February 20, 2024
Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports
Travis Sanheim and the Flyers ultimately have to chalk up their loss in Saturday night's Stadium Series to just another game.
There were two things that stood out when John Tortorella spoke at the podium following the Flyers' 6-3 loss to the Devils in Saturday night's Stadium Series game.
The first was, yeah, they lost, on a spectacle of an outdoor stage at MetLife Stadium and with a potentially big two points at stake in the faster developing playoff race. But also that it's not the end of the world – not yet. The Flyers have 26 games still to go beginning with the Blackhawks on Wednesday night in Chicago. There's a lot of hockey left to play.
"We move by it," Tortorella said postgame Saturday night. "I hope the families had fun. I hope the boys had fun. You lose the game, you move by it. It's only one game. You gotta be really careful here that you don't make it into more of a thing than it is than losing a game. We'll give 'em tomorrow off. They'll see their families now, and we'll get to work, get to Chicago, see if we can get going again."
The second thing: "That game scares the s*** out of me – Chicago," Tortorella said.
Hyperbolic to say of the team at the very bottom of the league standings? From the outside looking in, yes. But that's the exact line of thought that Tortorella wants to prevent his team from falling into.
After a battle against Toronto that ended in an overtime loss and the rapid buildup leading into the big show of Stadium Series in the Meadowlands last week, Chicago stands as the Flyers' only game over six nights before the next major Metro division matchup against the Rangers at home on Saturday.
The Blackhawks have lost nine of their last 10, but did just get back generational rookie Connor Bedard and will be fighting tooth and nail for any kind of victory. If this is considered a break, it will become a trap game just as quickly.
"That's what I'm worried about," Tortorella said after practice back at Voorhees on Monday. "Chicago plays hard and they're in all their games. I just don't want us to think 'Outdoor game, Jersey, we just played Toronto, and now we're playing a team that's last.' I just don't want them to play with their minds because it's too important of a game for us and I just don't think you should disrespect any opponent.
"I'm not saying we will, but I have to worry about that as a coach of a team. I have to worry about that after all the pompenstance and all the stuff that goes on with his outdoor game – coming back home, practicing, going to Chicago, playing a game, coming home, and you start the regular season again. I have to worry about that.
"As I've said, I trust the team. I just want to make sure that we are dead set ready to play after all that stuff with that outdoor game – get our regular season going again."
But this time for a sprint, not a marathon.
The Flyers are well within the playoff race, much sooner than most would have expected, and while Saturday night's loss to the Devils wasn't a dramatic setback, it does make the picture a lot tighter than it was before.
The Flyers are still holding third place in the Metro division with 65 points as of Tuesday afternoon, but with their victory at the opposite end of Saturday night's outdoor game, the Devils are now only just five points behind Philly and with two games in hand. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings are getting a firmer grasp on the Eastern Conference's two Wild Card spots, and the Islanders and Capitals, though inconsistent, are still managing to hang in there.
| Rk) Team | GP | Record | Points | Last 10 |
| M3) Flyers | 56 | 29-20-7 | 65 | 4-5-1 |
| WC1) Lightning | 57 | 30-22-5 | 65 | 6-4-0 |
| WC2) Red Wings | 55 | 29-20-6 | 64 | 6-3-1 |
| Devils | 54 | 28-22-4 | 60 | 5-4-1 |
| Islanders | 54 | 22-18-14 | 58 | 3-3-4 |
| Capitals | 53 | 24-21-8 | 56 | 2-6-2 |
The odds are still favorable. MoneyPuck projects the Flyers with a 73 percent chance of making the playoffs and Hockey-Reference has them at a 72.2 percent probability. But they're far from in the clear.
After Chicago on Wednesday night, they'll get a Rangers team that leads the division and has won seven straight – including Sunday's overtime thriller over the Islanders in the second of the weekend's Stadium Series doubleheader – on Saturday, a trip to rival Pittsburgh next Sunday, and then another go at a Tampa team that thoroughly picked them apart last time next Tuesday back at home.
For what it's worth, Saturday's loss in the outdoor game wasn't a complete clunker. They piled on 48 shots on goal and had numerous chances, but failed to fully cash in outside of the three opportunities that Owen Tippett and Nick Seeler rifled home. Frequent penalties and timely jumps on the part of New Jersey just constantly killed their flow.
"It's frustrating," winger Travis Konecny, who registered two assists, said afterward. "We had some really good looks. It's just one of those games they weren't going in. [Devils goaltender Nico Daws] was giving us opportunities with rebounds and their guys were doing whatever it took to keep them out. It's sometimes gonna go that way."
But the general tone in the Flyers' locker room, even with frustration, reflected that there was something to build off of. The trials and the grind the rest of the way, however, won't get any easier.
"I'm not worried about this group," defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "We're gonna be ready to go for the next one."
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