One of the biggest differences in Tuesday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to Seattle for the Flyers was seeing the defense jump up in the rush. Oliver Bonk, who played with Travis Sanheim on the first pairing, was a force to be reckoned with at some points, and managed to start the play that lead to Philadelphia cutting the lead by the Kraken in half when Christian Dvorak made it 2-1.

“I don’t know if I was waiting to get stopped, but I was just doing my best to keeping my feet moving,” Bonk said afterwards regarding the rush. “It’s a big thing to not throw pucks away at this level, so just keep going until I could make a play.”

On Wednesday afternoon after practice, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet was asked about something Trevor Zegras said post-game, citing the term “scooter skating” which was something Tocchet smiled about.

“See, he’s listening, wow,” Tocchet said before elaborating on the term. “So, you’ll see the really good teams when you delay, the fourth guy, he scooters. If you watched us last night, there were four instances where our defense are too…I can’t use the word. They’re too…if you heard the word, I can’t say it.”

After deliberating briefly as to whether he would be able to say the word, Tocchet decided to live life to the fullest, the heck with the consequences, and said the word.

“I can say it, they’re too horny, right? They get up in the play, and they get too…so you have to just slow your skating down. The delay comes and then you scoot your skating, so you time it right, and then you get your shot. We were getting in too close. Then when you get it, you’re on top of their rail guys, so you got to scoot your skating.

“That was something we worked on today. It happened honestly four or five times where we, literally, if we just waited just an extra two seconds, we would’ve had a Grade A (opportunity) instead of a blocked shot. So that’s something we’ve been really working on.”

There could have been plenty of other words used in that instance, but Tocchet decided to use the one that would certainly make us all think about this on-ice phenomenon a little bit longer than normal. While the Flyers could use a whole lot of offense, the fourth player entering the zone, typically the defenseman, has been a little bit more aggressive than he would like, going down too deep in the zone and too fast, not waiting to see play develop and maybe get more involved in the play by slowing down.

Although the rushes didn’t result in the two points Philadelphia are desperately craving now with a 0-5-3 record, it was one of the bright spots in a game that went right down to the wire. And then the shootout.

Both Bonk and Sanheim joined the Flyers rush

The rushes by both Bonk and Travis Sanheim gave Philadelphia a bit more offensive jump or punch, and might be something to look forward to as the Flyers hope to crush this winless streak once and for all.

Whether both defenders were tired of the “safe is death” blueprint that has characterized some of Tocchet’s defensive philosophy, or the fact Philadelphia has had a tough time scoring goals, both decided to join the rush, or start the rush with strong dashes over the blueline.

Sanheim, who said he “saw a chance to jump” on the penalty kill, also showed some skill driving the play up ice. “I mean I’m trying every game, as best that I can if I got the legs,” Sanheim said regarding trying to move up into the offensive zone or be a playmaker. “In this league you have to have offense come from the back end to help the forwards generate. Teams play too good defensively, so if you don’t have that fourth or fifth guy up ice, it’s hard to generate.”

Regardless of what racy language or euphemisms Tocchet and his coaching staff may consider to get the Flyers out of the rut, seeing the defense jump up on the rush is something that might pay bigger dividends the longer this season continues. Particularly if Sanheim remains healthy, and Bonk remains in the picture with Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen possibly closer to returning.

The Flyers have a chance to be slightly less “horny” when they visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, still searching for that first win of the season.