A lot has been said and written about what went wrong with the first half of the last-place Flyers’ season.
Whether it was unsteady goaltending, sub-par special teams or a failure to find compatible lines, this year’s version of the Flyers has been disappointing to say the least.
Flyers TV analyst Brian Boucher, a former goaltender with the team, watches practically every game and has some thoughts on all the aforementioned issues and more as reasons for the team’s lack of success.
Things have to change in the second half of the season if the Flyers want to stop their no-playoffs streak at four.
Here’s how he sees it:
>Goaltending must improve
The Flyers haven’t been able to find consistency in hockey’s most important position because of injuries and sporadic play.
Every time Samuel Ersson starts to show promise, he seems to get hurt. Ivan Fedotov looks like Bernie Parent one night and a high school goalie the next. Aleksei Kolosov also has had a bit of a hit-and-miss season.
In football, they say if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. The same might be said for three goalies in hockey.
“If you don’t have goaltending, you don’t have any chance,” Boucher said in a telephone interview. “That’s where it starts. For the Flyers, injuries are certainly a story with Sam.
“I think the hope that he was going to be healthy left the question: Is he a true No. 1, can he be a No. 1? I don’t know if we have the answer yet because of the injuries, it’s been a stop-start situation, so it’s been uneven. That’s the question mark.
“So I think it’s put the other two guys in difficult positions. Kolosov coming up and Fedotov having to go to No. 3.”
The Flyers hope Ersson can still find his way. After Carter Hart’s sudden departure last year, the Flyers still look to be counting on Ersson to be the key guy.
“I think it’s been a far from perfect situation with the injuries,” Boucher said. “It’s put the goalies in a tough spot. And because of that, I don’t think the goaltending is where it needs to be.
“It’s got to get better if they are going to have any chance. The crazy thing is, as frustrating as it’s been, the Flyers still have an opportunity (to make the playoffs) if they get this thing figured out. But the goaltending has to improve.”
>Power play needs wake-up call
The Flyers had finished last in the NHL in this important facet of the game for the past three seasons but, as general manager Daniel Briere suggested in preseason, the team was hoping for something in the No. 22 range this year.
The extra-man crew got off to a fine start, getting as high as 14th. But since then, it’s been coming down and now it’s fallen to 29th at 14.9 percent.
“The power play has to be a difference-maker,” Boucher said. “It started out well, it dried up, it seems like they’re trying to figure out personnel and how they can be productive.”
Boucher believes a lot hinges on defenseman Jamie Drysdale, perhaps the Flyers’ most agile defenseman since Shayne Gostisbehere.
“The one guy I think about is Drysdale,” Boucher said. “And the importance of him getting comfortable quarterbacking the power play. That’s why they got him. It’s what they envisioned him being. I think the injury where he was out for 12, 13 games. . .it’s taken him time to get back from that.”
The Flyers have played 42 games through Thursday and only have 17 power-play goals to show for it.
“If Drysdale can stay healthy, he can get more reps on the power play,” Boucher said. “He can find that confidence to be the quarterback, I think it will be a difference-maker.”
>Better line stability
It seems like coach John Tortorella is still looking for some units that mesh. At the moment, only the line of Noah Cates-Bobby Brink-Tyson Foerster seems to be clicking on a steady basis.
“I don’t think it’s any secret the Flyers lack a true No. 1 center,” Boucher said. “You could say they probably lack a true No. 2 center. The Cates line has been terrific in recent weeks. Because those three work, they’re in the offensive zone, they’re on their toes and they stay connected.”
Too bad the other lines don’t have the same synergy.
“Aside from the Cates line, there are a lot of question marks,” Boucher said. “Who plays with who, where the chemistry is at. Do they have the same competitiveness that you see on the Cates line?”
Tortorella has just about given up on the Morgan Frost-Matvei Michkov pairing. It just isn’t producing.
“It just seems Frost could be that guy,” Boucher said. “But there just hasn’t been that ‘ah ha’ moment yet, like the way we’ve seen with Cates’ line.
“I don’t know what the answer to this is. It’s tough. You’re trying to be patient, trying to see what works and yet it hasn’t.”
The Flyers are in a rebuild and insist playoffs are not a high priority. But try telling that to their paying customers who want to see winning hockey.
“I think they have to bring wins and excitement,” Boucher said, mindful of that overachieving 2010 team he was on that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final from the No. 8 seed.
“It’s the team’s responsibility to make sure they’re bringing it.
“Let’s face it, in this town, there’s a lot of competition for entertainment. The Eagles are very good, the Phillies are always competitive. If you’re not bringing it, how can you expect the fans to bring it? You have to give them a reason to get fired up.”
