The Flyers' latest road trip shined a light on some problems that could spell trouble if they're not fixed soon.
The Flyers' latest road trip shined a light on some problems that could spell trouble if they're not fixed soon.
To put it simply, the Philadelphia Flyers' most recent stretch of away games were pretty disastrous.
The team ended 2023 and entered 2024 with a 1-2-2 record in their last five games, with their singular victory coming against the Vancouver Canucks. Winning against the mighty Canucks sounds like more of an accomplishment than it actually was—the Flyers played well, but got incredibly lucky to catch the Canucks in a very uncharacteristic disorganized performance. January has only just begun, and the Flyers are already looking exhausted.
The schedule for the rest of this month will be a good indicator as to whether or not this team is ready for a playoff push. They play 14 games in 26 days, with the New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Washington Capitals (all tied at 40 points) right on their tails, all three teams with a game in hand.
Some of the most pressing concerns are players like Tyson Foerster, Cam Atkinson, and Sean Couturier, whose point production has been virtually nonexistent as of late. Both Atkinson and Couturier missed the entirety of last season, and have yet to fully get their groove back. Foerster had a positive December (3 goals in 4 games), but has just one other goal to his name this season.
Then there's the goaltending problem, which sounds misleading. Both Carter Hart and Samuel Ersson have been excellent, but it's left the Flyers a tad too reliant on the heroics that their netminders are capable of. For two young goalies, if this dependency continues, the burnout will be quick.
Finally, head coach John Tortorella took a step in the right direction by switching up his offensive lines against the Edmonton Oilers. The scoreline may not have reflected it, but placing Joel Farabee on the first line with Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier proved to be a brilliant move. Shuffling the wingers through all four lines was done out of necessity more than anything, but it helped the Flyers to keep up with the Oilers' electric energy through all three periods. If they can start turning good shots into good goals, the Flyers' offense can be extremely dangerous.
The biggest issue seems to be that the Flyers themselves just look like they didn't think they'd make it this far and still be in serious playoff contention. This was supposed to be an ugly, messy, tear-it-all-down-and-build-it-up-completely-differently rebuild season. They weren't supposed to play as consistently well as they did, and they certainly weren't supposed to win as much as they did. It was a complete deviation from what the NHL scriptwriters had in mind for this season, and the Flyers are starting to lose the plot.
There's still plenty of time to get back to winning ways, and there are plenty of positives to be taken from the season so far as well. But with the trade deadline inching closer and closer, it's worth thinking about where the front office might need to start looking to improve the team as much as possible.
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