Date Published: 12-18-2022
The Flyers had effort, their compete level was there. Unfortunately, the only thing they lacked was they didn’t score enough goals to beat the New York Rangers, a game in which the Flyers controlled the play for 60% of the game.
John Tortorella was asked what the biggest issue was last night, “They scored more than we did.” He elaborated:
“They end up capitalizing more on their chances. We developed a lot of offense – they did. They scored more than us. I thought we had good energy tonight. I thought we started off well and had chances. I thought it was a game that could have gone either way.” – John Tortorella
Tortorella gets it, and he’s trying to build a connection with the fanbase of Philadelphia. The Flyers hired a former Stanley Cup winning Head Coach John Tortorella to a four year deal, worth $16 million. Some forget he won a Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the 2003-04 season.
Torts is known to be a hard-nosed coach, who commands the most from his players. He is not afraid of benching or calling out star studded players either. This was one reason why the majority of the Flyers team reported early for training camp. They knew it was going to be grueling, they know it’s going to be a very “Difficult Camp” as John Tortorella said earlier in the offseason.
For their efforts, they played a strong game against the Rangers, it was just one of those after the first period Carter Hart didn’t look like the Carter Hart that has been great this season with the Rangers scoring multiple goals through his five hole. It happens, no big deal, Hart has been phenomenal this season. It’s not all his fault either for blown coverages that lead to odd man rushes.
Morgan Frost, James van Riemsdyk, and Scott Laughton were your goal scorers as Laughts scored a short-handed goal. All this without their point producer in Kevin Hayes, who was benched for not playing the right way.
The Flyers have been bottom feeders in the league for the past two years. One had to believe that a no non-sense coach was in the cards in the distant future. This current Flyers team needed a sense of direction and guidance, as they really had an embarrassing campaign last season of historic proportions in a bad way, so welcome to Camp “Tortsture” where suicide skates are a daily thing, even the goalies participate in suicide skates.
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Hopefully the Flyers can right the ship against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night after having an off day today.
