Another night, another excruciating loss.
The Flyers keep finding ways to drop games and Thursday night’s in Detroit was particularly frustrating.
They gave up a winning goal by Andrew Copp with 4:38 to play and were defeated, 2-1, at Little Caesars Arena. The Flyers have now have extended their season-opening franchise-record winless streak to nine games (0-6-3)
Give a lot of the credit to Flyers goaltender Joseph Woll for keeping the Flyers in this one. The Flyers were once again outshot by a 26-18 margin in the game but Woll stood tall against some Grade-A scoring chances.
The game ended with the Flyers short a man due to a penalty. The Flyers had one great chance in the last few seconds but Oliver Bonk’s point-blank shot sailed wide.
“We’re having a tough time where there are moments in the game and you’ve got to come through somehow,” coach Rick Tocchet said after the game. “Whether it’s scoring a goal or making a defensive stop. We’re getting great goaltending. For example, like that (last) goal, three or four mistakes.
“We gotta see some big moments here and we’re not getting them.”
Once again the Flyers were outshot (26-18) and the negative shot differential continues to grow.
“I thought the first period we had a lot of shot attempts,” the coach said. “We were just missing the net. A lot of shots blocked. We have to start getting pucks on net.”
Tocchet is calling for all hands on deck.
“You can’t just have four or five people, on our team you need everyone to contribute,” he said. “Not just four or five guys.
The Flyers scored just their third first-period goal of the season to take a 1-0 lead. That was only the second time the Flyers have scored the first goal of the game.
Matvei Michkov, who has been playing well down low this season, was in the right place at the right time when Porter Martone pushed the puck toward the net. Michkov cleaned up with a shot past goaltender Daniil Tarasov at 17:32. It was Michkov’s third goal, making him the leader on a team struggling for offense.
Detroit bounced back at 4:31 of the second period. Following an Owen Tippett turnover, Anton Johansson scored his first NHL goal off a Dylan Larkin assist for a 1-1 tie.
>Short-term pest?
With Travis Konecny sidelined by a lower-body injury and recently put on IR, coach Rick Tocchet was asked before the game if Trevor Zegras might be able to step into that role for the time being.
“Sometimes you want to change momentum,” Tocchet pointed out. “I thought Trevor did a job the other night (vs. Seattle). And we fed off it, starting playing a little better. It’s a good thing. You just don’t want to take penalties. That’s the one issue, we’ve had some ill-timed penalties.”
>Goalies can only do so much
From a defensive standpoint, the Flyers have been under siege since the first game of the season, with their negative shot differential reaching epic levels.
Teams are setting up good screens in front of Flyers goalies Dan Vladar and Woll.
“We’re getting good goaltending,” Tocchet said. “But they can’t save everything. There have been at least a half-dozen goals where they’ve had that screen and double-screened the goalie.”
>Bunting useful on power play
Tocchet has been experimenting with his power play and one of the changes has been the addition of Michael Bunting, recently signed by the Flyers.
“I think in the past, down low, around the net, he’s a bit of an agitator,” Tocchet said. “He’ll get in front of the goalie. We’ve got to get more opportunities when he’s in front of the net, taking (away) the goalie’s eyes.”
>Short shots
Garrett Wilson, Helge Grans and Cam York were scratched. , . .Flyers play host to Ottawa on Saturday night. . .In Tuesday night’s game against the Kraken, defenseman Travis Sanheim logged 31 minutes, four seconds of ice time. That’s the most of any Flyer this season and the third-most of his career. He’s led the team in average time on ice each of the past four seasons. . .Sanheim’s 66 career goals are one short of tying Tom Bladon for third on the Flyers’ alltime defenseman scoring list.
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