VOORHEES, N.J. — You can be certain the Toronto Maple Leafs will want to make their presence felt Friday night at Air Canada Centre against the Flyers.
They didn’t do that earlier in the week on home ice and got pasted, 7-0, by the L.A. Kings, which led to a bag skate — some of it in total darkness — the next day from coach Mike Babcock.
The Leafs, who have three of the NHL’s top-six rookie scorers in their lineup, like to play pond hockey with all the infusion of speed.
That’s something the Flyers have to be wary of, especially given the defensive breakdowns in front of their goalies these days.
That means paying attention to Auston Matthews, who centers fellow rookies Zach Hyman and William Nylander.
Rookies have truly had an impact throughout the NHL this season, but you could easily say that has been the trend over the past several seasons, as well.
“It’s pretty exciting for the league when you look around,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said Thursday. “The number of good, young players in the league who are having an impact on a daily basis.
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“It’s early in the year, so everybody still has a lot to prove, but there is no question there are some exciting players entering the league as young guys.”
Matthews, who possesses out-of-this-world moves, deserves special attention when he’s on the ice. He scored four goals in his NHL debut against Ottawa, but has scored just twice since then.
Sean Couturier’s line with Travis Konecny and Jakub Voracek could match up against that unit.
“I played with [Matthews] at the World Cup and he’s a special player,” Couturier said. “He’s pretty talented and off to a good start. He’s a dangerous player to play against.”
Nylander leads the Leafs with 12 points (four goals), while Matthews (six goals) has 11 points and Mitch Marner (four goals) has 10 points.
“He’s a big guy, he can skate and does everything at a high speed,” Couturier said of Matthews. “His execution and everything is at a high speed and [so is] his release. He does everything so quick, he’s tough to play against.”
The Flyers will have their own rookies here, including Konecny and Ivan Provorov. Asked to compare Konecny and Matthews, Couturier said they were entirely different players.
“One guy is 6-3 and the other is 5-10, 5-11? Or 5-8 maybe without his skates," Couturier said. "It’s tough to compare them. TK plays with a chip on his shoulder. He likes to go to the dirty areas.
“Auston Matthews is more pure talent. A gifted player ... there’s no comparison for me because they are two different players.”
Flyers captain Claude Giroux said simply, “The things they can do at high speed is pretty impressive.”
Giroux will have Brayden Schenn back on his line with Wayne Simmonds. Schenn likes what he sees of Matthews’ line.
“They’re going to play a lot of minutes regardless, that’s who they are building their team around,” Schenn said. “Young guys tend to make more mistakes. That’s the nature of the game. They are highly skilled [and] make plays.”
Which is why it would behoove the Flyers to slow the game down and prevent pond hockey.
“That’s one thing we don’t want the game to be,” Schenn said. “We haven’t been great yet five-on-five defensively. We have to clean that up.
“But that’s what those guys — Matthews and Nylander — want. When you have that much skill, you want a run-and-gun style of game to allow their skill to take over. That’s what we can’t let them do."