When first mentioned earlier in the season that the scoring woes and offensive game were troubling and worrisome, the raucous chorus was that it was too early to tell and the Philadelphia Flyers’ record was still staggeringly better than last year. Now that we’re 16 games into the season, the anemic offense is still present, the power play is still struggling, and the offense is bringing the team down like the heaviest of anchors.
The Flyers are 8-5-3 on the season which, for what it’s worth, is better than most expected and a lot better than their play has dictated. Even though it’s a good record, the Flyers are playing in a very difficult Metropolitan Division, where every dropped game counts and hurts even more.
Let’s not forget that last year the Flyers were near or at the top of their division heading into the month of March before the wheels came falling off. Their play was not indicative of their position and it showed in their downward spiral. The 2021-22 Flyers have several similarities to their counterparts of 2020-21 and it’s a little concerning this early into the season.
Going back to the Toronto game earlier in the month, the Flyers have been dominated and outplayed in every game since. The Maple Leafs didn’t allow the Flyers many high-danger chances and they kept them to the outside for the most part. They took 36 shots but a lot of them were from far out and the goaltender never had his sight covered.
Following that loss, the Flyers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 but mostly thanks to Carter Hart’s heroics in net. The young netminder stopped 40 shots that night as the Flyers were outshot 28-14 after 40 minutes. They ramped up the pressure in the third period, where they were able to take the game away but were it not for Hart’s resurgent year in net, this game would’ve been over in the first period.
After that came games against the Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Boston Bruins. In none of those games can you point out that the Flyers dominated or were dominant for more than a period. The Stars took advantage of a tired Flyers team on the second leg of a back-to-back, the Flames dominated for about 40 minutes before the Flyers picked up their game, the Lightning were 8.1 seconds away from a regulation win, and the Bruins were in full control of their game last night.
OFFENSE GOING COLD
The Flyers’ offensive game looks lost and confused. Whether that’s on the players or coaches remains to be seen but there is no flow, no identity, and no pressure. Outside of Claude Giroux and maybe even the fourth line, the rest of the lineup has disappeared.
The scoring woes have been well documented as they’ve only found the back of the net 18 times in their last 10 games and 27 times in their last 13 games. The power play was 1 for 26 before scoring one against the Bruins in the second period of their 5-2 loss and nearly every player not named Claude Giroux is on a cold streak or slump. Usually a few guys are on a slump at the same time but for the Flyers, it seems like everyone is at the same time.
James van Riemsdyk, who is apparently there to score goals, has one in his last 10. Joel Farabee, who started the season with 3 multi-point efforts in his first 3 games, has one point in his last 13 games. Cam Atkinson, who scored 6 goals in his first 5 games, has one goal in his last 11 and an additional two assists in that span. Travis Konecny has one goal in his last 7, Sean Couturier has one point in his last 6, Oskar Lindblom has one point all season, and Scott Laughton has one point in his last 7 and only 4 on the season.
When their offense is activated and playing well, it starts from the defense and always has. The Flyers have had the luxury of employing several puck-moving defensemen who found the scoresheet with relative ease. Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, and Phil Myers are just some of the defensemen who activated on the rush several times and aided the offense in the past. This year Provorov only has one goal and 5 points, Sanheim has zero goals and 3 assists, Keith Yandle started off the season sizzling with 5 assists in his first 3 games but has gone pointless since, and Rasmus Ristolainen has zero goals and 3 assists.
Obviously defensemen aren’t paid to score, but these are all typically 40+ point defensemen who aren’t even playing close to that level. Due to their stagnation, the offense will remain cold and anemic. The dump and chase method has never been the bread and butter for the Flyers because they’ve never been equipped with the right personnel to play that style of hockey.
Right now there is too much dump and chase action and not offensive zone time and pressure. It’s one thing to employ that tactic, but it’s another thing when you can’t retrieve the pucks that are being dumped in. The Flyers aren’t being aggressive enough on the forecheck and it simply allows the opposing team to retrieve the puck and move on into the Flyers’ end of the ice.
Losing Ryan Ellis for most of the season and beyond is a tough pill to swallow and then to be without Kevin Hayes for so long, just to lose him again after 2 games, hurts the offense immensely. Not having proper centre depth is plaguing the Flyers’ offense at the moment and even though Derick Brassard has performed admirably in Hayes’ stead, he’s not a 2C.
When everyone on the offense is on a cold streak, winning games is going to be hard to come by, so the fact that they’re 8-5-3 speaks volumes about the defense and goaltending. This was a team that finished in last place in save percentage last year. They found themselves in third place before puck drop on Saturday night. Carter Hart’s peripherals have been phenomenal as he has posted a .932 save percentage and a minuscule 2.25 GAA. Martin Jones, who has been a part of the last 2 “shellackings” has seen his GAA rise to 2.82 but his save percentage is still a very respectable .920 in 5 games.
COACHING WOES AND THE POWER PLAY
The coaching staff has flubbed and whiffed on several decisions they’ve made. Promoting James van Riemsdyk to the top line to play with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier at first made no sense. They broke up the only dangerous line they had and then in doing so they demoted Travis Konecny to a third line that had zero chemistry and no semblance of ever working out.
Shuffling lines is a part of the game, especially when struggling, and that certain players need to be woken up by placing them in situations where they should thrive in. However, van Riemsdyk has yet to do that this season and his new line with Couturier and Farabee looks pretty bad at the moment. All 3 are playing a frustrated brand of hockey, sticks are being gripped too tight, no shots are being taken because they want to make the “perfect” play instead, and no goals are being scored because of it.
Breaking up the power play in the early goings of the season by swapping Provorov on the top unit for Yandle was a mistake as well. Provorov shouldn’t be the quarterback of the top unit, it should go to the most gifted power play quarterback the team possesses; in this case Yandle. Provorov has the tendency to slow things down and make a predictable play that the defense can read. Meanwhile, Yandle has quarterbacked power plays his entire career and performed exceptionally well.
Now Giroux finds himself with Brassard, Atkinson, Konecny, and Provorov and Couturier headlines his unit with van Riemsdyk, Farabee, Lindblom, and Yandle. With a struggling power play, instead of shuffling up the units to try to make things “even” or “balanced” and continuously abandoning the one timer; they should go back to the basics and re-form the top unit the way it was at the beginning of the season and fire pucks on net. Get some screens in front of the goalie, set up one timers, and confuse the defense with bumper plays in the slot.
They are currently just swinging the puck along the boards, hoping for a play in front of the net. When that isn’t present they swing passes between defensemen and the player along the corner boards and it results in time being wasted and maybe one shot being thrown at the net. Their powerplay is far too predictable and their chances can barely be categorized as “scoring” chances.
It’s only 16 games into the season and it could be too early to start worrying, but when you’re being dominated on a nightly basis, your power play is more of an advantage for the opposing team than your own. When you’re relying on amazing goaltending to back up your anemic offense night in and night out, it’s a recipe for disaster especially with a tough schedule ahead.
At some point the offense will break out of their slump and score goals at will, as the roster is just too good for that not to happen but they need it to happen sooner rather than later. The only way to break out of a scoring slump is to just shoot the puck. The Bruins shot the puck at will last night, even if it didn’t seem like a prime opportunity and in doing so it troubled the netminder. The Flyers need to return to the basics and abandon their pursuit for the “perfect” play, that may or may not even exist.
Drifting away in the Metropolitan Division is not a recipe for success this year, but luckily for them they are 6-1-0 after a loss. Hopefully a rebound after last night’s heartbreaker is in the cards and provides a much needed spark to the offensively-struggling Flyers.
