They’re streaking in Philadelphia
It’s been a streaky season so far for the Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have been nothing if not streaky. The Flyers had a 10-game winless skid this season and then won six straight before a loss this week to Los Angeles. Head coach Dave Hakstol says his team has played good hockey, but the Flyers still find themselves in last place in the Metropolitan Division. Then again, they are only eight points behind the first-place Devils.
Check out all those consecutive Ws of late on the Philadelphia schedule, and the Flyers should seem like a team headed to the playoffs.
But check out all those recent Ls.
With a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, the Flyers’ six-game winning streak came to an end. Not since the 1966-67 Toronto Maple Leafs has a team followed a 10-game winless skid with seven straight victories but the Flyers were close.
“You can’t win every single game right now,” Flyers forward Jake Voracek said.
Headed into Wednesday’s game against Detroit, Philadelphia is not in the post-season mix, just two points out of the final wild-card spot in the East. The Flyers like to say they aren’t as bad as the team that dropped 10 straight. But they haven’t shown many flashes of becoming a team that can reel off one or two more six-game winning streaks, either.
“If you’re losing, everything comes like a snowball,” said Voracek, who’s third in the NHL with 41 points. “You don’t feel comfortable to go to the third period with a two-goal lead. It’s really tough to do. And then you get scored on and you’re just like, ‘Here we go again.”’
Last season, the Flyers finished 11th in the Eastern Conference and became the first team in NHL history to miss the
playoffs despite a 10-game winning streak.
“The results would say streaky, but we have played good hockey over the whole stretch,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Now it’s about getting results and we got to look at ourselves and put our finger on a couple things we have to do better and that we are capable
of doing better.”
Good enough to sneak into the playoffs?
Hakstol, in his third season, was considered on the hot seat during the 10-game skid until general manager Ron Hextall came out with a vote of confidence. Hextall was the one who made the bold decision to hire Hakstol out of college, in part
because of his reputation for moulding young talent. Hakstol has tried to balance a youthful mix of Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Konecny and Nolan Patrick with a veteran core of Voracek, Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux.
Progress has been incremental. Veteran centre Valtteri Filppula said changes to Philadelphia’s neutral-zone system have helped. And the Flyers have been more careful with the puck.
“Make sure they have to come 200 feet to try to get in our zone, which in the long run, it’s a good way to play,” Filppula said.
Brian Elliott, the NHL’S No. 2 star of the week after posting a 1.31 goals-against average in three victories, has been solid in his first season with Philadelphia.
“That’s a real position of strength for our bench and for the guys that are out on the ice,” Hakstol said. “It’s not just the things that you see on a nightly basis on game nights. Brian does such a good job on a daily basis of approaching his day of work. I think that is something guys can feed off of.”
The Flyers are trying to make their way in the toughest division in the NHL, the Metropolitan. Only eight points separate the last-place Flyers, with 14 wins, from the first-place New Jersey Devils. The Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins have 17 wins and 37 points, six points behind the Devils.
The Flyers hope the six-game streak was simply the start of better days ahead.
“I think it’s confidence, swagger, whatever you want to attach to it, is a big part of this game,” Hakstol said. “You can ask anybody, that’s a big part. You can be playing really well, but when you’re going good you just have that as a group you have that mentality that you’re not going to take less than finding a way to win a game.”