Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens Fall Back to Earth

The start of every NHL regular season brings with it a number of surprises – be they concerning individual players, as well as teams themselves – but after the first month or so, most of the surprise teams begin to perform as many of us thought they’d perform this year. 

There will be a couple of weeks here or there where you have to double-check your vision when you’re looking at the standings, but now that we’re heading toward mid-November, the illusion of greatness we’ve seen from certain teams quickly wears off, and the unfortunate reality comes to light.

Take a look at the Philadelphia Flyers, for example. They started the season on a 3-1-0 tear, but since then, they’re 2-6-1 – including a 2-5-0 record in their last seven games – and now sit second-last in the Metropolitan Division. Philly was outscored 22-9 in their last five losses, and their next 10 games include showdowns against the Ducks, Kings, Hurricanes (twice), Golden Knights, Blue Jackets, Islanders (twice), Rangers and Devils. That almost assuredly will spell doom for any playoff aspirations the Flyers might have.

And that’s OK, as they’re a team in transition, with a first-year GM in Daniel Briere who made it clear with his roster moves that his team isn’t going to be an elite team anytime soon. As Briere peels off veterans in in-season trades this year, his blueprint for success will become more apparent, but for the moment, there will be pain more nights than not for Philadelphia.

Another team that started strong but is now in trouble is the Montreal Canadiens. 

The Habs began the year with a very respectable 5-2-1 mark as of Oct. 28, but after that, they’ve gone 1-3-1 (including four straight defeats before they beat Detroit Thursday). 

Many projected the Canadiens to finish at the very bottom of the Atlantic Division. While they haven’t sunk that low just yet (they’re currently tied for fifth with the underachieving Maple Leafs), their next 10 games – against Boston (twice), Vancouver, Calgary, Vegas, Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, Columbus and Florida – also are highly likely to result in many more losses than wins. By this time next month, the Habs should be firmly situated in the Atlantic basement.

The Canadiens are in the same boat, philosophically speaking, as the Flyers, insofar as they understand they’re not going to overwhelm opponents in the 82-game grind this year. It’s encouraging to see coach Martin St-Louis finding ways to make lemonade from lemons, but there should be no expectation Montreal will beat the considerable odds against it and somehow earn a wild-card playoff berth this season. The Habs simply don’t have the talent to compete with other Atlantic teams over the long haul – and again, this is OK considering where they are in their collective competitive cycle.

In short bursts, any team in the league (other than maybe this season’s Sharks) can string together a handful of wins. A hot goaltender can deliver their team a few victories in a row, and a consecutive slate of games against subpar opponents can also skew any given team’s results for the positive. However, there’s usually a course correction that takes place between now and mid-April, and that’s something that fans of upstart teams have to bear in mind at the moment.

Any stretch of time where a team looks good is manna from heaven for its fan base, but sooner or later, the stark reality of where a team really sits in the NHL’s pecking order will set in, and there will be an ensuing mental adjustment for their supporters. That’s what Flyers and Canadiens fans are dealing with now, and really, you can’t say they ought to be surprised.