PHILADELPHIA _ Remember the good old days of late 2019? Optimism was as rampant as Gritty's hair (or whatever that is he's covered in) and the Flyers were surging.
It's been the complete opposite lately. Alain Vigneault is not happy and he's changing up the lines.
"We're trying to find better combinations that are going to be more efficient on the ice," the coach said after practice Monday in Raleigh, N.C.
Sean Couturier will center Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny. Kevin Hayes will be in the middle of James van Riemsdyk and Nic Aube-Kubel. Michael Raffl will center Tyler Pitlick and Jake Voracek. The fourth line has Misha Vorobyov between Scott Laughton and Joel Farabee.
The defense pairings will remain, except Robert Hagg will slide in for the injured Justin Braun, who is out for several weeks with a groin injury.
Brian Elliott will start Tuesday in Carolina as the Flyers wrap up their six-game trip. They have lost four of the first five games and been outscored, 23-12.
The coach is miffed at everybody _ except one guy.
"(Tyler) Pitlick for me has been one of the most consistent players. Every night, I know what to expect. I'm going to get that 100% effort," the coach said. "It might not always be pretty, but I know what I'm going to get.
"From some other guys, we've proven without a doubt lately that we can be very inconsistent in our play and in our defensive play," Vigneault continued. "We're addressing it with the group. It's not an easy thing to fix when you're going through adversity, but we're working very hard and hopefully we can fix it by tomorrow."
