Date Published: 10-24-2022
Photo Credit: Gabby Massaro
The Flyers entered Sunday night’s contest against their old foe Oskar Lindblom and the San Jose Sharks. It’s been a pretty improbable start for the Flyers, and it’s come a good surprise for many. They are off to a hot start of 4-1 before Sunday night’s contest.
After the Phillies clinched their victory on Sunday. Flyers unfortunately were a bit jet lagged from their most recent road trip, where they finished with a 2-1 record against some really good competition. Unfortunately, the Flyers lost last night’s game 3-0, “Turnovers. Turnovers,” John Tortorella said. “We have to learn how to play back-to-back games. We’ve played two sets of back-to-backs. In our second game, we absolutely don’t give ourselves a chance because of turnovers. We get in here. These guys got to bed at probably three-thirty last night. I don’t think it’s a physical tiredness.”
Torts continued, “I think sometimes it may be a little groggy mentally. If you’re a pro, you’ve got to figure out how to simplify your game. We have to learn how to play back-to-backs. I think we have sixteen of them this year. We’re 0-for-2 right now as far as at least giving ourselves a chance. That’s what’s frustrating. I’m not going to look by the good week they had prior to tonight’s game. We won’t see them tomorrow; we’ll get a couple good days of practice and get back at it again.”
The lone bright spot of the game for the Flyers was honoring Oskar Lindblom. He really loves Philadelphia, as he pounded his hands over his chest during the tribute. He was always a class act, and he will always remain a Flyer. Lindblom even flicked a puck or two from Flyers fans during warm-ups.
Felix Sandström
Once again Sandström played a very strong game, and he was one of the best players on the ice for the Flyers last night. He made 22 saves on 24 shots faced, which was good for a .917 Save Percentage. Sandström battled, while searching for his first NHL victory. Unfortunately, he fell victim to some tired Flyers last night that included the benching of Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes.
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“You can’t control everything, but you just got to keep battling and keep doing your work,” Sandström said. “Eventually, it’s going to turn around. That’s the mindset I’m having. I’m just going to keep battling hard and practice. It will come.”
Benchings of Konecny and Hayes
Both Hayes and Konecny are off to some really good starts to the season. Hayes leads the Flyers with eight points (1g,7a), and Konecny leads the Flyers with four goals, yet both were benched for the entire third period. They were both on ice for both goals scored against the Flyers that led to a 2-0 lead after two periods of play in favor of the Sharks, of course.
We can speculate all we want as to why both of these top players were benched for the Flyers, but if you don’t play the right way you will find yourself on the bench. So evidently, Tortorella maybe thought they could play better, “He’s been honest about that since day one of camp,” Konecny said of Torts benching him. “Doesn’t matter who you are, you got to play the right way. If we weren’t doing the right things tonight – and I know I was out there for two goals, I had some mistakes tonight. It’s his decision.”
“I don’t think he was too happy with my game, if I had to guess,” Hayes said following the game. There is no saying what would have happened if both of these players were not benched, but the team should have played better against the last place Sharks. This type of loss was sort of expected after a good road trip, a better than expected road trip, but the team still needs to provide 100% effort every night, or you will find yourself on the bench.
Today the Flyers have a full off day, and they will resume practice on Tuesday in Voorhees.
