Flyers Spiraling Out of Control with No Hope in Sight

After yet another brutal loss, a 5-1 beatdown from the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers remain the only winless team in the Eastern Conference. Things seem to be getting worse before they get better, and the Flyers are now running out of time to salvage a spiraling season.

The Flyers played their best game of the season, an incomplete effort in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, on Thursday, then followed it up with arguably their worst game of the season on Saturday, at least given the context.

An 0-3-2 start, losses to multiple Metropolitan Division rivals, ranking among the league's worst in nearly every offensive and defensive category, and rapidly increasing displeasure amongst the loyal fanbase. What's there not to be motivated by for the Flyers?

And yet, they were completely outclassed by the Bruins on Saturday from start to finish, and didn't eclipse three, yes three, shots on goal until over halfway through the second period: 30 minutes of game action. That's an average of one shot on goal every 10 minutes.

Eventually, the Flyers finished the game with a modest 15 shots on goal, thanks to a seven-shot third period. In that third period, they were also out-scored 3-1, so they quickly blew their chance of salvaging the manageable 2-0 deficit they entered the final frame with.

On the bright side, rookie Porter Martone finally made his mark for the Flyers this season, as I predicted in the game preview, scoring the team's second power play goal on a far-side snipe on Jeremy Swayman. Martone's goal was assisted by 22-year-old David Jiricek, who made a nice play at the blueline to draw a Bruins penalty killer out of position.

That's about the only positive to take away from another one of those games for the Flyers, who are now 0-4-2 and about to host Carolina, again, on Sunday night.

Not that it isn't time already, but if the Flyers really start their season winless through seven games, it might be time to raise more important questions.

This once-promising roster is going nowhere fast, and it's not a great environment for players like Martone, Jiricek, and Matvei Michkov to have to develop in if the season continues to spiral this badly out of control.

And, I mean, the Flyers already sacrificed NHL development time for Alex Bump in favor of Michael Bunting, who went unsigned throughout the entire NHL offseason. And journeymen like Carl Grundstrom and Garrett Wilson remain on the roster, too.

The Flyers aren't leaning into player development and they don't look capable of winning a game right now, and that mushy middle is the worst place to be for a team like theirs.

Where do you go from here?