What Went Wrong with the Philadelphia Flyers?
For the longest time, the Philadelphia Flyers were secure in the third spot of the Metropolitan division, but that has taken a turn. The Flyers have dropped down to the 5th wild card spot in the east and here’s how it all went down.
Photo from The Morning Call
Ever since the trade deadline, the Flyers have allowed 62 goals in 14 games, which is an average of 4.43 goals per game. Sam Ersson was putting up good numbers before the trade deadline, but in 11 appearances after the deadline, he is 3-5-2 with a 4.31 GAA and an .844 save percentage. Ever since the exit of Carter Hart, this team hasn’t had the same confidence and rightfully so considering Hart was a key player to their game. Adding on to this, their powerplay is the worst in the NHL at 12.7% and it has gotten even worse since the deadline. Their penalty kill was best in the league before the deadline, but that percentage has also plummeted from 83.5% to 65.7%. A lot of this has to do with the fact that their goalie is a rookie and hasn’t adapted to the pressure yet, which ultimately affects the rest of the team especially the defense.
The Flyers have run into other issues as well, such as injuries, and they all happened at the worst time. Players like Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler, and Sean Couturier. There’s a reason why Konecny has only four goals in his last 15 games and it’s because of the upper body injury he has been dealing with. Along with Tippett, he’s only had 10 goals in 28 games since coming back from injury. Drysdale and Seeler missed a couple of weeks as well and had only just returned to action recently. None of these guys are nowhere near 100% and it’s showing on the stat sheet.
Finally, the most controversial topic when it comes to the Flyers is the coaching. John Tortorella is hands down one of the most aggressive outspoken coaches the NHL has. Before the season started, no one thought that the Flyers would be any good, but he changed that narrative rather quickly. On the other hand, he has been making some questionable decisions as of lately. The Flyers are 1-8 since he scratched his captain Couturier for two games. He lost a game in overtime starting his depth players rather than his skilled players during the extra period. He sent Joel Farabee down to the fourth line and even benched Konecny for a stretch of a period. He also called his team soft and that they are an embarrassment to the Flyers uniform along with the fact that some of his players have no clue how to play at this time of the year.
The last few games can be considered a separate season with all the craziness that happens. When you look at a team like the Pittsburg Penguins and compare them to the Flyers, the Penguins have way more experience than the latter and that’s why both teams are in the positions they are in. The Flyers played hard and fast during the first half of the season, which has ultimately burnt out the team. This is proven because they aren’t able to perform at their best during the most important time of the year. The Penguins playoff hopes are still alive as the experience on their team is starting to shine through.
The Flyers need something drastic to happen to recover from this late season collapse.
