Flyers Fan Reaction (FFR4) Gm 38: PHI 1, NYI 4 – No, No, Noooooo
Turns out eight isn’t always great. The Philadelphia Flyers lose, 4-1, to the New York Islanders. Philadelphia’s eighth straight defeat (and sixth in regulation during that span) was one of their least entertaining, as the Islanders did what the Islanders do, holding the Flyers at bay in their maiden voyage to UBS Arena.
The puck wouldn’t settle down for either side, resulting in a choppy yet quick opening period. The Flyers struggled with their entries (again) and generated just eight shots on goal all period. That’s despite having two power-plays, during which the shots were 1-1, setting a concerning trend that lasted all game. The Islanders did come away with a significant edge by advanced metrics (66.32% expected goals share), but it was hard to come away impressed with either side’s opening twenty minutes.
The next eighteen minutes proved to be some of the most frustrating of a season that has been full of them. The Flyers had a multitude of quality scoring chances; close to a two-on-none in the first minute of the period, multiple short-handed two-on-ones, even a breakaway for Joel Farabee late in the second. Somehow, Ilya Sorokin stopped all of them, keeping the Islanders one shot away from the lead until that shot eventually came from Brock Nelson. Tack on Casey Cizikas scoring his first goal in 35 regular-season games (dating back to Apr. 1 of last year) and you’d excuse Flyers fans for not even sticking around to see Travis Konecny score on a fluke double deflection off Zdeno Chara and Noah Dobson, let alone be excited by it.
What few fans did stick around were disappointed in the third, as Anthony Beauvillier scored on a delayed penalty. That put the game all but out of reach against a flat Flyers offense that hasn’t scored more than three goals in a game since Dec. 19. The good news was the Flyers finally showed some semblance of the team they were in 2019-20; the bad news is that it was the version of that team that was locked down by the Islanders in a second-round series they were lucky reached seven games.
The Islanders weren’t perfect in this game. But outside of those aforementioned second-period chances, they consistently kept the Flyers out of the middle of the ice, forcing turnovers and shutting down the Flyers attack before it even began. Philadelphia’s struggles to execute passing plays and move up the ice amplified the Islanders’ stifling defense; for their struggles as a team, they do still rank 11th in all situations expected goals against per 60 minutes. New York didn’t even look that impressive themselves — “I thought the game was there tonight,” said Mike Yeo — and yet the Flyers still lost by three goals.
And while Flyers fans may chuckle that the team actually managed to play a team below them in the standings (at least by raw point total), the Islanders have a significant amount of games in hand on every team in the East except Ottawa, who’s a non-factor in the playoff race. They’re 16 points behind the Bruins but could cut that deficit in half based on games in hand alone. They still have plenty to play for, even if their playoff odds are long.
The Flyers, on the other hand, are starting to run out of reasons to keep keeping on. No, the team obviously isn’t going to up and quit, no matter how dismal things get. But the Flyers are the worst kind of bad team right now; one that isn’t even worth getting excited over. Teams like the Senators and Sabres will at least bring up most of their top prospects later in the year. The Blackhawks and Canucks are at least making things interesting, even if they remain long shots to make any noise. Seattle fans at least have the novelty of being an expansion team going for them, although that’s probably wearing thin by now. Montréal can comfort themselves with highlights of last year’s Finals run (and Cole Caufield college clips). And the Coyotes… ok, the Flyers might have them beat in terms of excitement.
But that’s hardly an achievement worth celebrating for a team that thought of itself as Cup contenders one year ago and made a series of win-now moves to try and return to that level last summer. Instead, the Flyers have taken arguably their biggest step-back as an organization since they finished dead last in 2006-07. Only the five teams mentioned above have worse point percentages than the Flyers (.434%, a 71-point pace). None had higher expectations, at least internally than Philadelphia; only Seattle was even a moderately popular prediction to make the playoffs.
And nights like this make it hard to believe the Flyers will leave that group anytime soon. Despite a strong second period (61.36% expected goals rate), the Flyers lost the overall shot attempt and expected goals battles at 5-on-5 (handily) for the eighth time in their last nine games. Impressively, they lost the shot attempts battle while on the power-play as well. There really aren’t any external factors to blame, either; the team didn’t play yesterday, had a 4-1 edge in man advantages, and the one goal they did score was off a one-in-a-million carom.
Yeo still tried to find some silver linings; more evidence that the Flyers aren’t just throwing their hands in the air and counting the days until the draft; even if fans might be. “There’s still moments where we give up something too easily,” Yeo said. “I feel that’s getting better, but to games, we gotta make sure those moments just aren’t there.” They were again Monday, making this streak start to feel like less of a moment and more of a sequel showing just how low these Flyers can go.
