PHILADELPHIA – Here’s the thing: Even if the Flyers did somehow manage to squeak into the playoffs, what would be the point?
They demonstrated in Monday night’s game against the last-place New York Rangers they still have a lot of work to do.
Maybe four wins in their previous five games had raised some hope.
But after an embarrassing 6-2 loss to the last-place New York Rangers on Xfinity Mobile Arena home ice, why should any fans get their hopes up?
Philadelphia remains seven points out of a playoff spot with 19 games to play.
The six goals (in just two periods of play) were the most allowed by goaltender Dan Vladar this season.
Both defenseman Nick Seeler and coach Rick Tocchet said the Flyers might have been suffering from a “lack of focus” in this one.
“I don’t think it was an energy thing,” Seeler said. “The majority of the guys are playing the right way at this time of year. It takes everyone. Whether it’s blocking shots, playing well in the ‘D-zone.’ And ‘Vlady’ (Vladar) deserved better. Everyone’s got to get on the same page.”
This was the Flyers’ 63rd game and the 42nd time they’ve been scored upon first.
Chasing games can be tiring.
“It’s hard when you’re down,” Seeler said. “You can only be resilient for so long. We need to play the right way right from the jump.”
Tocchet went along with Seeler’s assessment.
“We gave up six goals and four or five of them were in front of our net,” he said. “So that’s the game. If you have a lack of focus in the D-zone, that’s what happens. I just didn’t like the D-zone converage.”
Have the Flyers taken the Rangers too lightly this season? They’re just 1-2-1 against the Blueshirts and have surrendered a dozen goals in those two regulation-time losses.
“I hope not,” Tocchet said. “I don’t think we have the right. That’s a good question. I thought some guys (on the Flyers) looked nervous on the power play. You can’t be nervous. You have to trust your instincts. You’re going to have games like these when you get kicked in the teeth. That’s where passion and all that stuff is going to be tested.”
In one of their ugliest periods of the season, the Flyers weren’t even in competitive mode in the first as they fell behind by a 3-0 score.
It was helter-skelter hockey from the get-go.
The Rangers needed only 1:04 to score. No one covered Noah Laba in front, so he was able to easily convert a pass from Matthew Robertson.
New York made it 2-0 at 13:07. Mika Zibanejad, one of the few Rangers having an above-average season, finished off a setup from Alex Lafreniere.
Then the two switched roles on a power play. Lafreniere stationed himself right in the crease with little defensive resistance and finished off a Zibanejad feed with 37 seconds left in the period.
Things didn’t get much better in the second.
After Matvei Michkov’s power-play goal at 3:54, the Rangers went back to work.
Two Ranger power-play goals followed as the Flyers played defense like the Keystone Cops.
Gabe Perreault’s shot shot at 6:40 made it 4-1, then Zibanejad went back to work, connecting from his favorite spot in the low end of the left circle at 18:40. Twenty seconds later, Vladislav Gavrikov’s goal completed the onslaught.
That was all for Vladar. He was replaced by Sam Ersson at the start of the third period.
The Flyers’ penalty kill, normally a strength, gave up a season high-tying three goals. That didn’t help matters.
“It needs to be better,” Seeler agreed. “It’s been strong here for a bit. That’s a big part of the game. Special teams usually win the game. That had to be better tonight.”
Sean Couturier was disappointed with the outcome and wasn’t making any excuses.
“We didn’t help him (Vladar) at all. . .awful,” Couturier said. “I don’t care who you are playing, bad effort.
“At this time of year, everyone’s battling the same kind of schedule. It’s on each individual to be ready, physically and mentally. I think mentally we weren’t sharp.”
>Konecny returns
Travis Konecny returned to action after missing multiple games. Garnet Hathaway and Emil Andrae were scratched.
>Plan for Bump
It doesn’t sound like there’s a set-in-stone plan for rookie Alex Bump, who played in just his second NHL game on Monday night.
Konecny was back in the lineup so Tocchet chose to sit Hathaway to make room in the lineup for Bump, who played on a line with Konecny and Christian Dvorak.
The Flyers could either keep Bump around or send him back to Lehigh Valley for a little more experience at the AHL level.
“It he’s playing that well, how do you send him down?” Tocchet said after the morning skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J. “Sometimes for young players there’s a wall and you have to let them play through that wall, have to play tired. Obviously he’s in tonight, he played really well (in the first game).”
>Short shots
The Flyers have Tuesday off, then get set for a visit from the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night. . .Vladar is just the fourth Flyers goaltender in the past 20 years to register 20 wins in his first year with the team. The others: Ilya Bryzgalov (33 in 2011-12), Sergei Bobrovsky (28 in 2010-11) and Brian Elliott (23 in 2017-18). . .Trevor Zegras leads the NHL in shootout goals with six. On Monday night, he was back at center with Owen Tippett and Carl Grundstrom on the wings. . .Couturier’s goal with 4:32 to play was his first since Dec. 7 with a goaltender in the net. He had scored an empty-net goal in a recent game against Boston.
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