Flyers need to show more tangible progress than ‘effort’ over final stretch of season – The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Flyers 4-0 shutout loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night constituted an improvement over their previous game, a 9-2 defeat against the Washington Capitals.

Thats pretty much everything you need to know about the Flyers 2021-22 season.

READ MORE: In a season full of lows, the Flyers hit rock bottom with 9-2 loss to the Washington Capitals

Six players who suited up against the Capitals were not in the lineup the following night because of injury, including the teams leading scorer, Cam Atkinson, and starting goalie Carter Hart. Additionally, before Wednesday, six players in the lineup had each played less than 10 career NHL games defenseman Ronnie Attard (six), winger Bobby Brink (one), winger Noah Cates (seven), center Tanner Laczynski (five), defenseman Egor Zamula (three), and goalie Felix Sandstrm (one).

So, given the relative inexperience of the lineup, the back-to-back, the Rangers success this season, and the Flyers lack of it, any semblance of progress 24 hours after the disaster in Washington would have resulted in something of a moral victory.

That progress? They tried.

I think the effort was there, interim coach Mike Yeo said after the game. I think the focus was there. I think that the desire for the guys to really step up and win was there. We did some things that werent good enough to get the win, but cant fault the effort.

But aside from Tuesdays clunker against the Capitals and the Avalanches 6-3 drubbing on March 25, the Flyers rarely have pinned losses on a lack of effort as of late. Sure, the Flyers may have given the game their best effort, creating nearly double the high-danger scoring chances that the Rangers did (13-7), per Natural Stat Trick.

However, through 40 regulation losses in 74 games this season, a feat only pulled off once before in franchise history in 2006-07, the Flyers repeatedly show that their best is not good enough.

We cant be a team that just ... we say that we worked hard, and thats great, Yeo said. We have to be able to win games when the other team scores first, too.

No, the Flyers cant be that team if they want to instill winning habits before the seasons end, but given the lack of positives to take away from recent games, they are that team. Given the fact that they officially were eliminated from playoff contention seven games ago, perhaps theyve run out of time to prove that they arent that team.

On Wednesday night, the Flyers had their opportunities to shift the momentum their way. One of those moments emerged following a 5-on-3 penalty kill roughly halfway through the first period in which Sandstrm made six saves and winger Joel Farabee made a critical block on an Artemi Panarin shot.

The Flyers could have, and should have, been able to build off of that. They didnt.

Yeah, we probably should, center Scott Laughton said. Thats a good question. Seems like were getting a little bit two, three minutes lapses where we sit on our heels, and thats when they kind of take over.

By the analytics alone, the Flyers had a decent chance at a win over the Rangers. The Flyers played with the puck for the majority of the game, edging the Rangers in shot attempts (45-43), and boasted better shot quality, with 2.3 expected goals to the Rangers 1.73, according to Natural Stat Trick.

But none of that matters when the Flyers dont convert on their scoring chances. Winger Travis Konecny had one of them, which resulted from a tic-tac-toe passing sequence at 4-on-4 in the second period, but he couldnt score with a backhander on goalie Alexandar Georgiev. He also was involved in a 2-on-1 in the first period with center Kevin Hayes, who opted not to shoot and dropped the puck off for a trailer. His pass ultimately was intercepted by the Rangers to kill the play.

And it certainly doesnt matter when the Flyers arent up to snuff defensively, leaving a player wide-open backdoor for a goal for the second night in a row.

You cant try to make the extra play to get the perfect shot, Yeo said, to get that Grade A scoring chance. You still have to continue to shoot pucks and go to the net, and I dont want to say wait for those opportunities but not force those opportunities.

The Flyers boast the second-worst shooting percentage in the league, capitalizing on just 8.3% of their shots. Only the Los Angeles Kings are worse, but they rank second in shots (2,660). Conversely, the Flyers rank smack-dab in the middle of the league in shots with 2,264.

This season, the Flyers havent had the finish from the players they need it from most. Konecny, for example, is shooting more than ever (2.69 shots per game), but hes posted his worst shooting percentage (6.8%).

After the game, Konecny acknowledged that hes getting a lot of good shots, but a lot of those shots are coming from the perimeter.

[The Rangers] capitalized on their opportunities, Konecny said. Starting with me, we had plenty of opportunities that we didnt capitalize on. Theres always things you can clean up on. But I thought we really worked hard and we came back and answered from last nights bad game.

In a season full of lows, the Flyers will take the positives where they can get them. But last week, one of the Flyers biggest issues was maintaining a lead. This week, theyre laboring to establish one in the first place.

One step forward, another step back. Now, the Flyers have eight games left to try and right a ship that sailed a long time ago.

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Flyers need to show more tangible progress than 'effort' over final stretch of season - The Philadelphia Inquirer