November 19, 2024
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim skated in a new career-high 31:07 of ice time on Monday night against the Avalanche.
The Flyers hung in there against the Colorado Avalanche Monday night, even making a push to stay in it late, but they still lost, and still stood opposite of everything they're not.
"It's a faster team than us, night and day," head coach John Tortorella said after his team's 3-2 loss at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night. "That's an elite team...We're here and that's where we want to get to."
It's another reminder of just how far the Philadelphia Flyers really have to go.
Things are getting better. Matvei Michkov is here and looking on his way to becoming the star everyone has been hoping for, Emil Andrae took a huge step forward on the blue line upon his call-up before getting injured, Travis Konecny is leading the team with 11 goals and 23 points through 19 games to live up to his end of his new contract in the early going, and Travis Sanheim's defensive play sharpened up in a big way, all as he takes on monster minutes night after night (skating to a new career-high of 31:07 in Monday night's loss).
But they don't have a Cale Makar or Nathan MacKinnon, two game-changing superstars who can control the puck and put it wherever it needs to be, who will make you pay if you give them even the smallest of windows.
Makar did it twice in the second period on Monday, gliding into the offensive zone unmarked and with a clean look straight at the net after Travis Konecny got caught puck-watching MacKinnon along the wall. The pass out slid under Konecny's stick and straight to the Colorado defenseman.
Makar picked his corner and scored, then did it again on a late-period power play with all kinds of space and time up top to let go a shot that bounced off a body on the way past Aleksei Kolosov.
"That first goal was my fault," Konecny admitted postgame. "It's a bad read, I'm puck watching, and then, you know, it's frustrating when you look at the end of the game and it's a one-goal game."
But it's the level of skill that the Flyers can't match yet – especially not when Makar and MacKinnon were both out on the ice at once and able to near-endlessly cycle the puck – or scramble to close out when working from behind.
Owen Tippett threw a shot on that found its way through with just over eight minutes left and then Tyson Foerster picked out and jammed home a loose puck to give the Flyers a spark late after Colorado's Casey Mittelstadt put away another for what was a 3-0 Avalanche lead.
But both Tippett and Foerster are key young pieces to the Flyers' forward core who have been struggling to produce consistent offense, amongst a team that has been struggling with that in general throughout the season so far, which put more strain on tighter and smarter defensive play to get by.
But the Flyers couldn't do that on Monday night, and against a team like Colorado, they paid for it.
"We just kept on playing," Tortorella said. "That's one thing I respect about the team, we just kept on playing.
"We're only down 2-0 going into the third, have a chance, [Bobby Brink] takes a stupid high-sticking penalty, Tyson taking a high-sticking penalty...
"A lot of the game I liked as we kept on going, but G** damn, we do stupid stuff. It's so aggravating...The stuff that we do that we that should be out of our game, that's what aggravates me.
The Flyers hung in there and made a push, but still lost, to everything they're still not.
And it's a long way still to go.
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