The Flyers suffer a 6th consecutive defeat, but have they turned a corner? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
In the short term, the balance sheet and the result are bad. The Flyers fell to 1-5-1 after losing their sixth straight game Wednesday night with a 6-3 decision to the Capitals at Capital One Arena.
But overall this 2024-25 season, the Flyers have made a significant offensive breakthrough, something they could potentially build on to try and overcome these early issues.
After falling behind 4-0 before the game’s midway point, the Flyers finally found their feet and dominated Washington the rest of the way. The offensive life was desperately needed for the Flyers.
They almost tied it at 4-4 with 7:39 left in the third period, but Morgan Frost couldn’t hide a closeout attempt. Nearly five and a half minutes later, the Capitals scored the first of their two empty-net goals to finish off John Tortorella’s club.
The Flyers had a glaring mistake on Washington’s dagger. With their net emptied for the extra attacker, Egor Zamula went to make a line change as Jamie Drysdale sent him a pass. This directly resulted in a turnover and an empty goal from Pierre-Luc Dubois to make the score 5-3. Future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin scored the second goal on an abandoned net.
Drysdale (two assists), Matvei Michkov (one goal, one assist) and Owen Tippett (one goal, one assist) had multi-point performances for the Flyers, who had scored just one goal in their two previous matches.
The skid matches the Flyers’ longest losing streak through the first 10 games of a season since 2008-09, when the team lost its first six games (0-3-3). This club still reached the playoffs with 99 points.
Since March 24 of last season, the Flyers have had losing streaks of eight and six games. During that span, they lost 15 of their last 18 games (3-12-3) and were outscored 76-40.
The Capitals (5-1-0) swept the Flyers’ back-to-back sets by a combined score of 10-4.
• Travis Konecny got the Flyers on the board with a power play 4:48 minutes after Washington increased its lead to 4-0.
The goal from the team’s best player seemed to take some of the pressure off the Flyers’ shoulders. Tippett then scored his first off of the season just over four minutes later. And Michkov made it a one-goal game 6:36 minutes into the third period thanks to a 4-on-3 power play.
Sean Couturier was very good, setting screens on the Tippett and Michkov goals. He also won 14 of 19 faceoffs.
So the fact that the Flyers kept the game from going completely off the rails and key players found a spark in terms of scoring was a huge turning point for them. But they still need to persist and win a victory to stop this spiral.
• In his third start of the season, Ivan Fedotov once again had trouble tracking the puck at times. He finished with 20 saves on 24 shots after settling down a bit to give the Flyers a chance to attempt a comeback.
Taylor Raddysh and Connor McMichael beat Fedotov with impressive redirects. Nic Dowd, however, scored on a shot into Fedotov’s five-hole, an area that has been a weakness for the 6-foot-7 goaltender.
Fedotov has conceded 14 goals in his three outings. His end to Wednesday night’s game was positive for the Flyers, but they are probably monitoring the backup situation closely.
Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 29 shots. He only faced three in the first period, but the Flyers put 26 on him over the final two periods.
• The Flyers’ power play has been 2 for 4 and is now 7 for 29 this season.
Michkov has seven points (three goals, four assists) in seven games, including six on the power play.
The Flyers penalty kill continued to buzz, going 3 for 3. Ryan Poehling had two painful blocked shots on the PK.
• Jett Luchanko played in both games against Washington. The Flyers don’t seem to be in a hurry – one way or another – with the 18-year-old center. He has played four games and can play up to nine before having to make a decision on the first year of his entry contract.
You have to imagine that Luchanko will have a different look this weekend.
“He makes very good plays, he made a lot of very good plays with his backhand,” Tortorella said Monday. “Good plays, struggles at times. He makes really good defensive plays, struggles at times. He’s 18, you know? But I still like what he brings and we’re going to continue to evaluate him and see where we go from here.”
Remaining in the lineup, Tyson Foerster was back Wednesday night for Bobby Brink. Joel Farabee played just 8:58 minutes and Nicolas Deslauriers 6:52 as Tortorella shortened his bench to make a push.
• The Flyers are off Thursday and practice Friday before hosting the Wild on Saturday (1 p.m. ET/NBCSP) and the Canadiens on Sunday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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