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Just 24 hours earlier, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms played one of their best games of the season, beating the top team in the league, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. On Saturday night, the Phantoms played arguably their worst game of the year, getting blown out by the Providence Bruins, 9-1.
The Flyers unraveled again on Saturday night in a 4-1 loss to the Devils that just prolonged a stretch of bad play that has now spanned a month on the schedule. Here are 10 Postgame Points from Flyers-Devils.
It may have been their first game back from a five-day break, but little changed for the Flyers. Two late goals in the second and another early in the third allowed another game to unravel as the Devils defeated the Flyers, 4-1, on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers are not technically one of the eight teams in the playoff picture, but only by tiebreaker as they remain tied in points with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final playoff spot. A second-half run will still be required, and for the Flyers, that starts on Saturday night when they host the New Jersey Devils.
As the Flyers struggle, fans are looking for players to blame. However, the popular scapegoats are not the source of the team’s woes.
T.J. Brennan, Jordan Weal and Taylor Leier received their All-Star jerseys for the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic before Friday night’s pivotal matchup with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The three then showed why they earned those jerseys, helping lead the Phantoms to a 4-3 victory.
ESPN’s Corey Pronman released his Midseason Top 50 prospects, and also Top 10 goaltending prospects, earlier this week, and the Flyers were well represented.
The Flyers bye week is followed by four games and then a break for All-Star Weekend. There are then four weeks until the trade deadline for the NHL. That gives GM Ron Hextall just 10 games in the month of February to determine if he wants to be a seller, a buyer or to just stay put at the deadline.
Everyone is always subject to evaluation and criticism. Right now, this is a team playing poor hockey in every aspect and criticism is high and comes easily. That’s where the Flyers were on Tuesday afternoon, as GM Ron Hextall and head coach Dave Hakstol evaluated and looked ahead with the team.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms used another late comeback to beat the Springfield Thunderbirds, 4-3, on Monday afternoon. Greg Carey led the way with two goals and Scott Laughton and Andy Miele added the others. The Phantoms were outplayed much of the afternoon, but ultimately came out with the win.
