The last time the Philadelphia Flyers gave up nine goals on home ice to a team like the Winnipeg Jets happened 18 years ago when, well, the Flyers gave up nine goals to the (original) Winnipeg Jets.
I remember that game all too well, because I turned down a ticket to see it in order to watch Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. I spent the night flipping between Prism and the World Series. Not long after the Flyers completed their wild
9-6 loss, the Toronto Blue Jays' Joe Carter's 9th inning home run off the Phillies' Mitch Williams ended the World Series. In that game, the Flyers erased an early 3-0 deficit to lead 4-3 and 5-4. The game entered the third period tied before Teemu Selanne and Keith Tkachuk took it over.
The last time the Flyers gave up 9 goals to any team happened five years ahead, when the Buffalo Sabres pinned a 9-1 drubbing on Philly at HSBC Arena. The lopsided game, which believe it or not was a scoreless tie after the first period, hastened the firing of Ken Hitchcock and the resignation of Bob Clarke.
Last night's 9-8 loss to the former Atlanta Thrashers -- who have now won eight of the last nine meeting with the Flyers -- was one that will be remembered for years primarily as the night when the Flyers scored five unanswered goals to turn a 6-2 defecit into a brief 7-6 lead and when Ilya Bryzgalov severely castigated himself afterward.
I have a feeling that, years from now, people will forget that Sergei Bobrovsky was the starter, and allowed the first four goals of the game (mostly on a series of crazy deflections). People will incorrectly say that Bryzgalov allowed all 9 goals. Sadly, if he had played the entire game, he may well have given up double-digit goals.
Make no mistake, however. While two or three of the Winnipeg goals were ones that seemed stoppable -- especially the 8th Jets goal (Mark Stewart), which went through the five-hole -- the vast majority came about because the Flyers' team defense was somehow even worse than it was in the second and third periods of Wednesday's game in Montreal.
In the absence of Chris Pronger, the Flyers need their top four defensemen -- Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and Andrej Meszaros -- to collectively elevate their games while the team attempts to get by with a lineup that has two among Andreas Lilja, Matt Walker and rooke Erik Gustafsson starting. Timonen responded. The others really did not, especially Meszaros (who has played mediocre hockey in 7 of the 10 games so far).
The forwards also have a role in this. You could weave a zamboni in and out of the gap between the forwards and defense, which is forcing the defense to back into the zone as opponents build speed through the neutral zone. There aren't enough forwards helping out on the backcheck.
The Flyers have tried far too many stretch passes in the early going of the season. A few have worked (such as Jaromir Jagr's breakaways in the Toronto game), but there are too many low-percentage plays that are not completed or, worse, result in turnovers.
As for the goaltending, well, Bryzgalov's harsh self-assessment was accurate. He is compounding the mistakes in front of him -- and contributing to even more happening. Right now, you hold your breath every time the puck goes over the Flyers blueline.
Want some positives from last night?
I'll start with the revised lineup used last night after Brayden Schenn went on LTIR with a broken foot. The awfully mismatched combo that had Matt Read moved from wing to center James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek was mercifully disbanded. JVR moved to Danny Briere's line with Wayne Simmonds (who is now pressing a bit offensively but remains effective in winning puck battles and causing turnovers). Briere and JVR seemed to click last night.
Another positive most certainly was the team's competitiveness last night. Even when the score got to 6-3, I felt Philly had a chance to come back.
Part of that has to do with just how horrific the Jets are defensively -- even worse than Philly last night, if you can believe that. The Flyers were able to forecheck at will and there was all sorts of operating room through the neutral zone and offensive zone. Ondrej Pavelec actually played fairly well in goal for Winnipeg, although his stat line of 7 goals allowed on 43 shots over 51:23 played look almost as bad as everyone else's. When he had a chance to make saves, he did.
OK, so where do the Flyers go from here? They have fallen to 5-4-1 after 10 games, and will play again (vs Carolina at home) tomorrow night for the fourth time in six nights. They will not skate in Voorhees today but will do video review and have a team meeting.
When a team goes into a skid like the Flyers have, the one thing they need more than anything else is some unity and stability. Peter Laviolette tried pushing the "wakeup call" button with a bag skate and massive line changes after the loss against Washington, and that didn't work. Now, they need to rebuild some confidence, focusing on the things they can build from -- the first period against Montreal, the determination they showed last night -- and get back on the horse.
The Flyers may not be as good as they looked the first week of the regular season. But they are also not as bad as they've looked the last couple weeks. Going through early season adversity is NOT always a bad thing, either. There are a lot of new -- and quite a few young -- forwards on the team. Part of learning how to win as a team is knowing that you can get through adversity together. You learn more at those times than when the sailing is smooth.
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