It was the best of losses, it was the worst of losses. It was the age of power-play goals, it was the age of empty-net gaffes. It was an early lead, it was a late collapse. It was a game of hope, it was a game of despair.
The Philadelphia Flyers went through the wringer on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. After ending their skid with a low-event win in Vegas on Monday night, it looked like they might be able to string two wins together after a hot start. However, after Bobby Brink’s power-play goal — the first of two goals on the man advantage for the Flyers in the game — early in the second period, things started to shift.
It was suddenly 3-2, and then 4-2 again. But Christian Dvorak’s power-play tally midway through regulation was the last time the Flyers would hit the back of the net, even though they had plenty of opportunities the rest of the game, particularly in the final minutes with the net empty.
Chill out. Flyers’ terrible loss to Mammoth doesn’t change anything
For all of the goodwill that the Flyers may have built up in the first half of a game — a game that started late on the East Coast, meaning some fans turned the game off thinking it was another win –, they blew it when it mattered most.
Garnet Hathaway’s failure to hit the empty net, and a few other key veterans struggling on the game-tying and game-winning goals, left fans angry, upset, and frustrated. After a six-game losing streak was just snapped, the Flyers are once again down in the dumps.
But not all is lost. It’s fair to be upset — hell, it’s expected. But it is still just one game in an 82-game season.
There are lessons to be learned from Wednesday night’s collapse in Utah for sure. Hathaway certainly didn’t take the loss lightly, remaining in his gear at his locker while the rest of his teammates had changed by the time the media came in, per PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor.
Rick Tocchet was also under fire for some of his decisions in the loss, including having Hathaway out there on the ice in such a crucial situation. The veteran fourth liner has been average at best this season, and there are several forwards who should see time over him.
There’s also the decision to give Matvei Michkov just 12:11 of ice time, more than only Lane Pederson and Nikita Grebenkin, with Hathaway seeing eight more seconds than the young Russian. And it wasn’t as if Michkov was struggling. In fact, it was the best he had looked in quite some time, recording a season-high seven shots on goal in the contest.
Tocchet did call out Noah Juulsen after the game, though, saying that the defenseman taking a roughing penalty to put the Mammoth on the power play late in the third period, a power play that they scored their third goal on, was inexcusable.
Veteran mistakes were unfortunately a theme in the loss, as Travis Sanheim got beat on the game-tying goal and Travis Konecny turned the puck over prior to the game-winner in overtime.
Those are all reasons to be upset, mad, and frustrated with the loss. They are not reasons to extrapolate this into something bigger than it is and start questioning the entire organization’s thought process from ownership down to the ushers.
There have been plenty of thinkpieces overreacting to the loss in Utah. We get it. The loss absolutely sucked and was probably their worst all year, despite earning a point. And, yeah, the loss overshadows any positives that happened in the game, but it doesn’t erase what this team is building nor should it change their direction.
It’s more than fair to question the plan, but the plan has been set in motion, and it’s not going to change based on one loss in Utah. Maybe we see Hathaway get scratched for a game or two in order to rotate in Grebenkin and Carl Grundstrom. Perhaps there is a change in personnel late in the game in crucial situations, or in how the Flyers defend a lead. But it’s not going to cause any huge ripple effects throughotut he organization to start a fire sale or anything like that.
In fact, using an embarrassing loss to push an overplayed, lazy narrative is wrong and, quite frankly, insulting to this Flyers fan base. Are we saying to brush over the loss and ‘Oh well, get ’em next time!’?” Absolutely not. But it’s asinine to take one game out of an 82-game season and make any definitive statements about the last three years or the next three years. Hell, even the next three games.
The Flyers will take their lumps, hopefully learn something from it, and move on.
