And just like that another season is in the books. The Flyers were in it to the very last second. Samuel Ersson was pulled with about 4 minutes left in a 1-1 game, unbeknown to Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella that the Detroit Red Wings sent the Montreal Canadiens into overtime, which officially eliminated the Flyers from playoff contention.
It wasn’t for lack of effort, it wasn’t for not trying, the effort was there all season long. As a matter of fact every single Flyer gave all they had last night, even some of the players that were benched with the likes of Cam Atkinson, Morgan Frost, and Bobby Brink. They tried too, maybe they didn’t execute as properly as Tortorella would have liked, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.
There is a big difference of meeting more talent and giving Max effort. Even on the eight game losing streak, it wasn’t for lack of effort, they just didn’t execute properly. For instance, there were many coverage breakdowns defensively on both sides of the puck, the Power Play was lackluster, and for that matter the Flyers finished with the worst Power Play percentage in the league at a rate of 12.3%. A team is just not going to win many games this time of year, if a team cannot take advantage of a mistake(s) from their opponent.
“I’m proud of the team, they fought to the end,” Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella said following as the team called it a game 7 against the Washington Capitals of the regular season.
Erik Johnson said the guys fought and dug until the end, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. This team never quit, and it turned out to be a special one for Johnson, “I really enjoyed these guys, the group, these guys, and the organization,” Johnson said. “It was a highlight of my career playing in philly. I really enjoyed it. Whether I’m here or not I will cheer for those guys. I enjoyed all those guys, the staff, living in Philly.”
“It was a highlight of my career playing in Philly.” – Erik Johnson
The season was a tough one for the players and staff, but they plowed through. Carter Hart missed over half the season, Cutter Gauthier didn’t want to sign in Philadelphia, and the Flyers went on any game losing streak towards the latter part of the season. Through all that, Samuel Ersson stood strong completed butt off admirably in his rookie season, “”It’s ridiculous how much we played him, but he gets to go home feeling like he rebounded, or found himself again, and that’s very encouraging.”
This makes for an interesting offseason, and a busy summer for Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere. What happen next is anyone’s guess, but Briere will make improvements to improve this hockey club.
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