Peter Laviolette changed things around on Wednesday at practice.
Instead of devoting a few minutes at practices end to the shootout, he opened with it and stuck with it for quite a while.
Maybe now his goalies might develop some confidence stopping staged breakaways.
Maybe his shooters might develop some nerves of steel to think they might actually score a goal when they reach the net.
But will the lengthy practice pay off?
The team is 1-5 in shootouts this season, while goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is 0-4 and has stopped just 2 of 10 attempts.
Given Bryzs lifetime .633 percentage (19 of 26), he was obviously better at this in Phoenix than hes been as a Flyer.
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Is it him? The fact his shooters cant score, either? Or is it both?
To be honest, I feel that right now during the shootout its like a soccer net behind me, Bryzgalov said. Everything I do is slower or faster. I dont know.
To his credit, Bryzgalov didnt use the excuse of not knowing the shooters in the East.
Its not for the East or the West, Bryzgalov said. Its here in the head.
He said he practiced shootouts 30 minutes a day in Russia. And was better at it.
It was part of practice, Bryzgalov said.
Claude Giroux, among others, said the Flyers need to do this more often and not every so often.
All these lost points on shootouts are going to bite the Flyers in their collective fannies come the playoffs when final seedings are determined.
We need to practice that, obviously, said Wayne Simmonds, who was among the few shooters to beat backup Sergei Bobrovsky in the shootout drills.
Weve been doing them in practice a little bit. Theres going to be a lot of games coming down the stretch where were going to need to get the extra point. I dont know why were so bad at shootouts.
Weve got some pretty talented players on our team. For whatever the reason is, we cant put the puck in the net and we cant keep it out of our own. The last game we lost in a shootout, we worked on it for a couple days.
Shootouts are different than breakaways. Theyre kind of staged and you have more time to think. I guess youve got to find a go-to move and execute it.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said he prioritizes practices and this was one time where he had time to work on the shootout. Coincidentally, his team lost 1-0 in a shootout to the Islanders the night before.
Only in Philly could Bryz get a shutout and still lose the game because of his teams ineptness in the shootout.
A couple players hinted the Flyers are wary when games get to the shootout. Again, another reason to practice it more often -- confidence.
Try to build some confidence off it, Briere said. Weve been working at it the last two practices. Hopefully, we wont need it, but we did a few years ago and thats what got us into the playoffs.
Its points we would rather have coming our way than in the other hands. It is what it is so far. We cant change anything. Hopefully, we can practice and get better at it.
The Flyers made the playoffs in 2010 on the strength of a shootout goal from Claude Giroux. Can you imagine if they have to do that again this season given the lack of shooter confidence?
I think the ultimate confidence comes from results in the games, Laviolette said. Certainly, we need to work on things, whether its the shootout or the PP, or def-zone coverage. You have to work on things.
Were home now for a stint. We talked about this before, there just wasnt a lot of time. Now theres more time to work on things ...We had video today. You dont get a lot of time on the road.