Photo Credit: Rob Windfelder
Tonight’s match-up against the visiting LA Kings was one of those games that a lot of us would like to forget about and move on from. As far as Flyers head coach John Tortorella is concerned that is not what is going to happen here.
The goalie situation(s)
This has been a very eventful week for the Flyers. They started off the week with too many goalies and that situation changed in the blink of an eye. The organization made the decision earlier this week to send Felix Sandstrom to Lehigh Valley to get some playing time with the Phantoms. No sooner did they make that move when Carter Hart was injured in Wednesday night’s contest against Buffalo. The Flyers went on to lose that game 5-2 on home ice.
In what was a surprise move to many, the team left Sandstrom to remain with the Phantoms and brought up Cal Peterson to share goaltending duties with Samuel Ersson. Ersson got the start Friday night against Buffalo to finish out the home-and-home. The Flyers won that game decisively by the score of 5-1. In the meantime Felix Sandstrom was injured while playing with the Phantoms and now he and Carter Hart are both unavailable for an unspecified time frame. Still with me?
Flyers vs Kings
So the Flyers travel home from Buffalo and on the second night of back to back games face the LA Kings who have yet to lose a game on the road this season. The Flyers started Cal Peterson in the net. You could say the odds were stacked against the Flyers before the game even started. It was their 4th game in just six days. The Kings are a very for formidable opponent. And the Flyers were without Carter Hart who has been key to their success on many nights already this season.
It went horribly. The Kings shutout the Flyers 5-zip. The game started out with the Flyers staying right with the Kings. Cal Petersen was tested early and made some really tough stops. The Flyers penalty kill was looking really aggressive offensively. Everything was going just fine until with just over five minutes left in the 1st period the Kings scored two goals in the span of 18 seconds.
At 14:32 Cam York made a strange defensive attempt against Adrian Kempe. York may have been the last one to touch the puck before it went into the Flyers net. The second goal was a perfectly tipped deflection by Anze Kopitar on a shot from the point. Neither of these goals could be blamed on Petersen but either way the Flyers were suddenly down by two going into the 1st intermission. Tortorella was not shy with his players about the situation. He was very animated and really letting them hear his thoughts right there on the bench.
Off the rails
Both teams brought a much more physical style with them into the 2nd period. The Flyers had two unsuccessful power-plays that had the energized home crowd yelling “SHOOT” as the Flyers passed the puck around the perimeters. There were some missed opportunities for sure but you also have to give Kings goalie Cam Talbot the credit he deserves. He was solid all night earning himself a shutout.
The Kings scored two goals in the last five minutes of the 2nd and suddenly the game was basically over at that point. They scored another early in the 3rd and the rest of the game was more of a formality than anything else. The Flyers well laid plans were unraveling all over the ice. Everything about their game was just self destructing. They looked tired, snake-bitten, and totally resigned.
Tortz sums it up
After the game John Tortorella dismissed a lot of specifics about the loss. He wasn’t going to blame the goaltender. He didn’t want to chalk it up to being tired. “I believe you can talk yourself into being tired”. He was clearly frustrated. Right up until late in the 2nd “we were right there”. His team came very close on an opportunity then instead of it being 2-1 it was suddenly 4-0. He said “We’re not built right now to be able to come back from that”.
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He acknowledged the schedule and the Kings talent but he seemed to think his team had a shot at winning this game. The coach rejected the suggestion that they somehow need to just forget this game and move on. “We’re not throwing this one out, we’re going to teach”.
Extra Credit:
Rebuilding a team is not just about biding your time and waiting for help to arrive. Tortorella has a structure and systems in mind and he wants them in place. This rebuild started at the beginning of last season, no matter what the old front office would or wouldn’t call it.
