Skipping Right To The Ugly Team Statistics

The NHL Playoffs are fast approaching and the Flyers will almost certainly not be playing past May 10 when they’re scheduled to finish up there regular season slate of games against the Devils.

Things were looking good to start the season for the Orange and Black.

They won three of there first four games and seven out of there first ten.

That was back in January.

Then the Covid-19 outbreak hit the team in February and the Flyers season slowly started to go in the wrong direction.

When early March came around though, things really took a turn for the worse.

On April 19, 2021, the Flyers sit in sixth place in the MassMutual East division and nine points back of the Boston Bruins for the fourth and final playoff spot. The Bruins also have two games in hand. The playoffs are now a glimmer of light that keeps on moving further and further away.

From March 1, 2021 through the slate of NHL games that took place last night, April 18, I compiled some of the Flyers’ team statistics.

The simple way of putting things is that it’s not pretty.

Lets have a look, shall we?

• The Flyers are 9-14-4 since March 1 (27 games played). They have earned 22 points and have .407 points percentage in that span. The Detroit Red Wings are 9-10-3 in that same span (22 games played) and have earned 21 points in five less games than the Flyers.

• The Flyers have had trouble scoring as of late. They’re tied for 26^th in the league in GF/GP in that span with the Chicago Blackhawks with 2.41 GF/GP. Only the Devils, Canucks, Red Wings, and Blue Jackets have scored less goals per game in that span with three of those four teams having played in less games than the Flyers.

• The Flyers have surrendered 106 goals since March 1 which is the most in the league and ten more than the New Jersey Devils (96).

• The Flyers PP over that span has been okay. They’re 16^th in the NHL in PP % at 19.5%.

• The penalty kill is a whole different story for the Flyers. They’re 28^th in the NHL over that span with a PK% of just 74.3%. For the season, they’re 30^th in the NHL at 73.7%.

• The Flyers have allowed the most first period goals against in that span with 39 first period goals allowed. That’s seven more than the New Jersey Devils. Add into the equation that they’ve allowed the most second period goals (40) in that span and you can see why they’re at where they’re at.

• They also haven’t scored many goals in the first period either. They’ve scored only 17 first period goals in that span which is tied for 22^nd in the NHL.

• The Flyers shoot the puck quite a bit but also miss the net quite a bit as well. Since March 1, the Flyers have missed 291 shots. Only seven other teams are either tied or have more than that.

• The Flyers have lost by three goals a total of seven times during that span. Only four other teams in the NHL have more.

• They’re the only team in the NHL during that span to not win a game by three goals. Every other NHL team has at least one such game.

• The Flyers have still yet to score a shorthanded goal through 45 games played. Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson has 4 SHG. Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron has 3 SHG. Again, the Flyers as a team have none.

If this doesn’t give you some insight as to why the Flyers are where they are in the standings, then I don’t know what does.