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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (29-22-11) sustained a clunker of a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers (25-30-8) at home on Monday evening. The Flyers spent from the 1:04 of the first period until the final buzzer chasing the game.
Virtually nothing went right for the Flyers: not their defensive coverage, special teams, discipline or general sense of urgency. Not even goaltender Dan Vladar, the odds-on Bobby Clarke Trophy favorite, had a good night.
Noah Laba (7th goal of the season) gave New York a quick lead in the first period. By the end of the period, a Mika Zibanejad tally (26th) off an Alexis Lafreniere setup and a Lafreniere goal (PPG, 15th) from a Zibanejad feed opened a 3-0 cushion by intermission.
Early in the second period, Matvei Michkov (PPG, 16th) cut the deficit to 3-1. Gabriel Perrault (PPG 6th) got it back several minutes later to create a 4-1 edge. Late period goals by Zibanejad (PPG, 27th of the season and second of the game) and Tye Kartye (4th) opened a 6-1 edge.
Sean Couturier (7th) made it 6-2 in the latter stages of the third period.
Dan Vladar allowed six goals on 24 shots before he was pulled at the end of the second period. Samuel Ersson (3 saves on 3 shots) went the rest of the way in goal.
Igor Shesterkin earned the win in goal for New York. He stopped 31 of 33 shots from Philadelphia.
Philadelphia went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 1-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Good
- For a brief stretch of the second period, the Flyers had a window of opportunity to climb back to the game. (That passed quickly).
- Philly actually generated some traffic and scoring chances in the second period in particular.
- There were some isolated nice shifts: Michkov’s power play goal finish, Nikita Grebenkin’s nice assist on Couturier’s goal, a play here or there by Alex Bump (four shots on goal).
- Travis Konecny (19:04 TOI, two shots) and Nick Seeler (18:02, four shots, one block) returned from injury absences.
The bad
- Yet another night of having to chase the game. It’s beyond old.
- The penalty kill had gotten back on track recently. In this game, it derailed again.
- The Flyers yielded three goals within the final 1:20 of periods one and two.
- Philly allowed two goals with in the first four minutes of a period, including the Laba goal at 1:04 of the opening frame.
- Travis Sanheim got a bit banged up in this game.
The ugly
- The Rangers had almost free reign to attack the middle and get attackers to the net. Vladar wasn’t sharp on this night, but he also had very little help in front.
- New York’s forecheck outworked the Flyers as they build their lead. Trocheck was especially effective.
- The line of Denver Barkey, Noah Cates and Matvei Michkov had a particularly tough night, especially the wingers. Michkov for one, was a spectator on the first Zibanejad goal sequence.
- Philly took some careless penalties and paid for all of them.
Postgame media availability
Center Sean Couturier and defenseman Nick Seeler
Head coach Rick Tocchet
I’m not seeing the progress or the plan here. Tocchet shows me absolutely zero. And I see no reason to have any confidence that next year — after this coming long-awaited off-season — they will make the playoffs, much less be on their way to being a contender. What a mess.
I agree in the sense that I don’t see an identifiable plan about what identity they are establishing and who will be the nucleus to emerge down the middle (both at C and D).