Photo Credit: Abiagael Filon
On Black Friday, the Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Carolina Hurricanes for their second matchup of the season. With a 6-3 blowout by the opposition, the Flyers experienced their fifth straight loss, which is the longest losing streak they have had since Alain Vigneault was appointed head coach. The loss can be attributed to many factors, with the main one just straight up being their inability to score more than three goals in a game.
The Flyers were able to tally a score against the seemingly unbeatable Hurricanes, but the three they netted wasn’t enough to beat Carolina’s six. Three has been their limit, it seems, with the last time they went above that being on October 27th in their 5-3 defeat of Edmonton.
Some Pretty Goals
About 50 seconds into the game, defenseman Ivan Provorov tapped the puck in through a screen provided by Sean Couturier, giving the Flyers an early and confident lead. Through the tough offensive and defensive battles, forward Joel Farabee was able to net a shorthanded goal. He cut through a 2-on-1 and snapped one past former Arizona goaltender Antti Raanta, making the first shorty of his NHL career a beauty. A goal like this has got to be such a confidence booster for a young player who has so many years of hockey ahead of him.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen also hit a milestone on Friday, scoring his first goal for the orange and black. Off a smart pass from Morgan Frost, Risto slapped it home with a bomb after Carolina forward Sebastian Aho scored his second of the game only 23 seconds into the period. This feel-good goal got the Wells Fargo Center on her feet. Things were looking up from here, but the period quickly turned ugly when the Canes answered immediately, and then scored two more just for good luck.
In the post-game press conference, Ristolainen expressed how he feels the team hasn’t been playing a full 60 minutes over this losing streak. Fans like myself couldn’t agree more. Early in the season, it was clear that the Flyers wanted to win battles and take home two points. The slump they’ve gotten themselves into recently has us all believing that an uncontrollable spiral is taking place. Scoring more goals and proving that you want to win is what Philadelphia needs to see from their hockey team as they dig themselves out of this hole in the ground.
Two Players to Watch
A player who has proven himself to be reliable time and time again is none other than Claude Giroux, who leads the team in goals (tied with Cam Atkinson), assists, and points overall. After the loss on Friday, he stated that “there’s a lot of frustration” in their game, and that they know the team can play better. His guidance of the team and ability to put up points along with his determination prove to Philly fans that we can always fall back on him.
Center Zack MacEwen has recently become a crowd favorite as well, with his physicality and intense motivation to do good by his team. He has proven himself to be a great addition in Philadelphia as he backs up his teammates and truly cares about the game. He brings grit to the Flyers and shows other teams not to mess with them. Philadelphia has been missing consistent reinforcement from players, and MacEwen certainly brings it to the table.
Keep Looking Up
In the grand scheme of things, it is only November, and the NHL has five more months of regular season play left before the playoffs. A bad losing streak early in the year isn’t the end of the world, and our Flyers can certainly recover from it with some hard pushes including line changes and more shots on net. The team has the talent, determination, and energy to play well, so turning some pieces around and seeing what clicks will more than likely play itself out over time and brighten things up on Broad Street.
The Flyers’ next matchup takes place tonight when they face Metropolitan Divisional rival New Jersey Devils, who have an almost identical record as the Flyers. A win to break the losing streak would be an incredible morale booster for our boys in orange and black.
Great read! Well written and very insightful 🧡🖤