is going to have trouble covering you in their zone and there's a lot of exchanges.
"It's definitely hard to defend for the other team. In the neutral zone, it's not a trap. Usually you see a coach like the 1-2-2 but with Peter, it's more like two guys pressuring with three guys back and protect the blue line. It's definitely a little bit different and will take some time to get used to it. Just before we won those three games you could tell it's working, especially in the last three games. By winning three games in a row, you could tell that guys started not thinking so much about it and it's becoming just natural to play."
Right wing Danny Briere noted the previous system worked well for two seasons for the Flyers until they hit a bump in the road in November.
"It's two different systems. What we did worked with John. For two years we had really successful seasons making the playoffs," Briere said. "To be able to play in Peter's system, you have to get your legs moving. So that's probably a better assessment of things.
"That's something we had to adapt to. Playing a different system and adapting to different positions or routes, I should say, out on the ice. But, I don't like to use that as an excuse. We had our struggles. Hopefully, now we're feeling confident enough about our system and our play that it's going to carry us for the second part of the season."
The Flyers were the most penalized team in the NHL on that date, averaging nearly 19 minutes a game. They're still last but they're down to 17.6 minutes per game and they won their last three games, taking 10 minutes in penalties in each game.
Veteran left wing Ian Laperriere said the impact of fewer penalties is obvious.
"When you do take that many penalties -- now don't get me wrong, that's where I get my ice time. I like it -- but the other way, they kind of overplayed me and underplayed the guys who don't kill penalties. They were sitting there for 10 minutes while we kill a bunch of penalties and I get overused. It's not good.
"You want to get on a roll and some guys are cold and some guys are hot. We just need to work smarter. We talk about it. Peter talks about it. You wear that Flyers jersey and you feel that the refs are looking at you more because of the way we play. Sometimes instead of reaching we can skate a little bit more. Instead of finishing our checks with our elbows up, we need to be smart. I'll tell you, we're learning and hopefully we'll get better."
Laviolette appreciates players that get it and he amplified on Laperriere's insight.
"There's no question. It does distort player's ice time," he said. "One, because players end up sitting. There's no real rotation and you end up losing everything. Two, you're really taxed. Penalty kill is a lot of work. It's just ugly grunt work and you really have to tear players down if you're killing six or seven penalty minutes. Physically, you just beat them up. You're using the same guys over and over and a lot of times it can be power-play guys. You want power-play guys to be effective, but they've done so much work killing penalties, it makes it much more difficult."
Laviolette sees the fruits of his coaching taking hold, and it's not just measured by the three-straight victories.
"I've thought our discipline is getting better and the last three games, it was very good," he said. "We need to play a physical game. We need to be competitive and there are things that happen on the ice. What we needed to get away from are the things that would happen after the whistle where we're the only ones taking the minutes. I think the guys have done a better job with that.
"We're trying to control it internally here and ultimately it's their reactions out on the ice they have to be accounted for. The last three games we did a good job with it."
NOTES -- Laviolette said goalie Michael Leighton will start Wednesday against the Rangers. Brian Boucher said he is still feeling the effects of the deep cut on the ring finger of his right hand. He took a shot to numb pain before Tuesday's practice and said the experiment went well but he's not ready to start, although he could come in if needed ... Defenseman Ryan Parent has back spasms and won't play against the Rangers.
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