Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Busy schedule could have Vigneault, Flyers on edge
The Flyers are on one of their worst skids of recent years, at least in the time since ex-coach Dave Hakstol’s team went 10 games without a win four years ago.
It is the current sick slide, which amid a lousy 4-1 loss to the Rangers Wednesday night reached seven games, that was on the tongue of general manager Chuck Fletcher last week, and that was prior to that loss to the Blueshirts.
Fletcher was trying hard not to sound like he was making excuses, which of course to some degree he was, but he rightly pointed out that to that point the streak had come at the hands of all top teams in the league this season.
Two of the games during this streak, for example, were to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the twotime defending Stanley Cup champions.
With the streak now at an unlucky seven, you could say it’s a bit unlucky that the Flyers have yet another game with the Lightning coming up Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center. But head coach Alain Vigneault, who seems to know that Fletcher’s patience can only last so long, doesn’t
want to entertain any thoughts of the last two meetings with the Lightning, or what that team has accomplished the past two hockey years.
This latest meeting with the Lightning is actually the start of a five games in seven nights run for the Flyers, and they know they have to turn around their fortunes during it or all playoff hopes could be lost.
“I didn’t talk about five (games) in seven (nights),” Vigneault said Saturday, “but … I’m going to talk about the urgency of winning tomorrow’s game. We need to win a game here. This has been a challenging time for everyone. Right now we need to find a way to win a game.”
Lately, that’s seemed like a daunting task, since the Flyers have scored only 12 goals during the seven-game slide of 0-52. So what would be the magic mandate now to spark a turnaround?
“Play solid hockey, do what we need to do with the puck and score enough to be successful,” Vigneault summarized. To back that agenda up, he’s counting on what he saw Friday and Saturday … “two really good practices,” Vigneault said, “where I think guys should feel good about themselves.”
Hey, desperate times call for desperate measurements.
“They’re one of the best teams,” Vigneault said of the Lightning, speaking in the obvious. “To be able to go up against them you have to have your team playing the right way and that’s my responsibility. I feel good about where we are but it doesn’t matter how I feel. Our players have to go out and play and I’ve got to make sure myself and my staff will get them ready to play the right way.”
If not, these desperate times can turn even more desperate … especially for the coach. As an example of quick turnarounds, Vigneault offered up the Montreal Canadiens: “The Habs last year, they go to the Stanley Cup finals … and a couple of days ago they clean house. It changes quickly; I’m confident it’s going to change positively. But it has to because in this business, a success, win-oriented business, you’ve got to win. Otherwise, stuff happens. We all know that.”
••• NOTES » Not playing Sunday will be Joel Farabee, who suffered a shoulder injury last week which Vigneault said would keep the young forward “out week to week.” … Morgan Frost, who has a goal and assist in four games since being promoted, will play wing against Tampa on a line with center Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny.