March 11, 2024
Saturday down in Tampa Bay was just not the Flyers' night in any way, shape, or form.
Bounces weren't going their way, the defense was working from behind the eight ball, they were getting zero leeway from the refs – which led to an ejection of and ensuing blowup from John Tortorella – and once they were shorthanded, an experienced and still very much potent Lightning team was ready and able to capitalize.
The Flyers got blown out and shut out, 7-0, in the first game post-trade deadline, taking on another hit that leaves their spot in the current playoff picture that much tighter coming back to Philadelphia for this week.
Postgame, Garnet Hathaway, who left the night with two 10-minute misconducts by the end of it, said that the team has to look at their trip through Florida as a split to take home. The rout from Tampa: "Just make sure it's one in the whole season," he said.
And yeah, the Flyers did take down a best-in-the-East Panther team a couple of nights before with a checking effort that took everything they had. Those kinds of wins are huge at this time of the year. But losses like the one taken Saturday night against the Lightning, those are just as massive, too – and stand to make you sweat a bit.
We're well into the home stretch now. The Flyers have 17 games left starting Tuesday night against San Jose at the Wells Fargo Center, and the road certainly won't be getting easier from there as the high-powered Maple Leafs, Bruins, Hurricanes, rubber match with Florida, and the Rangers all wait after.
The Flyers are still in this, but the Islanders are right there on their heels – only two points behind. It's not totally do or die yet, but the season is closer to it now than not.
"Especially at this time of year, you lose 3-2 or 7-0, you lose two points in the standings," captain Sean Couturier said. "You just gotta think about the next game and get those points back."
Here are five thoughts from the weekend and the increasingly pivotal road left ahead...
Let's just clear the deck right away. Saturday night was a total clunker. Like a you knew right away, burn the tape-level one.
The highlights if you wanted to start your Monday off on a sour note:
If you watched the whole 10-minute recap: Sorry.
Bigger picture though, I do think this adds to a concerning trend for the current team in regards to their playoff push.
The Flyers have surprised a lot of people this season and ground out a lot of unexpected wins, and while they've had some major breaks throughout the year – like beating the Panthers twice already and taking down the Lightning in their previous matchup back here in Philly – usually when matched up against elite teams, they'll either fall a couple bounces shy (the Rangers) or get overwhelmed by a clear gap in talent (the Bruins, the Avalanche, and the Lightning all back in January).
The Sharks on Tuesday night represent a break by comparison, though far from a team that can be dismissed, after that:
| Date | Opponent | Place | Points |
| Thu., Mar. 14 | Toronto | 3rd in ATL | 82 |
| Sat., Mar. 16 | @Boston | 2nd in ATL | 91 |
| Tue., Mar. 19 | Toronto | 3rd in ATL | 82 |
| Thu., Mar. 21 | @Carolina | 2nd in MET | 82 |
| Sat., Mar. 23 | Boston | 2nd in ATL | 91 |
| Sun., Mar. 24 | Florida | 1st in ATL | 92 |
| Tue., Mar. 26 | @NY Rangers | 1st in MET | 86 |
| Thu., Mar. 28 | @Montreal | 7th in ATL | 58 |
That's a brutal stretch, with each team listed either hitting its stride or at least maintaining course, before seeing any type of breather with the Canadiens, and again, you can't so easily dismiss them.
All the while, the Flyers are looking considerably banged up.
Getting Travis Konecny back was big up front, but on the back end, Jamie Drysdale and Rasmus Ristolainen are still out, along with Nick Seeler now as well. Sean Walker is gone after the front office found its first-round pick for him in Colorado, and what was once a blueline logjam is now left at Cam York and Travis Sanheim at the top, veterans Marc Staal and the recently acquired Erik Johnson, who both have a lot of mileage on them, and Egor Zamula and call-ups Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning, who are each relatively inexperienced at this stage of the game.
Yeah, it's a tough draw, and another reminder that this team still has a long, long way to go.
