After last night’s loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, it marked the Philadelphia Flyers’ 10th straight game without a win, but what made it even more special was the fact that it was their second 10-game winless streak of the season. To add salt in the wounds, it was their second 10-game winless streak in their last 26 games with a 7-game point streak mixed in the middle.
There’s a belief that this team can turn it around, there are comparisons to the last place St. Louis Blues from the 2019 season as they started their hot run to the championship on the 23rd of January. The Flyers have yet to hit the mid-way mark of their season as they’re only 40 games in, but based on what we’ve seen, especially the last 26 games, it’s hard to believe any turnaround is possible; but colour me surprised if they can pull it off.
26 games is a big enough sample size to truly understand the issues at hand. The skinny on the offensive players and their scoring woes, the goaltending and having to play behind a debilitating defense, the woeful and inefficient specialty teams that are both disadvantages at this point, and hapless team play that has cumulated in a 26-game stretch where the team has gone 5-15-6, having the least amount of wins in the league during that stretch.
In total the Flyers have been outscored 61-100 in their last 26 game, and more importantly in the two separate 10-game winless streaks, they’ve been outscored 37-85. The seven games in between was a stretch of surprising hockey, considering they scored 4 or more goals four times, something they only did 1 other time in the other losses. If 4 goals is me reaching for bad stats, then the Flyers scored 3 or more goals 10 times, 5 of them coming during the 6 game point streak. The offense is only putting up 2.34 goals per game (through 26 games), or for that matter 1.85 per game during their losing streaks.
On the defensive side of the puck the Flyers have allowed 100 goals in 26 games, which comes out to a 3.85 goals per game average. In the 20 losses, the goals per game average jumps up to 4.25 with the 85 goals allowed. The Flyers have allowed 4 or more goals 13 times in their two 10-game winless streaks so when you couple the anemic offense with the hapless defense, you’re going to get no wins every time.
When 5 on 5 play is rough, most teams will look for their man advantage to take the load off and we’ve seen that to be the case in previous years, most recently during the Dave Hakstol era. However this year, the power play has truly represented a disadvantage, not just because of the lack of goals but also because of the sporadic offensive chances, no zone entries, constant turnovers, and allowing an inordinate amount of shorthanded goals.
The power play is 11 for their last 70, going for a goose egg in 16 of the 26 games, and only scoring more than one power play goal once. Their penalty kill hasn’t been any better either, successfully killing 56 of their last 73 penalties for a paltry 76.7%. At one point during this stretch, the Flyers had more shorthanded goals scored than power play goals. Shots aren’t being taken, chances are barely being created, passes in abundance, and zone entries are hard to come by. On top of all that, they seemingly lose key power play face-offs which takes away the chance to set up and eats a good 10-15 seconds off the clock.
So now for the skinny on the offensive players of this team. Claude Giroux has been as good as any forward during the last 26 games as he has accumulated 6 goals and 19 points in the 23 games he’s dressed up for. Cam Atkinson is also the only other bright spot with 8 goals and 20 points in 26 games. Joel Farabee has had an up and down season in terms of goals and points, he had been playing a lot better of late but had only 1 goal in his last 8 games before being placed on injured reserve earlier today.
After that it is a steep drop-off in production with most, if not all, the players having been mired in slumps that have lasted 8-10+ games. Travis Konecny has 3 goals and 14 points in his last 24 games, going 20 games without a goal. James van Riemsdyk has 8 goals and 10 points in 26 games, including a stretch where he didn’t score a goal or record a point in 10 straight games. Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes have been battling injuries all season long but they still dressed up and played pivotal minutes. Couturier had 1 goal and 4 points in the 15 games prior to his injury and Hayes had 2 goals and 7 points in 18 games upon his return to the lineup before succumbing to yet another injury.
