Although they saved themselves from back-to-back shutouts at home, the Philadelphia Flyers continued to struggle against the Washington Capitals, collecting a 4-1 defeat.
Although they saved themselves from back-to-back shutouts at home, the Philadelphia Flyers continued to struggle against the Washington Capitals, collecting a 4-1 defeat.
Although they saved themselves from back-to-back shutouts at home, the Philadelphia Flyers continued to struggle against the Washington Capitals, collecting a 4-1 defeat.
The finishing issues persisted for the Flyers, along with numerous penalties and a wholly disappointing powerplay that led to a frankly bewildering and disjointed performance.
Can't Capitalize Against The Caps
Losing is frustrating enough on its own, but losing when there were a good amount of chances to at least have a tie game at multiple points is just salt in the wound.
The Flyers can create chances, but the scoreboard hasn't reflected that. For one reason or another, the puck is just not going in the net when it comes off a Flyers stick.
Travis Sanheim's goal was a sight for sore eyes, but it was quickly negated by two additional Capitals goals.
No amount of switching up line combinations seemed to truly get things going—a truly infuriating position to be in knowing that the individual pieces to succeed are there, but they're not gelling the way they need to.
Changing The Puck Luck
Despite the skid, the mood in the Flyers' locker room has not dampened too much, as defenseman Travis Sanheim insisted that he's "not too worried...There's a lot of guys in this room that are goalscorers and we're gonna get going here. I'm not worried at all."
Sam Ersson agreed, saying, "We've got a lot of belief in this group. I think we showed what we're capable of, but [the puck] is not really bouncing our way...We're getting chances, we're gonna convert. It's just a question of when, and when we do, we'll get energy...We've just got to put our head down and work harder."
Tomorrow Is A New Day
The players admit that a lot of the mistakes made tonight came from "gripping the sticks too tight" and being in their own heads a bit too much, but head coach John Tortorella isn't catastrophizing this early in the season.
"They want to play well," he said of his team. "They want to win a hockey game. They want to score a goal in the home building...It's a very aggressive game, [but] we'll get out goals. There's a fine line of playing aggressive on your toes and checking forward versus cheating and hoping behind a play.
"We've got a group of men here that are going to figure this out. We just have to do it together and not lose ourselves through panic or frustration and forget about we play...They're performers, they want to do well in front of the people...We're just gonna get up in the morning and start again."
The Flyers will face the Capitals again, this time in Washington D.C., on Oct. 23.
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