Attard had just been tagged for his second penalty of the night, Hathaway was met with no patience from the officials on a shove of the Lightning's Anthony Cirelli during a stoppage and was given a 10-minute misconduct, and Tortorella took exception to it all from the bench. And this was all in the first period alone.
Seconds later, Tortorella was tossed by referee Wes McCauley, but not without and argument and a standoff on the bench.
Flyers coach John Tortorella wouldn't leave after getting tossed 😂 pic.twitter.com/YNDaCzwFyZ
— Bally Sports Sun: Lightning (@BallyLightning) March 10, 2024
He relented and left eventually, but it was likely the NHL was going to have a say on the incident afterward, and per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Sunday evening, the punishment was a two-game suspension and a $50,000 fine.
One thing I’d like to say: I really believe this is a case where we should hear from the officials. I don’t think it benefits anyone — including the referees in this case — that we can’t hear what happened here.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 10, 2024
Flyers governor Dan Hilferty said he'll cover the fine, per longtime analyst Al Morganti, even before anyone knew what it would be.
"I'm really proud of Torts for standing up for his/our team.," he said "This new era of Orange is about having each other's backs. Last night, Torts had our collective backs.. I respect any action the league might feel a neeed to take but if it includes a fine, I am paying it."
— al morganti (@nufced) March 10, 2024
The suspension, however, is going to be a trickier situation to navigate. Presumably, associate coach Brad Shaw, who ran the bench after Tortorella's ejection, will continue to do so for these next couple of games.
Zamula was out for Saturday night with an illness, and the Flyers elected to throw newly acquired forward Denis Gurianov right in as a 13th forward while electing to run with five defensemen in York, Sanheim, Staal, Johnson, and Attard.
That's part of why that game went as south as it did.
"They knew going in that it was going to be a high-minute game," said Shaw, who was speaking in place of the ejected Tortorella postgame. "I thought we could've done a better job playing in front of them to not maybe put them into so many long shifts early on. Again, it's something we could've handled better right through from the forwards to the defense as well."
Sanheim and York in particular logged a whopping 28:49 and 25:32 of ice time, respectively.
Walker was sent out for a 2025 first-rounder to put toward the future, while Erik Johnson was brought in for a 2024 fourth as at least a little more depth and experience to try and aid the team that's here making a push now.
And when he joined the Flyers in Tampa, the 35-year old gave a pretty forward response about where his current game is.
"I don't think I've had my best," Johnson said earlier Saturday. "It was really tough being 13 years in Colorado and then coming to a new team [in Buffalo]. I don't think I really played my best hockey and, you know, my best years are behind me. I think just adding any depth and penalty kill experience and moving the puck and being physical and just really any role I'm handed, I'm going to do it the best I can. I'm a complimentary piece for these guys to do anything possible to help them win."
And the Flyers, in turn, aren't expecting him to replace Walker for this last stretch either, general manager Danny Brière said after the deadline.
But they do already miss Walker's strong two-way game up and down the ice, and with his former blue-line partner in Seeler sidelined, too, the Flyers are going to have to figure something else out defensively.
Again, York and Sahneim are still there, and Zamula when he's back from illness in the immediate picture. But having to play Staal and Johnson, that's going to slow things down a bit, and opponents are going to be fully aware of that.
This is a line that's been treading just above water for a while, but took a hit with Saturday night's blowout. As of Monday morning, the Flyers' goal differential dipped below even into minus-2.
Standings on March 10. Flyers' goal differential: -2 pic.twitter.com/GVKP1qvrSa
— Nick Tricome (@itssnick) March 10, 2024
It's only them and the Islanders in the Wild Card who are holding playoff spots right now at a negative differential, across both conferences, and that's with New York trailing them at a minus-9 deficit but while on a six-game tear after beating Anaheim Sunday night.
Responsible and relentless defensive play and checking are what have been getting this year's Flyers by – plus stellar goaltending from Samuel Ersson and, for a while, some excellent transitional offense – but look, scoring lots of goals is good. Playoff teams score lots of goals. Shocker I know. #Analysis.
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
