Flyers Remain Winless in First Seven Games After 4-1 Loss to Hurricanes

The Flyers are officially in the record books, but for the wrong reason: they lost Sunday night 4-1, and for the first time in franchise history, the Flyers are winless in their first seven games, falling to 0-5-2.

In a weekend back-to-back that ended with the Stanley Cup champions coming to Philly, this was a big test for the Flyers, who lost big in Boston. The Carolina Hurricanes are a team that takes advantage of every mistake, and with the mistakes being the only consistent thing about the Flyers so far this season, the Flyers had their work cut out for them.

Carolina got the scoring started with Andrei Svechnikov, who snapped a shot past Joseph Woll for his fourth goal of the season. Shayne Gostisbehere took a masterful centering pass from Sebastian Aho for the second goal of the game.

The Flyers got one back, along with a little momentum when Christian Dvorak redirected Nick Seeler‘s slap shot to make the game 2-1.

Aho remains a thorn in the Flyers’ side, scoring to pull momentum back from the Flyers and making the game 3-1. Mark Jankowski scored to ice the game in the third to make it 4-1, which is where the game ended.

Morale Victories Don’t Score Points

The Flyers played well against the Hurricanes until they scored their third goal. They were hanging in the game and playing tough on and off the puck until this point, which was where the Flyers started to trade solid shifts for sloppy play and bad passing. Against a team like Carolina, who absolutely feasts on mistakes, this was a recipe for disaster.

One of the hallmarks of this team so far this season is that they tend to fall apart when they face adversity. When playing against Aho, you can’t give him an inch on the ice because he is an absolute menace to the Flyers and causes chaos on the ice, trying to force errors on the ice, which he did in this game. The Flyers are making too many unforced errors, and good shifts can’t be all that the team gets; sustaining pressure and stacking good shifts will be the only way to get the victories that actually count.

Pressure Missing Yet Again

We can only excuse this play by qualifying that it was against the reigning champions so much. This Flyers team needed a solid effort with more pressure, which, for the seventh time this season in seven games, was missing. Early on last season, the way that the Flyers pressured on the forecheck and pursued loose pucks was the reason they got off to a hot start. This year, they have been the exact opposite. They have shifts where they play hard and execute well, but nothing is sustained.

To get back to winning ways, the Flyers must take better care of the puck and put shifts together where they make the right play and execute the basics of hockey better than they have so far this season. Having a -20 goal differential shows the state of where the team has been so far this season. Making one more solid pass and not letting mistakes compound themselves is the only way to correct the slide of this team. They need to start at the basics, get back to applying the pressure, and build confidence.

The Flyers Remain Easy to Beat

The Flyers have been easy to beat this season, and this starts with Trevor Zegras. Zegras was a huge reason that the Flyers were hard to beat last season, and his disappearing so far this season is a reason that the team has regressed so deeply. He appears indecisive with the puck, and that moment of hesitation is the reason he is a -4 right now this season. While it’s not his fault, his play is a symptom of a bigger issue plaguing the team, which is a lack of focus on the ice.

The team needs a win, and they have to start by grinding away at the basics until the skill can shine through once again. When they make errant passes and turn the puck over on the wall and consistently lose wall battles, they will remain easy to beat, and with the Seattle Kraken coming in on Tuesday, the Flyers have to start at the basics and start moving the puck down the center of the ice, and start chasing pucks more. If they try to play Seattle in the same manner they played in this game, the Flyers can be looking at eight straight losses. Finding their fight and getting aggressive is the only way to get in the win column this season.

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