Owen Tippett stood at his locker stall Monday night time with a gash on the prime of his nostril, the blood at the very least now not dripping from a late scuffle with the pissed off Penguins.
Tippett was banged up going into Game 2. He in all probability left it feeling no higher.
But you would not have recognized it after the Flyers’ 3-0 win at PPG Paints Arena. Tippett was the identical dynamic participant on the ice and his mild-mannered self in the locker room.
His character belies his toughness.
“This time of year, you have people banged up,” Rick Tocchet stated Tuesday. “Both sides. I’m sure they do, too, and other teams. It’s really managing the guys that are banged up. Tip, he hasn’t skated much in practice. He has managed himself really, really well.”
Tippett did not observe Sunday. He was shaken up in the Flyers’ playoff clincher a bit of over per week in the past. It’s unsure what’s ailing the 27-year-old winger, however the Flyers have been monitoring his workload between video games.
As the Flyers took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff collection with Pittsburgh, Tippett offered one in all his spectacular highlights. With the Flyers on the penalty kill, he shrugged off and shimmied round a pair of Penguins to arrange Garnet Hathaway’s shorthanded objective.
“He’s such a threat,” Hathaway stated Monday night time. “Speed, hands, shot. I just had to get open.”
The decided effort prolonged the Flyers’ benefit to 2-0 in the second interval.
“He has got that home run ability,” Tocchet stated. … “He gets a step on a guy or he makes a terrific play on that shorthanded goal. You get that guy that can hit the home run when it’s a neutral game or a game that nothing’s really happening. He has that ability to break the game open for us.”
Tippett led the Flyers with 28 objectives in the common season. Three got here on the ability play and three at shorthanded. Down the stretch, Tippett “had to drive some lines himself,” Tocchet stated in March.
“It’s dangerous when he recognized how powerful he can be and the impact he makes in games,” Travis Konecny stated Monday night time. … “He’s just one of those guys that can kind of do everything — he’s a big guy, he has got the hands, he has got the speed. He’s a big piece of this team, for sure.”
With 1:47 minutes left in Game 2, Tippett took a few upper-cut punches from Anthony Mantha. It wasn’t a combat and Tippett did not retaliate. Manta was given a misconduct.
Tippett appeared unfazed. He had seven hits on the night time and that nice help.
His group was headed home with one other win.
