Unlike last season, penalty kill costing Flyers

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — The best that can be said for the Flyers' woeful penalty-kill units is that, at last, they won’t be facing a top-five power play on Monday night.

The Arizona Coyotes are ranked 11th in the NHL in power-play efficiency at 19.5 percent.

Still, after Saturday’s meltdown in Nashville, where the Flyers gave up three power-play goals in losing 4-1, the concern lingers about this one aspect of Craig Berube’s team.

It’s cost the Flyers a half-dozen wins this season.

“We have to get better,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “We’ve identified some areas we need to get better at. We’ve gotta do a better job. If you want to break it down, it’s all areas. You’re talking pressure, blocking shots, passing from the seams, goaltending. Every area has to be better.

“It’s not one thing. I think that’s the encouraging thing. When you sit and look at what you’re not doing well ... it’s a lot of clears. There’s a lot of elements of a penalty kill that make it successful or unsuccessful. We can do ... I know it’s in [our dressing] room to do it.”

The absence of Kimmo Timonen (blood clots) is the biggest reason why the Flyers' penalty killing is ranked 29th in the NHL this season. The Finnish defenseman made it a top-10 unit every year. He was the brains on the ice. He was the guy directing others and positioning the box.

There is no one on the Flyers' roster that can adequately replace what Timonen brought to the PK units.

“Kimmo was a big part of it,” Hextall said. “Kimmo is smart. He knows exactly where to be, exactly where to put his stick, exactly where rebounds are coming out. He just has that knack of knowing where the puck is gonna go to, so he was a big part of it.

“But somebody’s gotta play where Kimmo was playing and we gotta pull it together. It’s a big part of it. Special teams are huge. You look at last year. We made the playoffs. Why did we make the playoffs? It wasn’t 5-on-5.”

One of the issues during Saturday’s game was that the Flyers’ best faceoff man, Claude Giroux, was in the penalty box during two Predator power-play goals.

Sean Couturier takes the draws when Giroux is not available.

“To me, it starts in the faceoff circle and winning draws, getting pucks down the ice, clears,” Berube said. “It’s the simple things like that which makes your PK work and you have success.

“Giroux was in the box for a couple of them and on the 5-on-3, I probably wouldn’t put Giroux out there for that faceoff. He doesn’t kill 5-on-3 and if he doesn’t win it, he gets stuck out there. Couturier has to battle harder and win those draws.”

Couturier has gotten better this year on faceoffs, but winning a draw and getting a clear is vital on the PK and none of that happened against Nashville.

Couturier says he’s worked hard this year to become more consistent on faceoff draws. His winning accuracy is 48 percent versus Giroux, who is 56 percent.

“I work on it and try to get better at that aspect of the game,” Couturier said. “When you are down one or two guys, it’s tough for the other guys. They got 5-on-3, you got to try and win a clear pretty much.”

Couturier has even asked Giroux for some faceoff tips.

“I try to learn from him and watch, and yeah, you cheat a bit, but you have to have the refs on your side, too,” he said. “They’re starting to let me do it more and it shows in my faceoff percentage.”

Berube said it takes time to become a skilled faceoff guy.

“He’s put in a different role this year,” Berube said. “He’s really a guy we go to now on faceoffs and Giroux on the other side, for sure. ... He’s getting better and will continue getting better. It does take a little bit of time.

“It’s about competing and having a little bit more of an attitude and winning more on pure competitiveness. You got to know what guys are doing. They are tactics, but he works at it.”

Loose pucks
Dany Heatley was waived on Monday by Anaheim. The Flyers do not have any interest in him. ... Hextall said he would make a decision at 5 p.m. Mountain time about who will be sent to the Phantoms. With Steve Mason healthy now and playing tonight, Rob Zepp has to either go back to the Phantoms or another player has to be sent down. Hextall wanted to be certain Mason, who practiced hard Monday morning at the skate, doesn’t have a back spasm flare-up Monday afternoon before deciding on Zepp’s status. It is expected Zepp goes back.

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