The Flyers Are Refusing To Hide Behind Exhaustion Excuse To Explain Recent Slump
The Flyers may be showing signs of tiredness, but they've made it clear that they're not using that to excuse their recent performances.
James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports - The Flyers Are Refusing To Hide Behind Exhaustion Excuse To Explain Recent SlumpIn the persistent quest to find something, anything to blame for the Philadelphia Flyers’ recent slump, one reason crops up again and again: The Flyers are exhausted.
It’s not untrue. Circumstances have mandated the players simply have to play more—for example, the case of Sam Ersson, who is playing nearly triple the amount of games he was scheduled to play at the beginning of the season, or Cam York and Travis Sanheim, who have recorded high amounts of ice time to make up for the injuries and trades that depleted the Flyers’ defense for an extended period of time.
It doesn’t help that many of their players simply aren’t used to being part of a playoff push like this. Younger players like York, Ersson, Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink are simply not accustomed to playing under this type of pressure. It certainly doesn’t mean they’re incapable—with how they’ve been contributing in recent weeks, quite the opposite—but it’s a learning process. They’re already experiencing a rather unexpected amount of success with being in playoff contention in the first place, but to put the weight of doing well on such young, inexperienced (albeit talented) shoulders was never going to be a sustainable method.
So, yes, they’re tired. But make no mistake—the players aren’t hiding behind that excuse to explain their performances.
On Thursday, captain Sean Couturier bluntly stated that the Flyers don't get a pass for being tired because they haven't played any more games than any other team making a playoff push right now.
"I don't believe in that," he said. "Every team at this point has played about the same amount of games. It's not an excuse at all, actually, because we had a lot more games earlier and I feel like a less taxing schedule these last couple weeks. So no, it's not an excuse. I think we just need to be smarter, be more responsible at this time of the year with our decisions. I think that's what's kind of cost us here lately."
Their eight-game losing streak has drawn the attention of many across the hockey world, with words like "collapse," "bottled," and "blown" being thrown around to describe the slump. According to alternate captain Travis Konecny, the Flyers can return to their winning ways by not paying attention to the outside noise.
"We just have to take it one shift at a time, we've gotta break it down to the basics," he said. "Honestly, I think we've just gotta go back to having fun and not worrying about the outside noise. We're in the spot we're in right now, and we'll see what happens."
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