Lindies
With Rasmus Ristolainen returning from COVID, Mike Yeo made some interesting changes to the defense pairings. The Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim pairing that was a staple of the Scott Gordon era returned after flunking a one-period reunion against the Bruins. Cam York stayed alongside Justin Braun, meaning Ristolainen skated with Keith Yandle, a pairing we’d seen for just under fifteen minutes at 5-on-5 before tonight. You might not want to spend too much time memorizing these; Yeo said Provorov and Sanheim need to be at “another level,” said he hasn’t “really seen the chemistry with them.” It sounds like the d-pairs will be back in a blender tomorrow night.
Another interesting wrinkle was moving Morgan Frost to the wing, with Connor Bunnaman taking the 4C duties. Frost admitted he’s pressing a bit a few days ago, and his performance was a mixed bag; he did play with assertiveness, which is good, but also made a few poor decisions with the puck. The bottom line is that Frost is a scoring forward; it’s going to expect much production when his linemates are Bunnaman and Zack MacEwen. If the Flyers want to give him an extended look at wing, it should probably come with a return to the top-nine; he could easily replace Gerry Mayhew alongside James van Riemsdyk and Kevin Hayes.
While Yeo seems to not be the biggest Morgan Frost fan right now, the evidence points to him being more than satisfied with Cam York’s work. Even with Ristolainen returning to the Flyers lineup, York still played 20:56. The advanced stats didn’t love York’s game tonight to say the least; he and his partner Ristolainen were dead last among Flyers defenders with expected goals percentages just under 29%. But he continues to pass the eye test and impress his teammates. “He’s good with the puck, smart player,” Jones said of the 21-year old. “He’s gonna be really good for us.”
The only Flyer who needed a goal more than Frost was Travis Konecny. Not only was that Konecny’s 100th goal, but it was his first since Nov. 15. For reference, that was the first game of the ten-game losing streak (which might become the first ten-game losing streak in a couple of days). Konecny didn’t score a goal in twenty consecutive games, the second-longest drought of his career; he went goal-less in 22 games as a rookie from Nov. 11, 2016, to Jan. 1, 2017.
“I thought last game he played a really strong game,” Yeo said. “Generating a lot of momentum, generating a lot of possession time, both off the rush and in the offensive zone.” Interestingly, Konecny didn’t show much if any excitement about snapping his drought; he called the goal “bittersweet” and spent far more time talking about his struggles on the power-play than the goal. The Flyers certainly hope Konecny can channel the good side of the “all goal scorers are streaky” stereotype; their offense desperately needs the jolt.
Regardless, the Flyers’ offense could get a boost in the form of a call-up. Wade Allison returned to the Phantoms lineup from his second injury of the season last weekend, scoring in each of Lehigh Valley’s two games this weekend. Have to think Allison, who scored four goals and seven points in 14 NHL games last season, will be back with the Flyers before long. He might be the biggest reason to tune into the Flyers when that happens.
Nelson’s goal was the first by the Islanders in 96:39 of game action. Their last goal came with 4:53 remaining in the third period of their Dec. 13 game, a 3-2 win against the Devils. Martin Jones noted Ristolainen inadvertently screened him on the goal, and the puck may have deflected off him as well.
Cizikas’ goal wasn’t even the longest drought snapped by an Islander tonight. His linemate Matt Martin scored his first in 40 games, potting the empty-netter.
Tonight’s defeat drops the Flyers to just 2-6-1 against Metropolitan Division foes this season. The fastest way to dig yourself into a whole is by losing to teams in your division (especially in regulation), and the Flyers have done that in spades.
The loss also drops the Flyers to dead last in the Metro by points percentage. It would take a miracle — if that’s even the right word for it — for the Flyers to someone finish lower than the Montréal Canadiens, who are last in the East and the NHL with just 19 points (and lost 5-2 to the second-worst Coyotes earlier Monday). In other words, the Flyers have basically hit rock bottom.
3 Stars
3rd: Anthony Beauvillier (NYI) – Goal (6)
2nd: Brock Nelson (NYI) – Goal (11), Assist (4), 3 Shots, 3 Hits, 4 Takeaways
1st: Ilya Sorokin (NYI) – .963 SV% (26 Saves/27 Shots), 1 GA on 2.26 Expected Goals Against (All Situations)
Next
PHI: 1/18, 7 PM vs. NYI (12-13-6, W1)
NYI: You guessed it – 1/18, 7 PM @ PHI (13-18-7, L3)
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All Advanced Stats are 5-on-5 unless otherwise stated and via Natural Stat Trick
