Flyers Lose to Lightning with Lack of Execution, Passing to Remain Winless

The Flyers lost their fourth game of the game to start of the season, the first time that they’ve started with four losses since the 2014-15 season. Tampa Bay out-hustled and out-executed the Flyers 4-1, keeping them the only winless team in the Metro Division.

The Lightning got the scoring started when Brayden Point tipped in a shot by John Carlson in the first period. In the second period, the Lightning didn’t wait around when Pontus Holmberg wristed a shot past Daniel Vladar to take a 2-0 lead before fans even settled into their seats.

Porter Martone answered back with his first goal of the year, not his prettiest, but the Flyers need greasy goals like that right now. The Lightning took a 3-1 lead on a wrap-around goal by Ilya Mikheyev, and they put it away officially with an empty-netter by Brandon Hagel as time expired, giving Tampa Bay a 4-1 victory.

Flyers Shorthanded Defense Can’t Keep Up

The Flyers defense has been porous so far, and it appears that they haven’t gelled yet. With the veteran leadership of Rasmus Ristolainen not on the ice for this game, the Flyers’ defense held up for the majority of the game, but they just couldn’t keep up with the relentless Lightning attack. Tampa’s offense gained momentum at the end of every period, and in the second period they kept that momentum, scoring in the first 20 seconds, making the Flyers have to work harder.

The defense wasted another solid outing from the goalie, with Vladar facing 35 shots and stopping 32 of them. The goaltending for the Flyers has been the only solid aspect of the season. Even in the blowout in the home opener, the defense held Vladar out to dry, and in this game they did the same. He played well in this game and deserved a better fate than he got in this one. The defense is not competing, and this is something that head coach Rick Tocchet needs to address.

The Flyers Offense Continues to No-Shown

The Flyers are making terrible history so far; they are the second-worst in history in shot differential in the first four games, posting a paltry -82. They have not shot the puck well at all, and it’s a bit alarming. The coaching staff needs to really look hard at the tape after this game, and the pattern will emerge from this and other games. The biggest issue in this game is the lack of execution in making passes.

The Flyers offense is flat-out getting outplayed by every opponent in their offensive zone, and it has been the same tune for every loss so far this season. The team appears to be disjointed in the forecheck, getting outhustled on the boards, and the passing looks like it’s taken a step backwards this season. That was a strength of this squad last season, and now they are missing sticks when trying to move the puck around. That is a reason they can’t keep the puck in the offensive zone long enough to get anything started. The power play is also 0-11 to start the season. The shot differential has to be course-corrected as soon as possible. It may be time to start thinking about shaking up the lineup a bit.

Martone Gets Under the Lightning’s Skin

Martone was in on every play in the game, and the Lightning seemed to have him in their crosshairs all game. In addition to scoring the Flyers’ first goal, he also drew two of the three Flyers penalties, giving them the man advantage. The Lightning seemed to make it a concerted effort to play physically against Martone in the game, even before the goal was scored.

What Tampa doesn’t know is that it is the kind of play that fires up Martone. In the third, Brendan Hagle was skating back up ice after a transition; Martone was tied up, and Hagle threw an elbow in the face of Martone, which caused the spotter to pull him into the dressing room for concussion protocol. While he was out, on the shift he would have been rotating into, the third goal was scored.

In the second intermission on the television broadcast, he recognized the need for him to give more than he had.

“I definitely knew that I needed to give more to come help this team.” Martone said

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