Flyers hit bottom in loss to Rangers »
The Flyers have been less than mediocre on the ice for the past few weeks. Their play has looked decidedly less than so-so since a fourgame COVID layoff in February, though according to head coach Alain Vigneault it was recently “trending in the right direction” ... even if the results honestly indicated otherwise.
Regardless of your critical point of view, no one, certainly not the easily impressed Vigneault, could have imagined the implosion that occurred Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden.
Mika Zibanejad clocked a hat trick and added a trio of assists – a six-point second period for him – to lead the Rangers to a stunning, 9-0 victory over a Flyers team in complete chaos.
Had they called the game after the first two periods, which any and every player would have voted for if given the chance, the final score would have been the same.
“We couldn’t defend and couldn’t make a play,” subdued Zoom subject Vigneault said afterward. “We, uh, got truly embarrassed. So we’ll go to Long Island and try to get ready for tomorrow.”
Yes, as if this hadn’t been bad enough, the Flyers get to play the New York Islanders, better known as the team that ended their playoff ride last summer, tomorrow night and Saturday. That should be a fun visit. “The whole part of our game was bad tonight,” Vigneault said. “We’ll have to move on.”
Hockey players are trained to have short memories. But what happened Wednesday was closer to devastating trauma than disappointing loss.
“It was embarrassing to be playing on that ice tonight the way we played,” Claude Giroux said. “We didn’t help our goalies at all and there’s not a lot of words to say. We know we have to wake up ... we have a game tomorrow.”
Oh, and speaking of trending, the Flyers are 6-7-1 in their last 14 and sinking fast.
“We lost a lot of battles the way we played,” Giroux added. “We didn’t play the way we wanted to. I don’t know what to tell you. The effort has to be better. Not one or two guys, everybody has to be better. That’s all I have to say.”
Maybe the Rangers had something to do with it, too. After all, they were playing freestyle, as in, without their coaches. Head coach David Quinn and his entire assistant coaching staff were kept out of the game due to COVID protocols. Replacements were minor leaguers Chris Knoblauch, the Hartford Wolf Pack’s head coach, and assistant Gord Murphy, along with assistant general manager Chris Drury.
Knoblauch and Murphy used to be Flyers assistants. Drury was a standout player. Maybe they’re magicians, too.
Not so magical were Flyers goalies Brian Elliott, and his replacement Carter Hart, both of whom were riddled by the Rangers, mostly because the Flyers exhibited no interest in playing defense.
Pavel Buchnevich had two goals and two assists, again all in the second, for the Rangers. Brendan Lemieux, Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba and Filip Chytil also scored. It was the Rangers’ most decisive victory since beating New Jersey 9-0 on March 31, 1986.