Team Toyota Spotlight: Flyers Poise and Discipline AWOL

For the duration of the Philadelphia Flyers playoff run, Hockey Hot Stove will highlight the chemistry of the Flyers players that drive the team to success. The feature is powered by our new playoff sponsor, Team Toyota.

In a game where it was crucial to keep their cool and focus only on the task at hand, the Philadelphia Flyers lost their composure on Thursday night. Consequently, the team finds itself in a cavernous three games to zero deficit to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Semifinal. The Flyers will try on Saturday to prevent a sweep and send the series back to Raleigh for a Game Five.

In Game Three — as has been the case too often around the entire NHL in the playoffs — the quality of on-ice officiating was poor. Too many whistles for ticky tack penalties. Referees Garrett Rank and Kyle Rehman under-officiated early and then over-officiated later. An interminable conference on a Taylor Hall boarding penalty on Travis Sanheim resulted in a potential major reduced to a minor penalty.

Thereafter, the Flyers spent too much energy looking for retribution and not enough on five-on-five play.

The penalty box parade

Over the final two periods of the game, there was a parade of players to the penalty box. The Flyers did themselves no favors between their horrific power play struggles (a chronic problem for years) and losing any chance at recovering the 5-on-5 momentum they created in the first period and first 15 minutes of the second period.

The end result was beyond ugly. Shorthanded nine times in a must-win game, the Flyers yielded two Carolina power play goals. One was off a bad bounce (Philly recovered sufficiently to tie the game at 1-1 on a second period delayed Carolina penalty). The other was a one-timer goal that put the Flyers in a two-goal deficit they absolutely could not afford to be in under the circumstances.

The biggest killer: a wasted 5-on-3 power play opportunity that turned into a shorthanded Carolina goal when they got their first man back. The 1-1 tie was now back to a deficit. Philly never recovered.

Later, the Flyers gave up a breakaway goal to Nikolaj Ehlers that put the game completely out of reach.

Veterans led the (wrong) way

As the must-win game fell apart for the Flyers over the final 24:01, it was not the team’s cadre of young players who blew their cool and fatally wounded the effort to grind out a win. Rather, it was many of the veterans: Christian Dvorak, Travis Konecny and others.

Konecny, fairly or unfairly, has become the poster child for the Flyers’ frustrations. He had an overtime breakaway in Game Two, with a chance to send the series back to Philly tied at one win apiece. He was credited with a shot on goal because Frederik Andersen’s blocker got a piece. However, the shot was headed wide of the net anyway. Early in Game Three, Konecny had another Grade A chance. He missed the net again.

Meanwhile, between failing to connect on extra passes or making low-percentage “hope play” gambles that result in turnovers, Konecny is clearly in his own head more than his opponents’ heads. Bottom line: In 31 career playoff games — five series between 2018, 2020 and 2026 — Konecny has a very disappointing 12 points. He has scored two goals and contributed 10 assists.

Compounding the problem: Konecny has accrued 50 career playoff penalty minutes in the 31 games. This isn’t Rick Toccket (the player) or Eric Lindros or some other big, physically rugged presence. It’s a 5-foot-10 agitating winger. He needs to create a lot more power plays than shorthanded situations (and misconduct exits before the final horn) than he creates.

That’s nowhere near good enough.

Konecny has led the Flyers in regular season scoring for five straight years. He’s played in the NHL All-Star Game twice. He represented Team Canada at the 4 Nations last year. Move over, the 29-year-old is on a long-term contract ($8.75 million AAV) that runs through the 2032-33 season.

All-too-familiar issues

The Carolina Hurricanes are a better team than the the Philadelphia Flyers. However, heading into the series — and even after the 3-0 shutout loss in Game One — there were avenues to make this an extremely competitive series. The problem, unfortunately, stems from things that are not new issues. Those who watch the team regularly have seen all of these things arise, improve for stretched and then recur.

• The Flyers create a healthy number of odd-man rushes, outright breakaways and Grade A or B chances at 5-on-5 or even shorthanded. However, they rarely finish those opportunities. This arose in the Pittsburgh series and has continued straight through the second round. Flyers defensemen have done their part. The forwards, generally speaking, not. Example: Philly has not produced a single goal from a winger since Konecny scored in Game Four of the Pittsburgh series.
• The power play is too often a momentum killer; over and above not scoring. I dissected the specific litany of issues in the last Team Toyota Spotlight. In a nutshell: The Flyers struggle to win initial faceoffs, gain entries, establish a viable threat from the point, hit the net from the left flank or finish in scrambles. All of that adds up to the NHL’s bottom-ranked power play.
• The Flyers are generally resilient and hard-working. But they too often fail, as coach Tocchet said after Game Three, to read the room. Vet players need to take the temperature of a game and know when it’s time to lay off and wait for the next battle. The quality of the officiating (or lack thereof) is beyond their control. The way the team handles it is within their control.
• The penalty kill, all season, has been extremely streaky: long runs of being stellar, followed by cold spells that go beyond just the occasional bad bounces that happen to every team.