The Flyers entered Saturday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, with a team that entered this game on a two game losing streak. Seattle’s two losses were against the Winnipeg Jets and the Calgary Flames where they lost with a final score of 6-3.
Samuel Ersson was in net for approximately 11 minutes into the Calgary Flames game, when he was pulled in favor of Ivan Fedotov. The last time the Flyers won a game was way back on February 27, 2025 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Saturday’s game started out relatively strong with the Noah Cates line, once again, making solid efforts at scoring. If it had not been for Bobby Brink’s stick breaking on a shot, the Flyers would have most likely scored first. Another scoring opportunity came off the stick of Jakob Pelletier, however, he was taken down by Jamie Oleksiak.
The Flyers went on the Power Play, but could not capitalize on it. Unfortunately, the lack of scoring occurred again when the Flyers went back on the Power Play as Travis Konecny had been slashed by André Burakovsky. The Cates line did attempt to make some strong attempts at scoring but could not put together a solid play. Due to Burakovsky’s slash on Cates, the Flyers went back to the Power Play, although the result was the same in no definitive play had been made to score.
The Flyers had more scoring efforts made by Matvei Michkov, Couturier, and Tippett although, again, it did not result in putting one on the board. The Cates line battled next to score however their play was unsuccessful. For the Kraken, it was Michael Eyssimont who gained possession of the puck and was advancing towards the net. It was Emil Andrae that prevented him from scoring. Ersson covered up to prevent a rebound attempt from the Kraken.
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In the end, the Flyers fell to the Kraken with a final score of 4-1. The Kraken swept the Flyers in the two game set, “Frustrating right now,” Travis Sanheim said following the game. “We have to work through it. We have the right guys that know we have to play better.”
Unfortunately, the Flyers lost to the New Jersey Devils the next night, leaving John Tortorella at the podium defending himself for his reasoning for benching a young gifted player like Michkov, “Let me tell you guys something. There are a number of things that come into play, not one specific play,” Flyers’ Head Coach said on the first period benching of Michkov yesterday. “And you are at a disadvantage because I’m not going to give you that information. It’s not always the play on the ice that I’m trying to teach.”
Tortorella continues, “So use that as a context before you start all your bulls..t. There are so many things that go on, and with me trying to develop that player. And we are going to continue to do it the way I think it should be done.”
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The question remains, does Michkov understand what Tortorella is saying when he benches him during the game? Could he explain himself better during the intermission? The Flyers are free falling, just like last year down the stretch, which leads me to believe big changes are on the horizon for this club in the offseason. Maybe the Flyers can hire a new Power Play coach, let’s start there.
A HUGE problem this year (again) has been the power play…..or lack thereof.
The guy coaching it has been given 2 years here now. He needs to go!!!!!
He has to learn the hard way. He continues to make the same mistakes that cost the team goals against. It’s to be expected in his rookie year. But you can’t give him a free pass or he’ll never get it. It also sounds like he’s making mistakes in practice as well. Let the coach coach. He doesn’t need to answer to a bunch of reporters that think they’re better coaches than him.
Regarding the powerplay. The team still doesn’t have a bonifide slot guy or someone that can skate it in consistently or a real quarterback at the point. Without the proper personnel we have what we have. The rebuilding pain will continue for awhile.