VOORHEES, N.J. — It's still hard to believe Ivan Provorov is 21 years old.
Not only is there a precociousness to the defenseman's game, but he also conducts himself like a 10-year pro.
So when Provorov gave linesman Ryan Daisy a one-hand shove to his chest in frustration following a penalty during Thursday night's game, it was surprising.
Provorov was whistled for high-sticking and then given a 10-minute misconduct, resulting in 12 penalty minutes. Over 82 games last season, he accrued just 20 penalty minutes.
This wasn't Provorov, who was visibly upset with himself Friday after practice.
He took it hard.
"I let the emotion take over me and I did something I wish hadn't done," Provorov said. "I apologized to Ryan after the game and I called him this morning just to say that I'm sorry. I apologized, it's unacceptable.
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"But I think we're all human, we all make mistakes. Of course you always wish you never make mistakes, but when you do, you've got to learn from them and I'm definitely going to learn from this one."
When Scott Gordon saw Provorov on Friday, the Flyers' interim head coach could sense more than just disappointment — much more.
He felt awful. First thing he said in the morning when I saw him was that he didn't sleep last night. He had 12 minutes [in penalties this season], that's not his personality. The heat of the moment, it was a good battle, confrontation with two players. I don't know that one was worse than the other, but he got called and his frustration got the best of him. He was sincere about what he said to me this morning, you could tell it, he was pretty rattled. He did the right thing last night, he talked to the linesman, apologized. In a game, it's usually a lot quicker, but to actually get on the phone and speak to the linesman, it's a little bit more from the heart.
One telling aspect to Provorov's game is that he seldom makes the same mistake twice. His coaches have extolled him for that ever since the 2015 first-round pick made the big club out of training camp in 2016-17 as a 19-year-old.
Such maturity was evident Friday — even on no sleep.
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