The Flyers are only two games into the season, and already the mood around them has turned sour.
A 7-0 loss to the rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena set the tone for a miserable opening, and even a 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils the next night did little to calm things down. The second result at least produced a point, but the bigger picture still looks ugly.
Head coach Rick Tocchet didn’t sugarcoat the opener.
"You saw it," head coach Rick Tocchet told the press after. "I honestly don't have an answer.
I don't know if we won a battle tonight, and when you don't win battles, they have the puck... They out-coached us tonight, they outplayed us, they did everything better than us tonight."
That was the story of the first game, and the follow-up didn’t really change it. The Flyers have struggled to create pressure around the net, and their two goals against New Jersey came on shots from Travis Sanheim from deep at the point. Against Pittsburgh, they couldn’t get near the net at all.
Through two games, Philadelphia has been outshot 82-44 and has been buried in giveaways, 44-29. The power play is still stuck at 0-for-4, and a defensive structure that was a major part of last season’s identity under Tocchet looked loose on Wednesday and then got picked apart by Jack Hughes on Thursday.
Hughes eventually won the game in overtime after stripping the puck from Sanheim behind the Devils’ net.
The one real bright spot was goaltender Joseph Woll, who made 41 saves in the loss.
"If it wasn't for Woller there, it could've been a lot worse," Sanheim said.
Even so, the Flyers have spent most of these two games chasing the puck and chasing answers.
"We just gotta be better, play our brand of hockey," center Christian Dvorak said. "We haven't gotten there at all yet."
There is at least a recent example of a team shaking off a rough start. Last season, the Flyers opened 0-1-1 and were outshot 73-43 in road losses to the Panthers and Hurricanes, while also losing the turnover battle 40-24. They later returned home and beat that same Panthers team.
But this year’s early stretch is feeding a different kind of concern, especially with general manager Danny Brière already having raised the possibility of complacency and a potential "step back" over the offseason.
For now, the results are what they are, and they are not pretty.
Poter Martone, the summer’s Calder Trophy favorite, has one shot and has been moved to the bottom of the lineup. Matvei Michkov, who trimmed down and arrived looking ready to make a leap, is minus-2. Trevor Zegras, getting his chance to establish himself as a top-six center, has drawn more attention for whether his jersey is tucked in than for his play.
The veteran group hasn’t provided much stability either. Sanheim, Travis Konecny, and Sean Couturier all appear to be searching for answers.
"I mean, if it keeps happening, I guess we've got bigger issues," Sanheim said. "So we need to clean it up. [We] need to get back to playing the way that we know we can and know that works.
"I'm not sure why we're kind of straying away from that when it's worked in the past."
There are still 82 games left, and the Flyers could still settle in. Maybe this gets brushed aside in a week.
But after two games, the team that was supposed to build on its breakthrough playoff run has instead looked disjointed, sloppy and nowhere near the level it expected to show. The abbreviated training camp and preseason can’t explain away what happened against Pittsburgh and New Jersey.
"Well, yeah, but then you see Jack Hughes play, so..." Tocchet dismissed at the thought.
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Flyers Have Another Early Problem Fans Really Didn't Need
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There was more bad news beyond the final score, too, as Rasmus Ristolainen left with a right hand injury, leaving Philadelphia to wonder about its defensive depth heading into the next game. Add in a power play that still has not found the net this season, and the Flyers are suddenly dealing with more than just one frustrating loss. [Read more 🡒]