The Philadelphia Flyers are weird, and over the course of the season, have had a number of weird things happen to them.
John Tortorella acknowledged much of it on Wednesday.
The sudden shock of the Cutter Gauthier trade; the setbacks in goaltending, the extremely serious reason for why they exist, and the timely solutions that compensated for them; plus the coach's own knack for being a lightning rod when it comes to attracting headlines and the public reputation that has followed him over the years, from getting kicked out of a game and refusing to leave to blunt and pointed postgame comments, none more direct than after Monday night's loss to Chicago, when he called his team's second-period performance "soft" and "an embarrassment to the Flyer uniform" while in the thick of a playoff race.
But somehow, someway, this team – this plainly stated rebuilding team – has found a way through nearly all of it, and after 76 games, is still holding on to a playoff spot – albeit just barely right now – with the finish line to keep skating late into April just six more contests away.
No one had them getting this far. Definitely not going in, and not after all of that. Yet they're here anyway, earned every part of it, too, and are on the doorstep of much more.
So when Tortorella sat at the podium after practice on Wednesday from the Flyers' Training Center over in Voorhees, nothing changed.
He meant what he said Monday night, knew what he was doing when he said it, and had zero concern that the players would take it the wrong way.
Because after everything, after making it this far, they shouldn't settle for just being 'happy to be here.' They can't fade away with this current five-game winless rut and be content with the year. The Flyers have shown, numerous times now, that they have it in them to push for that much more. They can react, they can adapt, and when they're at their best, they can skate with anyone.
But they have to dig deep just one more time, all while running out of time to do it.
"I was in control the other night," Tortorella said. "What I said, I meant. And quite honestly, when I watch the tape now, I'm more concerned than just the second period, because I'm so proud of the team getting here.
"I guess now the narrative out there is, because I've heard from other people, 'They're young, they're not supposed to be here.' Bulls***. We're here. We're here. Face it, and let's be better. And I don't think we're ready to be better, and that's my problem with us right now. And it is my job – I have not done a good enough job to get them over the hump after playing those seven games and then each game as it goes down where you have six left. I haven't done a good enough job to make them understand we have to be different now, we have to be at a different level. That's my frustration with me, and that's my frustration with the team. If people can't handle it, so be it."
Their next chance to breakthrough, and likely a make-or-break point in the entire season, will be Friday night in Buffalo against a middling — but still potent – Sabres team, followed by a disastrous Blue Jackets club on Saturday for a road back-to-back.
After a full three days off, those are four very gettable points on the table, and ones that the Flyers are really going to need all of if they want to control as much of their postseason fate as possible.
Entering Friday night, they're still holding on to third in the Metro with 83 points through 76 games, but the Islanders are right there with them now with just as many in the second and last Eastern Conference wild card spot, followed by the Capitals and Red Wings each at 82 points with a game in hand, and the Penguins at 81 points and 76 games played still clinging on.
They're down captain Sean Couturier now, too, at least through the weekend after he crashed into the boards Monday night and left favoring his shoulder. He's been struggling ever since earning the C, for sure, but still took up a key defensive role in the lineup. At the same time, however, Jamie Drysdale and Nick Seeler are back in to boost the blue line depth, they still have faith in Sam Ersson in goal to get them to the finish line, and big Ivan Fedotov got thrown right into the fire Monday night and proved he could hang in there – the 6-foot-7 goalie straight from Russia has the nod for Friday against the Sabres for his first-ever NHL start.
But the Flyers are going to need their offensive firepower just as much also, another factor that's played largely into them getting here, but has struggled with consistency now that they are. If there was ever a time for Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Travis Konecny, and Owen Tippett all to fully wake up again and all at once, it's now. They need goals, and lots of them.
"Make no mistake about it, I am proud of our team," Tortorella said. "From Day 1, when you could see this room come together, I love coming to the rink and working with these guys. But it's my job to make sure they understand where we're at now. We're not regular season now. We put ourselves in this spot. Let's not fade away and say 'You know what? We're not even supposed to be here.' That sucks. We're here. That's where I think I've done a sh***y job.
"I want to make sure...I want to make sure we're going to go at this the proper way to give ourselves – so when April 15 comes, we don't say 'G** damn, why didn't I do that? Why didn't we get to that level?' I don't want regrets. I don't know if we get in. I don't know what happens. But I don't want us to fade now. It's not about fading and trying to stay away from it. It's about getting to another level. And I do think some guys are struggling to get there, and I think it can be taught. Some guys have it in them, but to get to another level, a level you don't even think you know about, that can be taught. That's part of my job. That's what I want to happen. Whether we succeed or not, at least we can look at ourselves in the mirror at the end of it and say 'We tried.'
"We're not there now. We have time to get there, but we're running out of it."
So they have to dig deep just one more time.
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