If the Flyers plan to end this four-year playoff drought (and the players certainly don’t need to be reminded of that futility streak), they’re going to need bigger contributions from they’re bigger-name players.
You can talk about structure and defense all you want, the one glaring stat is a lack of consistent placing of the puck in the net.
Aside from Travis Konecny and rookie Matvei Michkov, the Flyers’ scoring weapons have been inconsistent at best.
Heading into Saturday afternoon’s game against Chicago, the Flyers’ higher-priced forwards (Owen Tippett, Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton, Morgan Frost and Tyson Foerster) had combined for a grand total of 17 goals in 20 games.
In the long run, that’s just not going to get it done.
Some might blame it on the style the Flyers have been employing in recent times, which in some respects puts a greater emphasis on keeping the puck out of one’s own net.
That, however, would be a cop-out, especially given a look at other teams around the league.
As of games played through Thursday night, the top four teams in the Metropolitan Division all had scored at least 63 goals and at the same time had allowed an average of only 50 goals on the negative side of the ledger.
The season’s only about one-fourth completed, so trying to analyze what numbers will be in place come March or April might be a bit futile.
Flyers coach John Tortorella continues to stress the need for better and quicker rushes through the neutral zone and into the attack areas. And staying together as a tighter unit.
Problem is, usual sharpshooters such as Tippett, Couturier, Farabee, Frost and even Foerster either aren’t shooting enough or firing too many misguided missiles.
“All we can do is try to help them,” Tortorella said after Friday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J. “Try to get them into spots. The only way coaches can help offense – I call it ‘manufacturing’ offense. Making sure if we don’t have a play, get it in and grind a little. Let’s work in the blue paint (the goal crease).
“I think they’ve improved that way. It’s not to criticize them when you don’t have offense. You have to help them. That’s all we’re going to try to do. Tyson is close. ‘Tip’ (Tippett) is in and out. We need help from the wings.”
Yes. Last year, the trio of Tippett, Frost and Farabee combined for a total of 70 goals.
“We need help from the wings,” Tortorella said. “That’s a big part of what helped us last year. Those two guys (Foerster, Tippett) especially. And ‘Beezer’ (Farabee) had a good first half (last year) then fell off. But we need that now. We’re going to stay positive and keep on banging away.”
Tortorella has tried different line combinations by the dozens. He’s even benched various players, including Frost (no shocker there), Foerster and even Michkov (that was a bit of a surprise).
After scoring goals in two previous game against San Jose and Colorado, Foerster started Wednesday night’s game against Carolina on the fourth line with defense-first guys Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway.
Maybe Foerster’s two-way game isn’t what it should be but it just seems a bit strange to reward someone that way for improved offensive work.
As for the Flyers’ power play, which has performed better than expected (21st in the NHL at 16.9 percent after three straight seasons of finishing last, including last year’s brutal 12.2 percent), there hasn’t been much from those aforementioned sharpshooters either.
One would think Konecny and Michkov figure prominently in the scoring in this department. Konecny leads the team with five PP goals and Michkov has three.
But after that, only Foerster (two) appears on the power-play scoring list among forwards.
Here’s what’s a puzzling in this aspect of the Flyers’ offense: Couturier usually does well around the net, particularly setting up other players when opponents have been short a man or two. That really hasn’t been the case this season.
As far as shots on net during man-advantage situations, Couturier (according to Corsi and Fenwick analytics) is having the lowest percentages of his career. . .by a lot.
When the Flyers went on a scoring rampage in a 7-5 win over Minnesota back on Oct. 26, it looked like the team was finding its collective shooting eye. Five different players scored and Couturier had a hat trick.
However, those were the only three goals Couturier has scored this season.
And since that game against the Wild, the Flyers have been blanked once, and held to two goals or less six times.
Since general manager Daniel Briere took over back in the 2023 offseason, the team has been taking a patient rebuild approach.
Yet at the same time, there may come a point where changes have to be made to raise the level of job competitiveness on this team.
