Fatal flaws may end Philadelphia Flyers season sooner rather than later

While they made it past the Canadiens, some of the Flyers’ fatal flaws still remain against the Islanders.

The Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders are two very different teams. That much is obvious. They do have one thing in common, though. They have been able to expose some key flaws on this Flyers team. And those flaws could send Philadelphia packing far earlier than they want to.

The Flyers came into Toronto as one of the hottest teams in the league. Well, they had been about four months prior. They were winners of nine of their last 10 games before the season was paused and subsequently canceled. They came into the bubble looking to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.

They did just that when they swept the field during the three-game round-robin stage that they were on. They took down Boston, Washington, and the Lightning to take the conference’s top seed. That had a target on their backs right away. And by surprise, they were set to face off against the Canadiens in round one.

It was not an easy series by any means. A number one seed against a 12 seed isn’t expected to be a hard one. But Montreal threw everything they had at the Flyers. They used their speed and hard forechecking to try and limit Philadelphia in that first-round series. They managed to grab two separate wins before the Flyers finished it off in six games.

But they did expose an issue that Philadelphia had since coming to Toronto. The top forwards on the team were not producing on the offense. At first, it was the depth that was stepping up. And it was Carter Hart limiting the other team’s offenses. But there have been times where neither of those has come into play.

The Islanders came out and exposed that, among other weaknesses, in their opening victory on Monday night. It wasn’t just the Flyers’ inability to get their top players going. There were issues all across the board that the Islanders had no problems using to their advantage.

The Flyers’ top line was badly exposed in the loss. Sean Couturier had one of his worst games of the season, finishing dead last in a category he has always been strong in.  He was out-chanced on the ice, ending the game with a 37.50 CF%. It is rare to ever see Couturier look that bad against anyway.

Not the best time to have one of your worst games. It doesn’t help that he is among a large majority of players that have yet to score a goal in these playoffs. It has been said over and over again. The Flyers will go nowhere if they cannot get production from the guys at the top of the lineup.

That is, aside from the play of Jakub Voracek. While he did not look good in last night’s game, he has been the only top forward to consistently put points on the board. He had a four-game point streak coming in. Other players like Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny have found it almost impossible to get anything going.

It isn’t just those players that are having trouble, though. Alain Vigneault has put trust in his team’s fourth line. Maybe a bit too much trust. He has complimented the play of Nate Thompson‘s line and instilled a belief in them. It’s time to lay off them just a bit.

That line, while on the positive side in the chance battle against the Islanders, has still been an issue for the Flyers. It is not hard to say that Thompson has not been a great player thus far. He isn’t the biggest issue on this team, but he is actively hurting them more often than not.

On a typical basis, he is out-chanced and outworked when on the ice. That is evident by his team-worst 33.51 CF%. He is getting out-chanced by a large margin of 127-64. It’s surprising to say that there have only been four goals allowed while he is on the ice. Now some of that could have other factors added to them. However, Thompson’s play hasn’t helped.

Relying on him as much as Vigneault has is going to turn into an even bigger problem if it is to continue. Especially against a team like the Islanders who have much more talent from top to bottom than the Canadiens did.

One factor that has kept Thompson alive is his faceoff success. He leads the group at 60.19% in the playoffs. That was one of the reasons the Flyers acquired him at the deadline. His veteran presence was another one. But that alone isn’t enough to keep him in the lineup.

One may wonder, who comes into the lineup if Thompson is out? Well, that’s a pretty easy adjustment. James van Riemsdyk has been swapped in and out of the lineup, primarily with Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Why not give both of them a spot? It is fair to say that the player they call JVR hasn’t been sharp this postseason.

His numbers aren’t the best, but there are also far from the worst. And it’s possible he hasn’t been given a chance with some of the linemates he has been put with. With struggles among most of the lineup, it could be time to reunite some old faces.

Putting Konecny back up with Couturier and Giroux could spark all three players. The trio has played well together before. They played just under 140 minutes together during the regular season. They drove play well and out-shot teams when they were all together. The goals didn’t necessarily come in bunches, but there were expected to score at a decent rate.

This move would also involve breaking up the second line. While that group worked during the round-robin, it hasn’t been able to click since.

Give Voracek a chance to get a player like Kevin Hayes or Scott Laughton going again. There are other possibilities, of course, but something has to be done. Those players can only say they will figure it out so many times. Actions speak louder than words, especially right now.

The Flyers have a chance to get back on track with two big games coming up on Wednesday and Thursday. Play like they did in the second period and they have a chance to make something happen. But they need to start getting more contributions. You can win the battles and accumulate zone time all you want.

It won’t matter if the Flyers cannot put the puck in the back of the net.