Flyers Came Into ‘High-Energy’ Blue Jackets Game Without Preparation

With the opportunity to win four straight games and vault into the playoff push, the Philadelphia Flyers faltered in regulation, 3-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who now have a comfortable seven-point lead over the Flyers in the Metropolitan Division with 11 games remaining.

The energy was there, with a sellout crowd of 19,304 and a win streak of three games; this was a perfect chance to light up the building and put hockey back in Philadelphia’s forefront. But the lack of preparation and the nervousness took over where it mattered most. And although the Flyers were able to receive a vintage Sean Couturier on Tuesday night, who scored a goal and put his body on the line, the confidence from the Jackets outweighed the Flyers’ energy.

Just over 13 minutes into the opening frame, the Flyers had the chance to take the lead off of a penalty shot from Noah Cates, which was not given enough lift to get over the right pad of the Jackets’ young goaltender, Jet Greaves. The miss by Cates shows the inexperience and the lack of preparation for him, as Cates was given another opportunity to score in the second period on the power play in the slot, but without any elevation on the puck, Greaves was able to block away the shot again.

Even though Cates and a lot of these other guys, such as Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras, Nikita Grebenkin, and Denver Barkey, are still young without experience in high-pressure games, they still need to find a way to get rid of the nerves and show confidence. A lot of young players, and even rookies, are showing speed and skill no matter what part of the season it is. Whether it’s a game in mid-November or a game like Tuesday night, guys of any age need to know how to prepare properly in order to be confident throughout the night.

The Flyers could have been fighting from down one goal late instead of down two, as a shot from Mason Marchment found the top left seam when Flyers’ goaltender Daniel Vladar was screened by his own man, Cam York, on a careless play skating by the net and away from the puck. Yes, it was a great shot, but the screen from York opened up the triangle above Vladar’s right shoulder, leading to the two-goal lead.

Another instance where the Blue Jackets showed their readiness over the Flyers was right at the start of the second period, where the Jackets would not only tie the game just under 45 seconds in, but take the lead two minutes later. Bad passes and reads in both the offensive and neutral zone lead to both goals for the Blue Jackets. Players from Columbus, such as defenseman Zach Werenski and Mathieu Olivier, took advantage of how slow the Flyers came out for the period, which resulted in them scoring the two goals for the Blue Jackets in the period.

The Flyers getting pounced on by a team just as young and who had been rebuilding as long as the Flyers should not happen, but the Blue Jackets came out more prepared, wanting it more than the Flyers.

The struggles of not being prepared at home for a game like this don’t just fall on the players individually, but rather on head coach Rick Tocchet, who failed to rally his squad and get everyone right and prepared when they needed to be most. In more than one postgame presser, Tocchet credits bad losses to the guys looking nervous and cagey, but he never seems to take matters into his own hands. As the coach, he’s not only responsible for laying down the material for the players to learn, but he is also responsible for getting each and every player on the same page with what the game plan needs to be. Tocchet, as the head coach, should also be making the adjustments mid-game when the plays don’t go as planned, just like when the Blue Jackets took the lead early on.

If you watch a coach like Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Paul Maurice of the Florida Panthers, or even a first-year head coach like Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins, you will see that they are always looking for that next step. They each take responsibility for a mistake their player makes, and they know how to fix it through past preparation plans and a lot of communication. Not that Tocchet does not know how to do any of that, but Philadelphia never sees enough of it on the bench and at practices.

Even though there have been a lot of moments under some form of pressure that the Flyers have been able to get over, the fact that the other teams they’re facing are coming with more energy and preparation than the Flyers is concerning, and has been a constant theme for the last few seasons. The Flyers don’t need a whole new rebuild, but they need a new approach that can only come from the hands of the head coach and be relayed down to the players. Tocchet’s always looking for the leader of his idea of culture, when it’s been him this entire time.

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