The Flyers picked up a big win over the Sharks last night to stop the bleeding and protect against Sunday’s loss turning into a streak, and there was a lot to like about that showing. Carl Grundstrom came into the lineup for his second game of the season and got the fourth line their first goal of the season. Travis Konecny picked up his 500th NHL points (and, quickly, his 501st). Dan Vladar backstopped the team to his 11th win of the season. And along with all of that, rookie defenseman Ty Murchison made his NHL debut, stepping in to give a depleted back end a bit of a boost, and delivered that nicely.
Murchison spent this game sheltered a bit on the third pair, but he still got some good usage even in that role. He clocked in at 14:56 of ice time when it was all said and done, as it seemed the Flyers’ coaching staff wasn’t afraid to lean on him a little bit even in this first game — he actually finished this one with a minute more ice time than his defense partner in Noah Juulsen, and on top of getting a couple of good looks on the penalty kill, was still thrown out there in the waning minute of the game as the Flyers protected the lead. It was a nice vote of confidence, and a nice way to cap off what was on the whole quite a solid first taste of NHL action.
Getting comfortable
The jump to the NHL level, even for just a short stint, is a steep one for any player, but the Flyers have had elements at work from the very start of the season up and down the organizational levels, to make this jump a little easier on their players. From his first comments to the media after his hiring, Phantoms head coach John Snowden emphasized the importance of having some consistency in how his squad and the Flyers are running their defensive zone to make things easier on any players going up and down, and that’s a goal that they’ve been able to follow through on through these first couple of months of the season. And for Murchison, he felt it made all the difference.
“Yeah definitely,” he said when asked about this continuity postgame. “Coach Rierden’s been amazing too just with helping me out with the subtle changes, but yeah I mean it definitely helps that we’re playing a similar game down there.”
He came into this recall with a built-in higher level of preparation done already, but of course, the systems between levels aren’t, can’t be, exactly the same, but the few days between his recall and his insertion into the lineup gave him enough time to spend a bit of time working with the Flyers’ coaching staff to get him up to speed on those small differences, and this seemed to be a difference maker for him.
“Coach Rierden’s been,” he went on, “amazing with helping me out with video and just subtle stuff on the bench. And I’m asking a ton of questions, and he’s always got a great answer, so they made the transition a lot easier.”
Murchison, too, credits his teammates with making this transition particularly easy on him, their willingness to offer guidance a useful tool as he looked to slide seamlessly into the lineup and hit the ground running.
“Yeah it was a surreal experience. The guys made it extremely easy, talking to me a ton, giving me a bunch of feedback. So it was a great team win and I’m very happy to be here.”
Making an impression
For Murchison, this was surely a lifelong memory made, but just as important for the Flyers on a collective level was that he delivered for them a much-needed positive showing.
In short, each of the key pillars of Murchison’s game were working well for him on the whole. He was physically engaged, but still responsible enough to avoid abandoning his defensive assignments in order to chase a physical play. He had a couple of nice subtle plays to use his stick to break up chances. He was using his feet and able to keep pace with play nicely, even as the speed was a notch higher than he’s used to down in the AHL. His game seemed to be clicking well, and it made him a standout to his head coach in this one as well.
“He can skate really well, that’s what I like about him,” Rick Tocchet said postgame, “and he’s competitive. I think he did a great job for us tonight. You know, I think there was some stuff in your first game, I think he backed in a couple of times, but that’s normal, we’ll work with that, but he’s a good skater and he’s got some stiffness to him, that’s what I like. When you have defensemen who can skate and have stiffness to them, you know I think he went into the corner one time, not scared, and took a hit from Reaves, and kind of went at it with him. That’s a good luxury to have.”
It wasn’t overly flashy, but it was just about as positive of a first impression as he could have made in his NHL debut, given the type of game he plays and the role he was playing in. And what’s more, if the looks in practice this afternoon are any indication, Murchison might have just bought himself another game to show what he can do at this level, while Cam York works his way back from injury. Now, the next challenge is maintaining a solid level of play now that the initial adrenaline has worn off, but it’s nice to see the Flyers open to giving him some runway to extend his showing a little while longer. We’ll see where he goes from here/