Losers of five straight, the Flyers are spiraling.
To be clear, it’s not that they’re spiraling because they’ve lost five straight. The issue is how the Flyers have been playing during this stretch.
And have they been facing some adversity regarding injuries? Yes. Across the past five games, defenseman Jamie Drysdale missed three with an upper-body injury; forward Bobby Brink (upper-body) has missed five and is now on injured reserve; defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is day-to-day with an upper-body injury; and Dan Vladař was injured against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
But all teams face adversity. The Flyers just need to play better.
Saturday, the Flyers face a New York Rangers team that is not just spiraling but plummeting. Facing the Rangers is a prime opportunity to get back in the win column, but it won’t happen unless the Flyers correct a bunch of things.
Aside from the power play, which is at 12.5% during the slide, and goaltending — the Flyers went from 2.80 goals-against per game in the first 41 to 5.00 in the past five — needing to, be better, here are five things they need to do to right the ship.
1. Stop taking bad penalties
Is every penalty a bad penalty? No. Is every penalty the correct call by the officials? Absolutely not, and there have been some horrendous calls this season against the Flyers.
But when the penalty kill has been struggling — it went from 80.2% across the first 41 games and is at 61.1% during the five-game losing streak — you have to stay out of the box.
The Flyers have taken 28 penalties during this stretch, which is the most by any team, have been shorthanded 18 times, tied for the second most, and have been shorthanded more than 5 minutes per game. They’ve also allowed the most power-play goals against (seven), three of which came on Thursday in the 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Yeah, I think it’s just being smarter, not letting frustration creep in. I think it’s, I don’t know, a lot of away from the puck stuff that’s kind of creeped in recently, and I think that’s due to frustration,” forward Owen Tippett said after Wednesday’s game when the Sabres scored twice on the man advantage.
2. Maintain the diamond on the penalty kill
What’s going wrong on the penalty kill? A lot. But the biggest issue is that it has lost its structure.
“Yeah, just really disappointed, like, I’m pretty disappointed,” said coach Rick Tocchet after the Sabres game. “I’m a PK guy, and the reads that we gave them weren’t good. They’re just unacceptable for me, so we’re going to have to tidy that up.”
Tocchet prefers the diamond PK setup to take away point shots, the player in front of the net, and passes to the bumper. The diamond shape is designed to take away specific passing lanes from the player who is typically set up right in the slot in the 1-3-1 structure typically employed by NHL teams.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the other guys — see Sidney Crosby’s goal Thursday from the right flank. But the Flyers’ structure has fallen apart, and if you’re going to be a team to take penalties, this needs to be airtight.
3. Shoot the puck … on net
Remember the good old days of fans yelling, “Shoot the puck?” It was always kind of annoying and probably didn’t come at the right time, but maybe it’s time to start doing that again because, as Wayne Gretzky and Michael Scott said: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
The Flyers have never poured the shots on in Tocchet’s system. They averaged 26.3 in the 41 games before the losing streak, which had them ranked 25th in the NHL. And they have only put more than 30 shots on goal in a game 11 times.
Across the losing streak, that average has dipped to 23.8, which is the sixth-fewest — and only looks better than it is because of the 33 shots they put on Stuart Skinner on Thursday night, including 17 in the second period.That’s by far the most in a single period during a stretch in which the Flyers did not have more than 23 shots on goal in a game; in 12 of their previous 13 periods, the Flyers hit double digits just once.
The problem is that at five-on-five, they are getting chances but not scoring. Natural Stat Trick has the Flyers tied for 13th in the NHL at shot attempts (205), but with only 86 shots and six goals during the losing streak. The Flyers are also No. 2 in missed shots during that span (92).
“I think there were a few chances tonight that could have changed, maybe the momentum of the game, but at the end of the day, that’s the part of it, you’ve got to score more goals than the other team,” Drysdale said in Buffalo. “So I think we got better [as the night wore on]. We will be better.
4. Follow Owen Tippett’s lead
Tocchet has long talked about Tippett being a guy he can unlock and how, with his size, speed, and scoring ability, he can be a power forward in the NHL. He just hadn’t put it all together — until maybe now.
The winger has been using his size to lay timely hits — he has 10 in the past five games — that create turnovers, and speed and footwork to drive to the net.
During the Flyers’ loss to Tampa Bay on Monday, he used his speed and body to drive down the boards and set up Sean Couturier for a Grade A chance that went off the post.
And in the overtime loss to Toronto, he was the one who turned on the jets and tried a wraparound that just missed before Trevor Zegras thought he scored an insurance goal on the power play.
His speed pushes defenses back, which led to another Grade A scoring chance, this time for Denver Barkey as he streaked to the net against the Leafs.
Now, does Tippett miss the net too much still? Yes. But he has 31 shot attempts across the five games with 18 shots on goal. He also has two goals and one assist.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers have 60 shot attempts to 43 when he is on the ice at five-on-five across the slide. Individually, he leads the team in five-on-five in individual scoring chances (12), shots (14), and individual shot attempts (25).
5. Let the kids play
The Flyers have three kids 22-and-under who bring different elements but have shown they can add to the lineup.
Barkey, 20, was a healthy scratch on Wednesday and bounced back with a two-assist performance against the Penguins. He set up Nick Seeler for a goal and connected with Matvei Michkov on a two-on-one after Couturier made a nice play along the boards to spring them.
Despite playing juniors last year, Barkey has shown he has an extremely high hockey IQ and a motor that gets him up and down the ice with efficiency. Did he have two not-so-great games with turnovers leading to goals by the Lightning? Absolutely. But it’s obvious what he can bring, whether teaming up with Tippett or Michkov.
Grebenkin, 22, is a fireplug. He’ll make coverage mistakes and is still uncertain as to when to jump into piles vs. staying back, but he drives to the net, throws the body around, and stands up for his teammates. Considering Tocchet wants his team to go to the net more, he’s heeding the bench boss’s edict — and as noted, he did just that on Tippett’s goal against Buffalo.
And then there’s the polarizing Michkov. The 21-year-old is still learning the North American game, and does appear to be “stuck in mud” at times — watch his skating in the overtime against the Toronto — but his vision and desire for the puck is unmatched.
He scored against a goalie for the first time in 20 games in Buffalo, playing it perfectly by driving to the net on a two-on-one and shooting right off the pass. It’s what the Flyers need to do as a whole, as a lot of their shots are not quick enough, giving the opposition and goalies a chance to stop the play or make the save.
Across the past five games, he has shown that he can provide offense, but he also needs to work on his defensive game. Across all strengths, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers have a 63.99% expected goal share when he is on the ice; Barkey is No. 1 at 81.86%, and Tippett is No. 2 at 67.50%.
And although he’s been on the ice for two goals by the Flyers and six against at even strength — plus the short-handed goal by Laughton — he has the second-highest expected goals for on the Flyers (4.27) behind Zegras 4.99. He even made a nice defensive play on Peyton Krebs in the first period on Wednesday, and has seemingly stopped taking bad penalties
The Flyers need offense — going from 3.02 goals per game in the first 41 to 1.80 the past five — and the Russian has shown he can bring that, whether scoring himself or setting up his teammates.