Proven scorers have to start coming through to diminish that sort of speculation.
You can talk about structure and defense all you want, the one glaring stat is a lack of consistent placing of the puck in the net.
Aside from Travis Konecny and rookie Matvei Michkov, the Flyers’ scoring weapons have been inconsistent at best.
Heading into Saturday afternoon’s game against Chicago, the Flyers’ higher-priced forwards (Owen Tippett, Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton, Morgan Frost and Tyson Foerster) had combined for a grand total of 17 goals in 20 games.
In the long run, that’s just not going to get it done.
Some might blame it on the style the Flyers have been employing in recent times, which in some respects puts a greater emphasis on keeping the puck out of one’s own net.
That, however, would be a cop-out, especially given a look at other teams around the league.
As of games played through Thursday night, the top four teams in the Metropolitan Division all had scored at least 63 goals and at the same time had allowed an average of only 50 goals on the negative side of the ledger.
The season’s only about one-fourth completed, so trying to analyze what numbers will be in place come March or April might be a bit futile.
Flyers coach John Tortorella continues to stress the need for better and quicker rushes through the neutral zone and into the attack areas. And staying together as a tighter unit.
Problem is, usual sharpshooters such as Tippett, Couturier, Farabee, Frost and even Foerster either aren’t shooting enough or firing too many misguided missiles.
“All we can do is try to help them,” Tortorella said after Friday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J. “Try to get them into spots. The only way coaches can help offense – I call it ‘manufacturing’ offense. Making sure if we don’t have a play, get it in and grind a little. Let’s work in the blue paint (the goal crease).
“I think they’ve improved that way. It’s not to criticize them when you don’t have offense. You have to help them. That’s all we’re going to try to do. Tyson is close. ‘Tip’ (Tippett) is in and out. We need help from the wings.”
Yes. Last year, the trio of Tippett, Frost and Farabee combined for a total of 70 goals.
“We need help from the wings,” Tortorella said. “That’s a big part of what helped us last year. Those two guys (Foerster, Tippett) especially. And ‘Beezer’ (Farabee) had a good first half (last year) then fell off. But we need that now. We’re going to stay positive and keep on banging away.”
Tortorella has tried different line combinations by the dozens. He’s even benched various players, including Frost (no shocker there), Foerster and even Michkov (that was a bit of a surprise).
After scoring goals in two previous game against San Jose and Colorado, Foerster started Wednesday night’s game against Carolina on the fourth line with defense-first guys Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway.
Maybe Foerster’s two-way game isn’t what it should be but it just seems a bit strange to reward someone that way for improved offensive work.
As for the Flyers’ power play, which has performed better than expected (21st in the NHL at 16.9 percent after three straight seasons of finishing last, including last year’s brutal 12.2 percent), there hasn’t been much from those aforementioned sharpshooters either.
One would think Konecny and Michkov figure prominently in the scoring in this department. Konecny leads the team with five PP goals and Michkov has three.
But after that, only Foerster (two) appears on the power-play scoring list among forwards.
Here’s what’s a puzzling in this aspect of the Flyers’ offense: Couturier usually does well around the net, particularly setting up other players when opponents have been short a man or two. That really hasn’t been the case this season.
As far as shots on net during man-advantage situations, Couturier (according to Corsi and Fenwick analytics) is having the lowest percentages of his career. . .by a lot.
When the Flyers went on a scoring rampage in a 7-5 win over Minnesota back on Oct. 26, it looked like the team was finding its collective shooting eye. Five different players scored and Couturier had a hat trick.
However, those were the only three goals Couturier has scored this season.
And since that game against the Wild, the Flyers have been blanked once, and held to two goals or less six times.
Since general manager Daniel Briere took over back in the 2023 offseason, the team has been taking a patient rebuild approach.
Yet at the same time, there may come a point where changes have to be made to raise the level of job competitiveness on this team.
Proven scorers have to start coming through to diminish that sort of speculation.
