Flyers searching for that collective identity that made them so successful last year: ‘It’s not about me, me, me’

Last season, the Flyers were one of the NHL’s hardest teams to face.

Coaches said it pregame, and opponents lined up knowing they were in for a dogfight. Teams expected a night against a stingy defense — they averaged the ninth-fewest goals against last season — and a team that loved to bang — fourth-most hits — and grind — eighth-most blocked shots.

The last two things, banging and grinding, have shaped the Flyers’ identity not just the last few seasons but since Ed Snider built the team up from the studs.

» READ MORE: ‘We’re soft’: Sean Couturier calls out Flyers after another ugly loss, and Rick Tocchet agrees

For most of the team’s 15 games this season, that identity has fallen to the wayside.

Wednesday night after their 12th loss, captain Sean Couturier said in Washington, D.C.: “At times this year, we’re soft, I would say.”

Defenseman Nick Seeler, who also fittingly hails from Minnesota, followed it up by invoking 1980 Miracle on Ice coach Herb Brooks’ saying about how the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back.

“It’s not about ‘me, me, me.’ It’s about the team and playing for each other and sacrificing for each other,” Seeler said. “And it’s really not that difficult to understand. You play for the guy next to you; that’s what Flyers hockey is all about, and when we can start figuring that out at the start ... we will be a better hockey team.”

Famously, Brooks made the Americans bag skate (hockey’s version of conditioning sprints) over and over again after a disastrous exhibition game performance against Norway. “You guys don’t want to work during the game,” Kurt Russell, who portrayed Brooks in the movie “Miracle,” says to the team. “No problem, we’ll work now.”

There was no bag skate in Voorhees on Friday, but the Flyers did have a practice that ran well over an hour, with several battle and reactionary drills. Even Travis Konecny, sporting a yellow non-contact jersey as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, was going at it with Denver Barkey — notably swatting at his stick to set the tone before the drill even started.

Before they got on the ice, the Flyers held a team meeting. Tocchet said it was a typical game review chat but the message this time was about guys needing to show that they want the puck. They spoke about solutions and looking forward, not back.

“A term that was used in the meeting was fragile,” forward Noah Cates said. “Whether it’s our mindset, whether it’s on the ice in the corners, we just can’t be fragile.

“This game’s ... it’s hard, it’s messy, it’s just hockey. So you’ve got to play hard, and bounces happen for and against. So you just got to roll with them, and back each other up on and off the ice.”

The Flyers are first in the NHL in blocked shots, partially because, according to Natural Stat Trick, they rank first in shot attempts against (932) and second in shots against (454). They have the second-lowest goals for percentage (36.7%) and fourth-worst expected goals for (42.6%) and high-danger chances for percentages (41.5%).

“When you say play for the crest, I feel like that’s all kind of in us, always,” Treor Zegras said on Friday. “We just have small periods of time throughout the game where we just don’t connect the dots.”

The Flyers need to get back to playing like five-man units, which was easily visible in the second and third periods against the Columbus Blue Jackets or most consistently in the team’s wins against the Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche, and Buffalo Sabres.

They would be well served by embracing the uptempo, hard-nosed game that helped them save their season last year and advance to the second round of the playoffs. That was part of the structure to Friday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center, the first of two straight days getting on the ice as a group in Voorhees for the first time since the start of training camp.

With 69 games left, there is still an opportunity to right the ship and get reconnected. Playing as a team would be a great place to start.

» READ MORE: ‘Getting close’: Help is on the way as Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett return to practice for reeling Flyers

“That’s how great teams win. Us in London, that’s how we won. Every person had a role to fill, and you just filled it,” said rookie defenseman Oliver Bonk, who won a Memorial Cup alongside Barkey with London of the Ontario Hockey League.

“Everything worked together. It’s like a car. [If] even the smallest little things missing, you don’t have a full car, it’s not going to run. Everyone’s just got to be the piece of the car that they need to be, and the car is going to run.”