Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The ghosts of last Spring have come back to haunt the Philadelphia Flyers. Although these two seasons have had very different trajectories the outcome is starting to look hauntingly familiar. More on that in a bit but first, Sunday afternoon The Farg was full of Devils and Flyers Fans that go “boo”. The Devils defeated the Flyers by the final score of 3-1.
The Flyers lost the 4th consecutive game of their 7 game homestand Sunday to the Jersey Devils. Just over five minutes into the 2nd period the Devils held a two goal lead that for all intents and purposes seemed insurmountable. It was another game where the opponent wasn’t having a stellar day but was still controlling the tilt. New Jersey was plaguing themselves with giveaways however the Flyers could not make them pay for their transgressions.
Jamie Drysdale scored with 4:46 left in regulation but Jersey answered that with an empty net goal to win the game 3-1. Drysdale’s goal was a real beauty. Travis Konecny fed the puck ahead from behind the red line. Drysdale caught up with it in the high slot and ripped a wrist shot far side past Devils goaltender Jake Allen. Drysdale was appearing in his 200th NHL game. That was the bright spot of the day.
It should also be said Flyers netminder Ivan Fedotov did what he could to give his team a shot at winning this contest. He stopped 20 of 22 shots on goal. Not a super busy day but some of his saves were quite challenging and his aggressive puck movement was really helpful. Goaltending was not an issue on Sunday but it definitely has been during this home stretch. The Flyers have been outscored in these last four games 17-6.
Goaltending
As mentioned earlier, a quick comparison between the pacing of this season as opposed to last year does draw attention to the goaltending. 2023-24 started out pretty rough but eventually the goaltending tandem of Carter Hart and Samuel Ersson pulled the Flyers out of the gate and helped them stockpile a number of wins before Hart left the team in January.
Ersson did a fine job as a rookie carrying much more of the load than expected. By March the team seemed a lock for a playoff berth only to unravel, spiraling into an eight game loosing streak that eventually doomed their potential trip into the post season.
2024-25
This season the team once again stumbled out of the gate only to run into a goaltending situation when Samuel Ersson was in and out of the line-up for a considerable portion of the Fall with a lower body injury. The Flyers dug themselves into a hole that they have still been digging their way out of.
Ersson’s goaltending since the holidays has been fantastic. Ivan Fedotov has earned his way solidly into the backup position ahead of Alexei Kolosov who has not appeared in a game since January 2nd. Up until the beginning of this current homestand the Flyers were just a few points out of the last wildcard position.
The Flyers play has been really up and down this season. They’ve been consistently inconsistent. They’ve beaten some of the best teams in the NHL and lost to some of the worst. They started February by going three straight games without scoring a single goal and finished the month scoring 16 goals in the last three games.
Stating the Obvious
We all know this team is a work in progress. That should go without saying. After Friday’s busy trade deadline the Flyers are a team dealing with multiple “subtractions” without having the counter balance of “additions”. The additions will come later down the road. That will be the fun part.
There will be no cavalry arriving to rescue the 2024-25 season. This skeleton crew is left to fend for themselves. It is what it is. The moves that the organization had to make are moves towards building a future. General Manager Danny Briere has led his team through a period of austerity with the focus where it needs to be. The Flyers have been successfully stockpiling picks and clearing cap space. This is not the fun part.
Reactions
“These are the times that try men’s souls”. A quick glimpse at social media will show you that the “fair weather fans” and the “summertime soldiers” have already packed it in. They’re quick to overstate the lack of high end talent while oddly at the same time blaming head coach John Tortorella for the team’s struggles. They say it’s over and they don’t care anymore. They say that over and over again, multiple times a day, every single day, all the time. It’s almost like they actually do care and just don’t know how to deal with it.
Reality Check
Seeing how this bare bones roster deals with the adversity they now face will show us a lot about the character of the individuals who are still on this team. No one likes excuses, but if this team suddenly lost the likes of Farabee, Frost, Laughton, Johnson, and Kuzmenko due to injury everyone would automatically comprehend the situation these guys are in. So let’s be realistic on all fronts.
There’s not a whole lot of blame to be spread around here. The organization has intentionally decimated their own team because they needed the resources to rebuild it. It had to be done. It’s being done for the right reasons. It doesn’t really seem fair to nit-pick the coach or the players at this point. This process has been ongoing and they have less and less to work with all the time.
This coach and this group of players have been chosen to go through the hardest part of this process. All that being said they’re also only seven points away from a wildcard slot with 17 games left to play. The homestand resumes Tuesday night when former captain Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators come to town. Puck drops at 7:00 PM.
