Well, the Philadelphia Flyers didn’t go out with a whimper. With an emphatic 9-3 route by the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, the Flyers’ playoff chances have fallen to all but zero. After spending nearly four full months straight in a playoff spot, the Flyers have a long offseason awaiting them unless a miraculous set of events transpires. What were some takeaways from this one?
Flyers Start Off Sluggish Again
Right off the bat, it was pretty clear that the Flyers weren’t going to win this game. Montreal’s first line controlled the pace early, and they struck just over a minute into the game. Slow starts have been a theme over the course of the Flyers’ eight-game losing streak, and they came to bite them again.
Recently, the Flyers just haven’t been able to get to pucks. Board battles haven’t come easy. They have looked a step slower, while teams with subpar records such as the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Canadiens have all seized the opportunity in the Flyers’ last three contests.
From start to finish, the Flyers were on their heels. They did a good job to survive until about midway through the second period still down 1-0, but the floodgates opened fast. The bad start ignited that flame.
The energy wasn’t there for the Flyers from the jump, and it was a sign of what was to come. Even a team like the 30-win Canadiens will take advantage of that every time. The defensive coverage and goaltending were not good, either, so Montreal essentially toyed with Philadelphia for 60 minutes. The Flyers haven’t had a game quite like that — considering the importance of the game — in a very long time. It was disheartening, to say the least.
Has Tortorella Lost the Room?
One of the popular narratives around head coach John Tortorella is that he doesn’t stick around for all that long, particularly because of the way he coaches the game. Based on his hard-nosed coaching style, it’s easy to conclude that he “loses the locker room,” pretty frequently. He is a coach who wins off of energy and his team’s ability to go all in. When they aren’t all in? Losses like this tend to happen.
It begs the question: has Tortorella really lost the locker room in Philadelphia? At least somewhat, it is clear that the team doesn’t have the same mojo that they used to on the ice. They aren’t playing with the same pizazz. Before the Flyers’ losing streak, they always tended to respond when adversity hit them. Now, they only get worse when struggles arise.
There are likely a lot of factors contributing to this. It is late in the season, after all. It is likely that several players are hiding injuries. Players might also be worn down.
Related: Flyers’ John Tortorella Is a Double-Edged Sword
Even if the players are no longer responding to Tortorella, it doesn’t mean that they dislike him all of a sudden. Simply, the team was not made to play as rough of a style as they do for a full 82 games. Their collapse is likely much deeper than that, but the energy is a big part of it.
Flyers’ Offseason Plans: Will They Change?
It’s not going to be easy for the Flyers’ management to pretend this skid never happened. At least somewhat, their plans for the offseason are going to change. A sure-thing playoff team had, to put it bluntly, one of the biggest choke jobs in team history. That isn’t all necessarily on the players, either. Everything went bad for the Flyers at one time, and there hasn’t been enough time off for them to address it.
The Flyers aren’t likely to change everything they’re doing, but general manager (GM) Daniel Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones might have to take a step back a bit and assess what they are dealing with. They seem to be gunning for a competitive rebuild of sorts, which is one where they build up talent but also try to roster a good hockey team.
A player like Travis Konecny, who will be eligible for an extension this offseason, might not be guaranteed to stick around. He has just four points in the Flyers’ losing skid, so anything seems possible at this point. Whether or not Briere chooses to stick to his plan, he will have a lot to think about.
Next up, the Flyers will take on the New York Rangers on April 11 to try and end their season off on a positive note and perhaps spoil their hopes of winning the Presidents’ Trophy. With the season all but over now, moral victories are really all the Flyers have. Missing out on the playoffs after a long season of hard work has to be devastating for the players.