Three Things that are wrong with the Flyers

Photo Credit: Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer

The month of November is coming to an end and the Flyers have already dug themselves quite a deep hole in what is considered to be the toughest division in the NHL in the Metro.

The Flyers are 8-7-4 and are in second to last place in the Metropolitan division tied with the Devils with 20 points. They’ve lost five straight games and have scored three goals in only two of those games. They haven’t scored more than three goals in a game since Oct. 27, when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a final score of 5-3.

Yes, it’s been over a month since the Flyers were able to score more than three goals in a game. Can you see where I’m heading yet?

You could pinpoint quite a few things as to what could be wrong with this team as they head into the month of December. For the sake of this article though, it’s been narrowed down to three things.

1. The Power Play

Heading into tonight’s game versus the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers power play ranks 26th in the NHL at 13.8%. They’ve received little to no production on the man advantage and in the end, it’s held them back from winning hockey games.

Over the last ten games, the power play is 2 for its last 31. Simply put, that’s not good and it’s led to an underwhelming month of November for the Flyers.

It’s a lot of the same for the Flyers on the man advantage. Very few controlled entries, slow puck movement, and the inability to retrieve pucks after dumping it in or taking a shot. All in all, a lot of one and done situations for the Orange and Black.

Traffic in front of the net has been another problem. Opposing netminders have been able to see shots with ease. The Flyers inability to take the goalies eyes away has hurt them.

James van Riemsdyk, who is famous for redirecting shots while screening the goaltender and potting those dirty but good goals, has one power play goal on the season and two goals all together. Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, and Travis Konecny have combined four only four goals on the man advantage.

Both power play units, who by the way have been changed around quite a bit throughout the first 19 games of the season, have been discombobulated. If the Flyers can’t figure out how to cash in on the power play soon, they’re going to be on the wrong end of a lot of games because of it.

2. Not Even Top Heavy

It’s no secret that the Flyers have struggled to score goals after starting off the season seemingly finding the back of the net with about every shot they took.

Goals have been hard to come by for the Orange and Black. They rank 26th in the league in goals for per game with 2.47. That means the goaltending tandem of Carter Hart and Martin Jones has to be nearly perfect every night if the Flyers want to win a game. That’s impossible.

You’d love to think that the top guys like Claude Giroux, Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, and Sean Couturier have been finding the back of the net and that it’s the depth players that have been struggling to score. Unfortunately, nobody can seem to find the back of the net for the Flyers. Nope, not even the top tier players.

After scoring six goals in the first five games of the season, newcomer Cam Atkinson, who was acquired by Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers this past offseason, has scored one goal in his last 14 games. Claude Giroux has two goals in his last 11 games. Sean Couturier, who was quietly off to a hot start this season but has since cooled off quite a bit, hasn’t found the back of the net since Nov. 6 against the Washington Capitals.

Oskar Lindblom, who in fairness has had his fair share of scoring chances, hasn’t found the back of the net once this season.

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If the top guys can’t start producing on offense, the losses are only going to continue to pile up. They can only ride Carter Hart and Martin Jones so much. They’ve shown no ability whatsoever to come out on top in a high scoring game.

3. The Injury Bug

You can’t forget the guys that the Flyers are missing on the ice either. There’s some pretty important pieces to this team who have played in very few games for the Orange and Black this season.

Defenseman Ryan Ellis, who the Flyers acquired from the Nashville Predators this past offseason, has only played in four games for the Flyers this season. He’s had a nagging injury to what appears to be to the hip. The specificity of the injury is not clear.

Ellis was believed to have injured himself back on Oct. 20 against the Boston Bruins. He went on to miss the next nine games before returning against the Dallas Stars back on Nov. 13. In the same game, he suffered a re-injury. He’s now expected to be out 4-6 weeks.

Ellis, when acquired by the Flyers in the offseason, was expected to play on the right side of the top defensive unit with Ivan Provorov. We’ve seen very little of those two on the ice together because of the injury to the 30-year-old defenseman. Not to mention he was supposed to run one of the two power play units.

Safe to say the Ellis injury is a big blow to the Flyers depth on defense and special teams. It’ll be interesting to see how different of a team the Flyers are when he returns to the ice.

The Flyers are also missing one of their top centers in Kevin Hayes who has been out most of the season. Hayes, who had abdominal surgery back in September, has missed all of but two games for the Flyers this season. He returned to play in two games for the Flyers before ultimately suffering a reinjury. He’s now considered week-to-week and there is really no timetable for his return.

The Flyers depth at not only the forward position, but the center position specifically, takes a significant hit. Not having Hayes on the ice definitely takes a toll on the offensive production of the Orange and Black. When he does return, the Flyers will be a much deeper team.