The backend was always a secret weapon for offense for the Flyers in years past, generally generating a lot of chances, points, and goals from their defense. However, this year that well has dried up as Ivan Provorov has 10 points in his last 23 games, Travis Sanheim has 8 in his last 24, Rasmus Ristolainen has 6 in his last 24, and Keith Yandle has 8 assists in his last 26. These are all players capable of reaching 40 points per season but are currently producing at a pace far below that.
In goal, I can hardly imagine what it feels like to have to play in front of an offense that can score and a defense that allows the second most shots on goal per game. In the last 26 games, Carter Hart has seen his record drop to 2-10-3 with a GAA upwards of 3.30 and a save percentage just below 90% at .895. For the season, his save percentage is incredibly above 91%, which is a tell tale sign that the goaltending isn’t necessarily the issue, in fact it has improved from last season. If you take out two very bad games in which he allowed 5 goals on 15 shots and 6 goals on 36 shots, he carries a respectable .910 save percentage, during the roughest stretch of modern-day Flyers hockey.
Martin Jones is 3-5-2 with a GAA upwards of 3.90 and a save percentage similar to Hart, at .894%. Felix Sandstrom made one appearance and he turned away 43 shots against the San Jose Sharks, which beat the franchise record for most saves in an NHL debut. Both Hart and Jones have faced 32+ shots 7 times in that stretch, with the lowest totals they’ve faced being 27 and 31 respectively (in games they started and finished). Even the lone game Sandstrom played, he didn’t face 30-35 shots, he faced a whopping 46 shots on goal.
Firing Alain Vigneault was something that probably had to be done, considering how the team was playing and how they looked. It seemed like they were tuning him out and that he had lost the locker room entirely. I don’t think anyone had high expectations for when Mike Yeo was given the interim tag and even though the Flyers gave him the leash until the end of the season, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be returning.
Vigneault ended his coaching tenure going 0-6-2 and even though Yeo had a good start he has slumped to 5-9-4. The initial spark from a new coach kicked in for a little bit, as it always does, and then eventually the team sagged back to its old ways, especially without the proper man behind the bench.
The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t won a game since December 29th, they haven’t won a home game since December 18th, they haven’t won a game in regulation since December 14th, and they have only scored 3+ goals 10 times in last 26 (5 of them coming in the 6 game streak). They have been out-classed, out-manned, out-duelled, out-everything’d. You can count on one hand the amount of games they actually played well in; with the last one coming on December 14th against the New Jersey Devils, which is a span of 13 games.
There’s still 42 games left and anything is possible in the NHL but based on everything we’ve seen so far, the fact that they’re technically without their 1C, 2C, and 1D for the foreseeable future, they don’t have reinforcements through the pipeline, and the offense has hit an all-time snag; it will take a miracle for them to come even close to playoff contention. They are currently 14 points behind the Boston Bruins who have 3 games in hand and 19 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins who have 1 game in hand. On top of the fact that they trail the Detroit Red Wings by 7 points and they’re the closest team on the outside looking in.
When the offense has dried up and are scoring just above 2 goals per game, when the defence is allowing nearly 4 goals per game, and when the special teams remain in the bottom tier of the NHL; there’s no way you’re going to pull out victories. It’s just disheartening because the Flyers weren’t supposed to be as bad as some of the basement dwellers they’re currently battling with like the Ottawa Senators, Arizona Coyotes, or the Montreal Canadiens. The Flyers are currently 10 points up on Ottawa, who sits 3rd last in the league but the Senators have 7 games in hand.
Two separate 10-game losing streaks in one season definitely turns into a franchise record, but to do it in a span of 26 games is embarrassingly bad. They essentially lost 10 straight, then won a few games, before dropping another 10. The issues surrounding this team extend far beyond the on-ice personnel but with 42 games remaining, we have no idea where this team is heading or where they’ll finish in the standings. They’re definitely closer to the bottom than they are to a playoff spot, and that in it of itself is the true microcosm of the Flyers’ 2021-22 season.
