FREE FALL

BY Mike Rifkin

One of the biggest surprises this NHL season had been the play of the Philadelphia Flyers. When Danny Briere and Keith Jones became the top decision makers of the team they talked about a rebuild. This season The Flyers had been in the top three of the Metropolitan Division most of the season. On Saturday the Flyers lost 6-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The loss was Philly’s seventh consecutive loss. The Flyers are 2-5-3 over the last ten games. Over this seven game losing streak includes defeats at the hands of the Blackhawks, Canadiens and Blue Jackets three teams at the bottom of their respective divisions. 

With the Flyers being the biggest surprise of the league, head coach John Tortorella was my frontrunner for the Jack Adams Award (Coach Of The Year), but now with the recent play of the team some might reconsider. Torts who is known for his tough demeanor, might be having his act where thin. He scratched Captain Sean Couturier for a few games, only a few weeks after he was named Captain. On Monday after losing to the Islanders, Torterella said “ Only one guy played – the goalie. He was the only player that played in the second period”. Tortorella was referring to Ivan Fedotov, who made his debut in the second period, replacing Samuel Errson. Torts walked back that statement a few days later, talking about the team being together and how they’ve responded all year. But is the Torts act wearing thin? 

Over Philly’s last seven games they have scored three goals or more twice. Scoring has been a issue for Philly a lot this season, they averaged 2.86 goals per game. One area where Philly has had problems all season is their power play. The power-less play is connecting at 12.8% with the man advantage. While the Flyers still have an opportunity to make the playoffs, their recent stretch has been brutal. But here’s my question for Flyer fans : do you want to make the playoffs because you’re so close? Or do you want the better draft pick? The Flyers have had a marvelous season to this point, but if they collapse and miss the playoffs, does this make their season a failure? Nobody thought the Flyers would be in a race this late into the season, but this recent stretch is not something to write home about. But I am very curious on what Danny Briere has up his sleeve this summer, especially after this season where the team has overachieved.