Flyers Spiral Continues in Ugly Loss to Rangers as Goaltending, Defensive Structure Collapse
PHILADELPHIA - If you're wondering how a team gets stuck in a losing streak, the Flyers just offered up a textbook example. And not the kind anyone wants to study.
Saturday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the Flyers dropped their sixth straight game in brutal fashion, falling 6-3 to a Rangers squad that, coming in, looked just as vulnerable. Instead of taking advantage, Philadelphia unraveled - again - with shaky goaltending, defensive lapses, and a complete inability to seize momentum when it was up for grabs.
Let’s start with the moment that could’ve changed the game. Down 3-1 after a rough first period, the Flyers’ top line of Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny, and Christian Dvorak came out flying to open the second.
They won the center-ice draw, stormed into the offensive zone, and nearly cut the deficit when Konecny rifled a shot from the slot that just missed. Seconds later, Nick Seeler’s point shot created chaos in front, with Dvorak crashing the crease.
It was 39 seconds of inspired, hard-nosed hockey - the kind of shift that can swing a game.
Instead, it swung the other way.
The Flyers lost the ensuing offensive-zone faceoff. Five seconds later, Matvei Michkov took what head coach Rick Tocchet bluntly called a “stupid” tripping penalty - in the offensive zone, no less.
Before they could even regroup, Sam Ersson added to the trouble with a delay-of-game penalty, and just like that, the Rangers were on a 5-on-3. Mika Zibanejad made them pay, finishing a slick cross-ice feed from Artemi Panarin to make it 4-1.
From there, the game turned into a rout.
Zibanejad finished the afternoon with a hat trick, and Panarin added two goals and an assist. The Rangers, who had lost four straight in regulation and were winless in their last five, looked like a team reborn.
The Flyers? They looked like a team in free fall.
“We sucked, plain and simple,” said Sean Couturier, who’s now gone 20 games without a goal. “We’ve got to be better.”
The Flyers are 0-5-1 in their last six, but that record doesn’t tell the full story. It’s not just that they’re losing - it’s how they’re losing.
Each of the last five defeats has come by at least three goals. They’ve been outscored 31-12 over that stretch, and the defensive structure that defined their early-season competitiveness has all but vanished.
That 5-2 win over the Ducks back on January 6? Feels like a lifetime ago.
At that point, the Flyers were sitting on a plus-11 goal differential. Now, they’re at minus-8.
The goaltending situation hasn’t helped. With Dan Vladar sidelined by a lower-body injury, the crease has become a major concern.
Tocchet said before the game that Vladar was expected to travel with the team to Las Vegas and could return for Friday’s matchup with Colorado. Until then, it’s a patchwork tandem - and Saturday’s results didn’t inspire much confidence.
Aleksei Kolosov got the start and had a nightmare outing. In just 1:20 of ice time, he faced three shots and allowed three goals - a rare .000 save percentage. After giving up the third goal at 8:25 of the first, he was pulled in favor of Ersson.
To be fair, Kolosov didn’t get much help. The first and third goals were high-danger chances that most goalies would struggle with.
But Zibanejad’s wrister from the slot - the second goal - should’ve been stopped. It was the kind of save you expect your goalie to make to stop the bleeding.
Instead, it made things worse.
Kolosov, who had come on in relief Thursday in Pittsburgh, has now allowed six goals on 16 shots since his call-up. Ersson was better in relief, making some solid stops, but still gave up three goals on 25 shots. Not exactly the stabilizing presence the Flyers need right now.
And while the goaltending is a glaring issue, it’s far from the only one.
The Flyers’ defensive structure - once their calling card - is falling apart. On the Rangers’ opening goal, Travis Sanheim and Nikita Grebenkin both chased the puck carrier, leaving Artemi Panarin wide open after Cam York had peeled off in transition.
That’s a breakdown in communication and positioning. Moments later, Noah Cates turned the puck over, leading to Zibanejad’s first goal.
On the third Rangers tally, the Flyers were caught with four players below the dots after a missed shot, leading to an odd-man rush the other way.
“We’re just overthinking right now. Myself included,” said York, who finished a minus-3 on the day.
“Things we haven’t been doing all year, we’re doing. Just shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Tocchet didn’t mince words either: “It’s on me to get these guys back on the rails. We just have to play a certain way to be able to compete. … We’re just chasing the other guy’s mistake, and that’s what happens - zip, zip, and it’s in your net.”
And that’s the thing - this wasn’t a dominant Rangers team steamrolling its way through the league. They were in a slump of their own, starting third-string goalie Spencer Martin, who had allowed five goals on 26 shots in his two previous appearances. The Flyers managed just 15 shots - and only two goals - on him through two periods.
New York had even issued a public letter to fans the day before, signaling a retool and essentially acknowledging the season might be slipping away. And yet, the Flyers couldn’t capitalize on a team that should’ve been ripe for the taking.
Now, the road doesn’t get any easier. With games looming against the Golden Knights and the Utah Mammoth, and no clear answer in net, the Flyers are staring down a critical stretch. If Vladar isn’t ready to return soon, they’ll have to rely on the same tandem that just got torched - and that’s a tough ask.
The team still hopes to make a playoff push. But if this slide continues much longer, the front office may be forced to rethink its approach.
“It’s got to happen soon here, obviously, with how tight our division is,” York said. “You can’t really afford to go on slides like this. … (We’ll) try to get out of this hole.”
Right now, though, that hole is only getting deeper.