The Flyers are currently on a seven-game home stand. Three games in and the results have not been good. Philadelphia has lost three straight games and has been outscored 14-5, mustering a single goal in their last two games.
John Tortorella was willing to flush Tuesday's loss to the Flames. But as the team continues to trend in the wrong direction, he can no longer ignore the problems plaguing his group.
They have looked disjointed and sloppy. Sam Ersson looks like he's in the midst of the same late-season struggles that affected him last season. He's allowed 16 goals over his last four starts. And Travis Konecny has lost his offensive touch and is growing more frustrated by the day. He has one goal in his last 17 games.
For a moment, the Flyers were getting offense from other places. But right now, the goals are drying up at the worst time. A playoff push was already unlikely, but with 18 games to go, it's looking nearly impossible. To get into the playoffs, the Flyers will likely need to at least hit the 90-point mark. That would mean they could only lose four more games the rest of the season.
Never say never, but with the way the Flyers have looked lately, they'll be looking at yet another season without the playoffs. And that is to be expected for a team that continues to rebuild. Losing to one of the best teams in Winnipeg is not shocking, especially when you give them an early power play. Allowing six goals to a Flames team fighting to stay in the playoff race is tough.
Losing to a Kraken team that is below you in the standings is when it starts to get unacceptable. Especially when you have five power plays, three of which came in the first 15 minutes of the game. At 15.3%, the Flyers are looking at another bottom of the league power play. Sure, they aren't last in the league like they have been the last few years. But 28th isn't anything to be happy about either.
The Flyers did open the scoring, although it came on a rather lucky bounce as Owen Tippett had the puck bounce off of him. Playing against a goaltender who hadn't appeared in an NHL game since Jan. 28, the Flyers needed to do more. Philipp Grubauer did play extremely well for someone who was recently in the AHL to get his play up to par.
Looking at his overall stats though, Grubauer had five wins coming into this game. This was his 22nd game. It's unacceptable that the Flyers were not able to score more than one goal against him. He had given up five goals in two of his previous four NHL games. He also allowed five goals in his final start in the AHL. He made plenty of highlight reel saves in this one, so credit goes to him for his effort.
Matvei Michkov was robbed by Grubauer. pic.twitter.com/k8Bck0MoPo
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) March 8, 2025
But the Flyers are heading in the wrong direction. It is something that was expected as management has fully embraced the rebuild. They were always going to get worse before they got better and that has shown over the first three games of this home stand. For most, this is exactly what they wanted the Flyers to do. But you'd like to see some kind of fight from this group.
The Devils are next in town and they have suffered numerous injuries, though they are still clinging on to a playoff spot. They are without Jack Hughes, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Dougie Hamilton. Hughes and Siegenthaler are out for the rest of the season while it is unknown how much time Hamilton will miss. They have lost three straight and are coming off a blowout loss to the Jets.
The Flyers won the first two matchups against the Devils, getting shut out in their last game against New Jersey. It's a quick turnaround with another afternoon game. Back-to-backs haven't been kind to Philadelphia as they are 1-8-1 in the second game.
Even if the postseason is unlikely, you don't want to see the Flyers go down without a fight.