The Philadelphia Flyers collapsed against the Anaheim Ducks with a 7-4 loss at home despite having the better of the play through a decent portion of the game. In an ugly final score, what were some takeaways from the defeat?
Flyers Could Explore Alternative Backup Options
For the Flyers, there are very few benefits in letting a young goaltender in Sam Ersson sit behind Carter Hart on the bench for a large majority of the season. Starting in this one, he had another poor performance that could be partially excused by the poor defense in front of him. With 12 goals against him in just two games, he has not been great when called in to help out his starter. It might be time for the Flyers to explore using another backup.
It might be too early to judge Ersson, but he would probably benefit more from a starting spot in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms rather than playing a few games with the Flyers in the NHL. He hasn’t been good in a role where he has a lot of rest between starts, so a change could be made.
The Flyers have both Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom who are ready for a chance but haven’t been given one this season. The former hasn’t gotten an opportunity to play with the Flyers at all, while the latter has been good in the past, but was not so great last season.
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It seems as though there are more benefits to sending Ersson down to the AHL than there are to keeping him in the NHL. That isn’t even due to his underwhelming play thus far, but more around helping him in the future. Giving him a chance to play more games would help him, so limiting him might not be a working plan moving forward. This could be something that the Flyers explore very soon.
Despite Tortorella’s Actions, It’s Time for a Lineup Adjustment
Head coach John Tortorella hasn’t messed with the lineup offensively whatsoever since he did so after the team’s rough loss to the Ottawa Senators. With Morgan Frost being scratched for the team’s last six games, it might be time to let him back in. There should be openings after a 7-4 loss, and hopefully the coach is able to recognize that.
Tortorella simply has not given Frost a chance, even when players weren’t at their best. Owen Tippett, Cam Atkinson, and Noah Cates all struggled for some periods of time, while Tyson Foerster was poor for a few games following the benching of the forward. Some of them were given second chances, but one in particular was not.
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Instead of someone like Foerster being sat, he played with Travis Konecny on the second line, who only trails Alex DeBrincat for the league lead in goals after burying two in this game. Some players have been rewarded for poor performances, while Frost has been benched for it. Now following an embarrassing loss, there should be no excuses in keeping Frost out of the lineup, and potentially making some subsequent changes, as well.
Flyers Need to Face Adversity Better
The Flyers have really only faced adversity a few times in a game this season. This time, they folded. After going down 1-0 early, they were actually the much better team in the first period. Even when they were down by two, they still looked great. This quickly became an onslaught, with the Flyers giving up two quick goals and going down 4-0. Tortorella will have to address his team’s response to goals against, as it was a factor in their loss in this game.
The Flyers looked lost at times, even though they had good stretches. They were constantly fighting to try to come back from a big deficit as soon as they possibly could, which resulted in them being down even further.
The good news for the Flyers is that they are a young team and it is still very early in the season. They have time to learn to handle issues like how they respond to goals against, but it will have to be soon. If not, their effort in this game could become a habit.
Turnovers Will Occur With a Young Team
Since the Flyers are one of the younger teams in the league, they will be prone to mistakes. In this game, they were haunted by turnovers, and that is something I said would be the ultimate decider in the game if the Flyers struggled with them. They did, but that isn’t necessarily a big issue that has to be addressed right away. This occurs with all teams, and especially with one in a position like Philadelphia.
There is some time to learn from a poor defensive effort for the Flyers. They are rebuilding and will make mistakes along the way. It certainly wasn’t a great sight to see them leave their goaltender out to dry, but that is something that will get better as time passes in the long term. This is a process for the Flyers, and they have done well so far defensively. There will be stinkers, and this game was certainly that. The overall outlook should remain positive, though.
The Flyers won’t have it easy trying to bounce back from this game, but will be at home to make facing the Carolina Hurricanes a bit less daunting of a task. This will be a big test for them, and potentially a statement game for the team.