Seventeen games into the season, the Flyers are 4-9-4 with 12 points and sitting last in the Metropolitan Division. So, if you’re wondering why watching this team sometimes feels like waiting for your number at PennDOT, there you go. They opened the season 0-6-3, then went 4-3-1 over their next eight. That’s improvement, sure. But digging yourself halfway out of a hole doesn’t mean you’re suddenly standing on the sidewalk.
The latest reminder was Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to Minnesota. Another competitive game, another night without two points. Eleven of their first 17 games were decided by two goals or fewer. That tells me they aren’t getting blown off the ice every night. It also tells me we’ve reached the point where “they hung around” needs to stop being the sales pitch. This is professional hockey. You don’t get a complimentary playoff spot for making the other team sweat a little.
Their next chance comes Thursday, November 5, against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, with puck drop at 7 p.m. Another division opponent, another opportunity to start putting something together. Eventually, these opportunities need to become wins.
The offense is where this conversation gets ugly. Philadelphia is averaging just 2.18 goals and 23.4 shots per game. The available league rankings put that scoring rate dead last and the shot production 30th. That’s a hell of a combination if your goal is to make every opposing goalie feel good about himself. My biggest issue is that this isn’t simply a team firing away and getting robbed. They need to generate more offense before we can complain about how unlucky they are. More sustained pressure, more traffic, more second chances. Give the goalie something to do besides adjusting his equipment.
Matvei Michkov has 10 goals and 13 points through 17 games, while Trevor Zegras leads the team with 14 points, including 10 assists. Porter Martone has eight points. There are pieces here worth getting excited about. But Michkov has scored more than a quarter of the team’s 37 goals. Asking him to keep dragging the scoring along is a lousy long-term plan. Sean Couturier has one goal in 17 games, and Tyson Foerster has three in 16. Whatever their other responsibilities are, this team needs more scoring help. Everybody can’t stand around waiting for No. 39 to pull another rabbit out of his helmet.
The power play isn’t providing enough relief, either. It has converted nine of 54 opportunities, a 16.7 percent success rate, listed 26th in the league. When scoring at even strength is this difficult, those chances become even more valuable. My prescription is pretty simple: move the puck with a purpose, force the penalty killers to move, and get somebody in front of the net. Passing can create a shooting lane. Passing until everybody in the building qualifies for retirement accomplishes considerably less.
Defensively, the Flyers are allowing roughly 29.3 shots per game, with the available rankings placing them 26th in that category. My concern goes beyond blaming whichever defenseman happens to be closest when a goal goes in. Getting out of the defensive zone takes five guys. The forwards have to provide usable outlets, the defense has to make the first pass, and somebody has to keep possession once they cross the blue line. If the puck keeps coming right back, you’re spending your entire night defending and wondering why nobody has any energy left to attack.
And yes, the goalies belong in this conversation. Dan Vladar is 3-4-2 with a 3.21 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage. Joseph Woll is 1-5-2 with a 3.13 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage. Those numbers need to improve. The team in front of them needs to help, but we also need saves that stop a bad stretch from becoming another loss. Both things can be true. You can’t expect shutouts every night when you barely score, and you can’t keep needing four goals to feel comfortable.
There are a couple of respectable numbers hiding in the mess. The penalty kill is operating at 81%, listed 13th, and the Flyers are winning 50.6 percent of their faceoffs. Fine. Keep those things working. But winning a draw only helps so much if you hand the puck back, and killing a penalty doesn’t fix an offense that struggles to reach three goals. These are useful parts of a winning team. Right now, the rest of the assembly is scattered across the garage floor.
So how do they start turning it around against the Rangers? My priorities are cleaner exits, more offensive-zone possession, and getting their scoring threats enough opportunities to influence the game. I want traffic in front, someone hunting rebounds, and fewer possessions that end with one shot and everybody skating back. On the other end, protect the middle and give the goalie a chance to see the puck. None of that guarantees a win. It does give them a better chance than hoping Michkov scores twice and the goalie performs an exorcism.
The Flyers have shown some life since that miserable start. Now they need to turn improvement into something that actually moves them up the standings. I’m not demanding a Stanley Cup parade by Thanksgiving. I’m asking for an offense that makes the opposing goalie work, a team that spends less time trapped in its own end, and two points often enough that checking the standings doesn’t feel like opening an overdue bill.
