Travis Konecny
The Flyers will face the Dallas Stars on Monday night while on the cusp of two historical moments. Keith Yandle with tie Doug Jarvis’ consecutive games record at 964, while the Flyers would match a franchise-record winless streak of 12 with another defeat.
At the halfway point of the 2021-22 season, the playoffs aren’t happening and things appear to be in shambles on and off the ice. So what happens in the final 41 games? What makes them noteworthy? Here are three questions that are facing the Flyers going forward for the remainder of the season.
The Flyers take on the Buffalo Sabres, who are now hot on their heels just three points back in the standings, trying to avoid an 11th straight loss.
Cam Atkinson and Jake Voracek face their former teams for the first time on Thursday night. For the Flyers, it also may be the second time already this season that they reach double-digits on a winless streak.
On one night, the Flyers made it a game late in the second, then had an early third-period goal dash their hopes. The next, they carried the play and took a lead into the late stages of the third before finding a way to lose another game.
The Islanders were able to get the game tied and force overtime late in the third. Eventually in the shootout, both teams went nine rounds before the winning goal was scored, giving the Islanders a 4-3 win over the Flyers to extend the losing streak to nine games.
The Flyers’ streak hit eight games on Monday with the 4-1 loss on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Islanders are just starting to make up some ground in games played, and the distance between them and the Flyers is rapidly decreasing.
The Flyers had two power plays in the first period and couldn’t generate more than one shot on goal. The Islanders weren’t cashing in either, but eventually took advantage of a few of their opportunities, getting a 4-1 victory to hand the Flyers their eighth straight loss.
The Flyers look to avoid making that an eight-game losing streak as they take on another team struggling to find its footing this season. The New York Islanders are the opponent for the next two nights for a home-and-home, starting Monday night on the road for the Flyers.
It’s really become a familiar pattern for a team that is consistently fragile, just waiting for the next thing to go wrong rather than doing the things that can help it keep going right. Just like on Thursday night, the Rangers skill and talent levels became too much in a game that was certainly competitive, but not deserving of the final result.
