The Philadelphia Flyers had their five-game winning streak ended by the Colorado Avalanche, falling 7-4 at home. It was a solid effort and they had a pretty good game with all things considered, the result just wasn’t there. Sitting at a 25-15-6 record on the season, what were some takeaways from the defeat?
Flyers Were the Better Team
It’s hard to lose a game where you’re arguably the better team in every period, but that was the case for the Flyers in this one. They dominated in shot attempts and had the majority of scoring chances, but the ones they gave up proved to be much too costly. In the end, the Flyers can’t be upset with the loss as it was a phenomenal effort against one of the best teams in the NHL.
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Over the Flyers’ winning streak, they were arguably the much more dominant team in every single game. Even facing a dominant Colorado club, they kept that mojo and would likely win if the game were played over again. The takeaways should be positive despite the loss, and the Flyers can’t be hanging their heads too low. With consistent flurries of offense, they just couldn’t finish on some chances that they needed to have a shot at a win.
Hart’s Struggles Continue
Entering this game, goaltender Carter Hart was struggling in the month of January with a disappointing .899 save percentage (SV%) and 3.16 goals-against average (GAA). His play regressing a bit as the season moves along has been a theme of his during his career, but this contest was a chance for him to silence the noise and have a solid effort, hopefully helping the Flyers get a win. Unfortunately, it was one of his ugliest games of the season, although he wasn’t done any favors with the quality of chances he faced. Regardless of how poorly the players in front of him played, he had to have a better afternoon than he did — his .667 SV% and 7.50 GAA didn’t help his case.
Eventually, the Flyers made what was probably the right call in pulling Hart. They had an eerily similar game against the Anaheim Ducks early on in the season where the same thing happened, but netminder Sam Ersson served as the starter and he was left in for the whole game in an eventual 7-4 loss, just like the one here. He played much better than Hart in relief in this one, and it was good to get some of the pressure off of the starter’s shoulders.
This game shouldn’t hinder Hart’s confidence as it was just a poor all-around game from both him and the team in terms of how dangerous the chances were that they gave up. Similar to the Ducks game, the Flyers got down early and pressed to try and get back even — this is one of the most unideal situations to be in for a goaltender. He should be fine and be able to get his game back where it needs to be, but this was a hard one to watch for him.
Flyers Showed New Level of Perseverance
There were several instances during this game where the Flyers had themselves down big, seeming like they might as well wait for the clock to run out to end the game. Trailing 3-0, 4-1, and 5-2, they had themselves a very impressive run where they scored two goals to make the game interesting. They were down by three against one of the best teams in the NHL in the third period, but they still found a way to bounce back. Forward Tyson Foerster got himself in open space to snipe a puck past goaltender Alexandar Georgiev to make it 5-3, and from there, it was all Philadelphia.
Not too long after, Cam Atkinson gave the Flyers some life with a goal and they were flying afterward. Coming across several high-quality scoring opportunities, a power-play goal did them in and destroyed their comeback chances. Nevertheless, in a game that they trailed by three goals as early as 43 seconds into the second period, they found a way to give themselves a shot.
The Flyers have had themselves comebacks this season where they have made games out of nothing, but this was to another level. This simply wasn’t a contest for them to win for what seemed like the entire game, yet they made the Avalanche sweat it out. For this, the Orange and Black should be very proud of themselves.
Streak Ends, New One Can Begin
The good thing about how the Flyers played is that they will win matches frequently if they put that effort forth every night. As opposed to their previous winning streak, they are outplaying teams this go around. Unless that play starts to dip, they will win games often and continue to move up the standings. By no means were the Flyers perfect, but they played well enough to win.
With the Flyers now having six solid games in a row, this is what they are for the time being. Their offense generated throughout and they never said die, a philosophy that will get them very far. There should be confidence that they can get another winning streak going sometime soon.
The Flyers will have a chance to get the blueprint of a long winning streak started up again with an afternoon match with the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 21. They have been the exact opposite of the Avalanche, as they have struggled all season and are looking at the worst record in the Eastern Conference. They might be a step below the Avalanche, but that doesn’t mean the Flyers can just slip up — this will have to be a dominating effort once again.
