The Philadelphia Flyers had their four-game winning streak snapped on Feb. 15 with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Falling to a 29-19-7 record, the Flyers are still in a good spot but lost a bit of a frustrating one. They played well early but goals in quick succession by Auston Matthews did them in. What were some takeaways from the loss?
Flyers Still Cannot Shut Down Superstars
It was a theme before this game and something the Flyers had to be aware of, yet the message didn’t seem to click. Against the superstar scorers in the NHL, which can be narrowed down to Matthews, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, and Jack Hughes, the Flyers had a 3-4-1 record entering this contest. When the best of the best offensive abilities are brought to the table, the Flyers struggle.
What the Flyers could not let happen was allow Matthews to get going, but he was better against them than any player here, perhaps combined. He notched a natural hat trick against them in the second period, turning a one-goal lead into a two-goal deficit for the Orange and Black. The Flyers are still struggling to limit these superstars, and it has a lot to do with the style in which they play. The Flyers had one player they had to stop and they couldn’t. It’s a legitimate problem now.
The issue with the Flyers is that they play essentially everyone the same. Matthews destroyed them mercilessly, and that’s a major problem as they didn’t make his job all that hard after the first period. It might seem a little dramatic to be this negative with a team that was supposed to be last sitting in third place in their division, but it’s a genuine problem and there are new expectations now. Despite having plenty of time to learn from their mistakes, the Flyers still haven’t.
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The Flyers lost three straight games against the trio of MacKinnon, Kucherov, and Pastrnak right before the All-Star Break, but it seems as though the memo didn’t set in. Players like Matthews simply have to be played tighter, otherwise those masterful performances will occur. When he is given space, he will score every time. He’s not just a regular goal-scorer, he is a generational one.
So, the Flyers can make up for this against Hughes and the New Jersey Devils in their Stadium Series match on Feb. 17. Based on history, that should be another loss and their superstar will dominate. That will be another chance for the Flyers to play a superstar well and give them extra attention. Those types of games have seemingly been automatic losses when they’ve been on the schedule recently, so that will be a big test. The outdoor atmosphere might change things, but it’s a chance for the Flyers to learn. If they don’t, it will be serious trouble.
This is only a precaution, as the Flyers have many games against the superstars listed before remaining on the schedule, including the Maple Leafs and Devils themselves, the Boston Bruins, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. But the chances of this continuing are likely pretty high. Their weakness is superstars, and they haven’t been able to adapt to their play.
Now, the Flyers got a point, so all isn’t bad, right? Well, not quite. You don’t get rewarded for losing in overtime in the playoffs. If the Flyers are serious about trying to make the postseason and try to put together a potential run, they won’t go far if this is what they bring. Teams with stars will continue to dominate them if nothing changes.
Flyers’ Depth Played Well
Getting away from all the negativity, the Flyers’ depth was relatively good in this one. A tally from Garnet Hathaway is what got Philadelphia back in the game. But really, he was great for its entirety. The bottom six had a strong game from start to finish, finally getting a little bit of pressure offensively to give the team a bit of a spark.
It was a great game from the moment the puck dropped for the depth offense, so it was only fitting that someone like Hathaway scored. This was one of his more noticeable contests, and that could be applied to a player like Noah Cates, too. It’s always good to see the guys who don’t have the same level of offensive upside get on the board, as it takes some pressure off of the stars. The Flyers just weren’t able to pull this one out for them.
Flyers Did Well to Come Back
While the Flyers ended up losing in overtime anyway, they did a good job coming back in a contest that they had no business doing so in. They were crushed so badly in the second period that it seemed as though all their momentum had vanished, and that was the case for a while. Hathaway and later Travis Konecny scored with less than six minutes remaining in the third period, giving them a comeback that kind of came out of nowhere. Nonetheless, a comeback is a comeback.
The comeback effort was bittersweet as a loss resulted, but it was good to not see them give up. A decent game was flipped on its head with Matthews’ single-handed effort, but that didn’t really phase the Flyers. That stint where he was scoring was an awful one and they looked sloppy, but they did a good job to rebound from that and stop the bleeding. Doing that gave them the chance to make even a point a reality, much less two.
As mentioned before, the Flyers have the Devils next on their schedule in the game they’ve been looking forward to for a while. New Jersey is seven points behind them, so it’ll be a big test for both sides. The Orange and Black will really want to win this one.