Flyers Showing Signs of Life, But Must Find Consistency to End Early Skid

The Flyers have been too passive for eight games, and teams that play that way get pushed around. They are 0-5-3, the longest winless start in franchise history, and they sit 16th in the 16-team Eastern Conference. They have been outscored 30-10, and lacking the fight that was the hallmark of the Flyers last season.

Trevor Zegras decided Tuesday night that he had seen enough. The Seattle Kraken led 2-0 in the second period when Zegras took a slashing penalty while digging for a puck near Philipp Grubauer. After the next whistle, when Zegras was on the ice, Grubauer rolled him the puck, Zegras flipped it back at the Seattle goalie, and Grubauer shoved him with both arms. Zegras received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and Grubauer received two minutes for roughing. The building came alive for what seems like the first time all season, and the Flyers finished the 3-2 shootout loss with a 31-13 edge in hits.

That moment gave the Flyers a picture of how they have to play. A team that had spent most of the season backing into its own end started attacking the puck and finishing checks. Zegras tied the game at 1:13 after Christian Dvorak scored early in the third period, burying a one-timer from the slot on a Travis Sanheim pass during four-on-four play. This energy boost was what the Flyers needed, and this was directly tied to that dustup after the game.

“When stuff happens like that on the ice, the fans get into a little bit more, and the guys respond from that,” Zegras said Tuesday night. “I think maybe we just need a little bit more of that in our DNA going forward.”

Oliver Bonk showed the other half of it. In his second game since the Flyers recalled him from Lehigh Valley, Bonk carried the puck the length of the ice and set up Dvorak for the goal at 6:07 that cut the Seattle lead to one. He handled the puck with poise at the point where a passive team chips it out and retreats, and he kept his explanation simple.

“I was just doing my best to keep my feet moving,” Bonk said. “It’s a big thing to like not throw pucks away at this level. So just keep going till I can make a play.”

The Flyers needed both of them. There has been no outward finger-pointing in the locker room, which is important in a start like this. Head coach Rick Tocchet took responsibility after the loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, when faint chants for his job rang out in the third period, and Zegras backed him. After Seattle, Tocchet had his goalies’ backs and called them terrific this season. Daniel Vladar backed that up with 29 saves, including a stop on a Jordan Eberle penalty shot.

“We have really good goaltending and if we can just get these guys if we can make our goalies see the puck, they’re going to stop most of them and they are stopping them,” Tocchet said.

Before Seattle, though, it did not feel like the Flyers had a clear idea of what had to change. They had a sense that something did, but the play of Zegras and Bonk against Seattle showed the rest of the roster what the missing piece is, and the effort that is spared burned off the emotional malaise that’s hung over the team since the games started counting.

Unfortunately, passive habits return fast. After Zegras tied the game, the Flyers managed two shots on goal over the final 17:40 of regulation and overtime. Matvei Michkov scored in the shootout, but Bobby McMann beat Vladar in the fifth round to end it. Seattle had five power plays and scored on the first one, and the Flyers went 0 for 3 on theirs, continuing to be inept with the man advantage. Travis Konecny, Cam York, and Rasmus Ristolainen have all missed time during the skid, and the schedule is not going to be kind to them over the next week. The season isn’t lost yet, but without an immediate course correction, it could slip away.

The call for Tocchet’s job will only get louder if the team doesn’t put together a 60-minute effort like what they did in the first 15 minutes of the third period. It is hard to sustain that level of play for a full game, but if the Flyers want to dig themselves out of this hole this winless start has put them in, it’s going to take effort. No blockbuster trade is coming to save them.

Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox: