Cam Atkinson
With the Flyers shorthanded, it was nothing short of a blood bath. The Penguins scored three goals in the first and never looked back, handing the Flyers a 6-2 loss at Wells Fargo Center.
While the Flyers deal with a depleted lineup from COVID and injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins are in town on Thursday night, fresh off their ninth straight win.
The Ducks are an upstart team with a ton of potential. That’s easy to see. They showed plenty of it from the youngsters still in the lineup, ending the Flyers road trip on a sour note as tougher matchups are ahead.
The Ducks were in the same position, with several players also out on COVID protocol, but that didn’t stop them from showing just how much talent they possess. Troy Terry scored a hat trick as the Flyers finished a four-game road trip with a third straight loss, 4-1, in Anaheim.
The four-game road trip out of the holiday break ends with one more game on the West coast on Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, albeit with many players out due to COVID protocol on both sides, including both team captains, a budding young star for Anaheim, and the Flyers other top-pairing defenseman.
The Kings turned in a dominant performance on Saturday night with a 6-3 victory to snap the Flyers seven-game points streak.
A short trip from San Jose to Los Angeles marks the next stop on this post-holiday road trip, as the Flyers try to extend the points streak to eight games against the Kings.
It’s a quick turnaround on Thursday, as the Flyers head to California to finish up the four-game road trip. Their first game comes in San Jose, as they take on the Sharks.
COVID is still running wild in the NHL and the rest of the world, but the Flyers make their return with five new additions to the COVID protocol list over the last several days, but also three players back from protocols. They will face the Seattle Kraken in their return, opening up a four-game road trip on Wednesday night.
It wasn’t pretty, and against another of the NHL’s bottom-feeder teams, the mistakes being made and the habits continuing to take center-stage are still troubling. But the Flyers also have strung together wins and points, and that’s what was needed against these teams. Now they need to continue to form better habits and apply it, perhaps as soon as next week against some tough Metro Division competition, if the schedule allows.
