I’ve gone back and forth on Peter Laviolette and whether he should remain the Flyers head coach for next season and beyond. For one, he’s infuriated me with his handling of Sean Couturier. How is a 20 year-old, who’s exceptional defensively but also has obvious offensive skills, supposed to properly develop with limited ice time and bottom-six grinders/fringe NHLers/bums flanking him on the wings? It’s not a coincidence that the Flyers went on their only winning streak of the season a few weeks ago when Couturier was getting substantial minutes with the top-six. Is there something going on behind the scenes with Laviolette and Couturier that’s influencing this bewildering allotment of ice time? Checking Couturier’s game log, the line of demarcation for the major dip in ice time is the end of February. In his first 20 games, Couturier played under 16:21 just three times. In his 20 games since, he has eclipsed 16:21 a grand total of ZERO times. Granted, there are three examples of 16:09, 16:17 and 16:16 (the latter two coming in the two most recent games). But still, you understand my point. So, what’s the explanation? Young players are going to make mistakes, and Sean hasn’t been perfect this season, but what about letting him play through those struggles? Especially once injuries started to mount. I don’t get it, nobody does. Well, except for those closest to the team (maybe), and I guess we’re supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt. Or something.

This dumpster fire of a strike-shortened season is certainly not all on Laviolette, as Paul Holmgren shares a healthy portion of the blame for his faulty roster construction and lack of viable Plan B — save for trading for Luke Schenn — after the Parise/Suter/Weber attempts didn’t work out. I don’t think Laviolette was equipped with a roster that catered to his preferred style of play, seeing as how something like one, perhaps two of the regular defensemen who started out the season on the roster could competently skate the puck out of his own zone. But isn’t part of being a good coach the ability to adjust to your personnel? Yes, Paul Holmgren gave something resembling an endorsement, if you want to call it that, of Laviolette yesterday when asked about the coach’s job security, but if you put any stock in that answer (and plenty of media lackeys did), I have a bridge to sell you. If you pay attention to the rumblings and rumors, the organization feels Laviolette has lost the locker room and that the team lacks structure and discipline. What I want to know: Did the team NOT lack structure and discipline last season? The Penguins were foolish and played right into the Flyers’ hands, but everyone remembers the embarrassing collapse against the Devils, right? Remember, this is a team that still can’t beat defensively-responsible teams that play smart hockey and effectively suffocate the neutral zone while taking away the forwards’ space to operate. It’s the reason Laviolette’s Flyers teams the past two seasons haven’t been able to beat the Devils or Rangers (5-21-1 and counting). Hell, last month they beat the Bruins for what, just the second time since the epic 2010 playoff series? Is it personnel? Is it coaching? As is typically the case, the answer is “both” and/or “somewhere in the middle.” Verdict: While I’ve soured on Laviolette this season, I don’t think it’s completely ill-advised to give him into next season to right the ship. If the Flyers are still sputtering and rudderless with similar plaguing issues in January/February, he’ll be fired and, for better or worse, Terry Murray will likely get the chance to replace him.

Tonight’s game is against the Rangers, which means it’s pretty much an automatic loss. Steve Mason will get the start and make his home debut.

Mar 13, 2013; Newark, NJ, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Jakub Voracek (93) skates with the puck past New Jersey Devils right wing Steve Bernier (18) during the second period at the Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

It’s really tough to be a Philadelphia Flyers fan right now. Actually, it’s tough to be a Philadelphia sports fan in general. Thursday night proved that, when the Flyers, the Phillies, and the Sixers all lost their games. Yup, that happened.

So it was quite a losing trifecta last night, and no one was happy.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my team and I will always bleed black and orange, but this has been a really tough season for the Flyers. So much so that I’ve been having a hard time just blogging about the season. The Flyers (12-15-1) are just really terrible. Right now they’re 11th in the Eastern Conference and are on the verge of being shut out of the playoffs this year. The last time they haven’t made the playoffs was in the 2005-2006 season, which was right after an NHL lockout.

Is it the lockout that is causing the Flyers to suck so much? Maybe, I mean it has been a weird season, especially when you consider that the Toronto Maple Leafs are 6th in the Eastern Conference. Yes, the Maple Leafs. I want to just think it’s because they have James Van Riemsdyk, but that’s probably not entirely true.

The other obvious reasons why the Flyers aren’t doing well is defense. Mainly, they have none. The defense is pretty bland this year, and the Flyers continue to miss Chris Pronger‘s aggression on the blueline. I hate that people continue to blame goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov for every loss, because he needs to have solid D-men helping him in front, and he’s not getting that. The defense being bad isn’t a new thing, because I’m pretty sure the Flyers have had poor defense since before I was born.

The other problem with the Flyers this year is that they have really solid first and second lines, but once you can’t past the first two, they have trouble scoring.  Sean Couturier is also flopping and it could be because he can’t flourish on the 4th line.

Honestly the only good thing about this team is Jakub Voracek. It’s a shame that he’s breaking out this season while the rest of the team just sits back and watches. I love what he’s doing, but he can’t carry this team to a playoff run.

Of course the game started with two separate fights before a goal was scored. It was Sean Couturier who broke the scoreless game at the end of the first period with an unassisted goal. He continued to show his worth  and why he was such a great breakout rookie last year throughout the game.

Early in the second Coots was on the board again with an assist from Matthew Ford. This was followed shortly by Zack FitzGerald  fighting again in the second period. He also continued to throw punches after the refs had broken up the fight, so he got a misconduct.

Via sportslogos.net

In the third period things were looking good for the Phantoms especially after an early goal from Eric Wellwood assisted by Jeff Dinman and Coots (again). However, late in the period the Bridgeport Sound Tigers got their break with their first goal to deplete Scott Munroe’s shutout chance. Then 30 seconds later the scored a second goal to bring the goal to 3-2.

The Phantoms and Munroe were able to hold off the Tigers but not without holding their breath. But they could all breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the game when the won the game 3-2.

The Phantoms get a nice breath for the holidays and do not return to the ice until next Friday.