The Flyers were trying to become a consistent hockey team under new Head Coach Alain Vigneault. Unfortunately, through the first 20 games the 2019-20 season, the 10-6-4, Flyers have been anything but.
One game the orange and black will pile on four goals, and the next night they will only score one. For their efforts, they currently sit 17th in the league with 58 goals for. In addition, the biggest area of concern right now is finishing games. For instance, the Flyers had a three goal lead against a very well coached, good team in the New York Islanders on Saturday night. The Flyers, as many know by now, lost 4-3 in a shootout. This is absolutely unacceptable, and it doesn’t matter how many back to backs the Flyers have played in-in prior weeks, “We pretty much gave up two points to them,” Sean Couturier said after the game.
It does not matter how many games the Flyers have played within the past few weeks. Every team goes through this at some point in the season. The fact of the matter is, the Flyers have to learn how to close out games.
In the past few seasons, the Flyers had trouble starting games, most notably throughout the entire first period of most games. Unfortunately, this season they have blown leads, and some of them have lead to them fighting for their lives in overtime or shootouts. For instance, most notably a 3-0 to the New York Islanders, a 2-0 lead to the Montreal Canadiens on November 7, 2019 (Flyers eventually won 3-2 in a shootout), and a 1-0 lead to the lowly the Ottawa Senators this past Friday.
The Flyers have appeared to take one step and forward and one step back this season. They have solved the area of slow starts, now Vigneault has to teach this young Flyers team how to close out games. The more this team plays in overtime and shootouts, the worse it can become later in the season. Not just in terms of being tired, but with the wild card for playoff purposes potentially at stake. Hopefully, this area of need gets resolved sooner, rather than later.
Photo Credit: Zack Hill
This article nails what makes 14 invaluable. He’s after points for the Flyers, not his next goal or a highlight reel.
Mike,
Thanks so much for your support on here, and on twitter. Without you we wouldn’t exist. I agree about Coots. He really has taken a huge step with leadership this season.