The Flyers finally played in front of a Wells Fargo Center crowd ready to embrace them on Saturday night, but then fell completely flat once the hype from the home-opening ceremony settled down.
They struggled to get a handle on the puck, and even when they did have it, rushed decision-making and sloppy execution left them failing to convert on any of their chances.
The Flyers went on to get blanked by the Vancouver Canucks, 3-0, sending the team off to a 1-3-1 start after their beginning road trip through Western Canada got away from them fast.
A back-to-back, home-and-home series against the Washington Capitals beginning Tuesday night here in South Philly will be their shot to try and rebound, but the Flyers will have to fix a few things first if they're going to – mainly, making sure their shots actually get to the net first and foremost.
A few thoughts ahead of Tuesday night…
Just a bit outside
The Flyers registered 26 shots on goal in Saturday night's home-opening loss to Vancouver, but those were just the ones that hit their mark.
There were 59 Philadelphia shot attempts in total – 10 were blocked, and 23 missed the net.
By comparison, the Canucks fired 55 shots – 32 were on goal, 12 were blocked, and 11 missed.
Captain Sean Couturier, who was playing on the wing instead of center, put two pucks on net, but had one more blocked and sent four sailing wide in 15:58 of ice time.
Owen Tippett, who has become the poster child for the Flyers' early shooting woes, also missed four and had a shot blocked, though to his credit, he did put four on the mark in his 16:26 of time on Saturday – Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen just had an answer for those and everything else the Flyers could challenge him with.
Going back through the Flyers' four games prior out West to open the season, they had 53 shots miss the net and 76 in total when including Saturday night's loss.
Tippet has 15 of those missed shots, and even eight more blocked ones just from the 6-4 loss at Seattle last Thursday before coming home.
Owen Tippett with a move you often only see in video games! 🎮
Imagine if he scored? 🤯
📺: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/S5tPrXCygm pic.twitter.com/34xNyqWvwl— NHL (@NHL) October 16, 2024
The Flyers are getting their chances, but selection – or lack thereof – has been a bizarre problem that has set them back in the early going.
"This has been going on really since the start of the year," head coach John Tortorella said postgame on Saturday. "Shots missed, and for me, in the first part of the game, just not taking shots.
"We're overpassing. I think [Travis Sanheim] can take a shot. I think [Tyson Foerster], who has struggled a little bit, looks to make a play instead of shooting the puck…Yeah, we need to simplify ourselves a little bit that way. That's what bothered me the most in the first half of the game, just opportunities to shoot the puck and we didn't."
A sudden swing to the wing
Couturier played the home opener at left wing on the bottom checking line Saturday night while Scott Laughton jumped up to second-line center. Rookie Jett Luchanko centered the third line between Foerster and Bobby Brink.
Couturier said in the locker room afterward that he found out right before the game that he was sliding out to the wing, and while he acknowledged that there is a bit of an adjustment to make, it's the job and he has done it before, calling back to years where he would flip positions with former captain and center Claude Giroux back when he was still on the team.
Still, it was a curious lineup decision heading into Saturday night for the Flyers' captain who hasn't gotten off to the greatest of starts.
He held up pretty decently though, and Tortorella noted as much after practice over in Voorhees on Monday.
"Sean, just like everybody else, has been up and down," Tortorella said. "I actually thought his best minutes more involved playing on the wing – had him on a checking line, going to use him against [J.T. Miller's] line a little bit here and there. I actually liked him there."
But that doesn't set any lineup in stone, not for Tuesday night against the Capitals, at least.
Scott Laughton wasn't at practice on Monday, which let Couturier move back into reps at center, per NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jordan Hall.
And as always, Tortorella kept mum about the lineup when he was up to talk.
"I'm not sure what the lineup is going to be tomorrow," he said. "I really don't know."
Jett check
Jett Luchanko is four games into his nine-game look.
His speed up the middle is apparent, and he's made some notable plays with the puck in transition, but so far, his stat line is standing at no points, just three shots, and a minus-3 rating at 14:03 of average ice time. The 18-year old did not have a shot attempt during Saturday's home-opening loss.
"Just like everybody else, really, he makes some really good plays – he's made a lot of really good plays with his backhand," Tortorella said of Luchanko after practice on Monday. "Good play, struggles at times, makes some really good defensive plays, struggles at times…
"He's 18, you know? But I still like what he brings. We're gonna keep on evaluating and see where we go from there."
Luchanko can skate in five more games before the Flyers have to make a decision on what happens next. With junior-level prospects already signed to their entry-level contract, NHL clubs are afforded essentially a nine-game trial window before putting that prospect's contract into effect with the 10th.
There are no guarantees yet on whether Luchanko will stay with the Flyers or go back to Guelph in juniors – and there are arguments to be made that justify both routes.
One thing to take into consideration, too: Noah Cates didn't dress for the home opener and so far has only played in the 6-3 loss at Calgary back on October 12. He can't sit forever.
Seel it
Nick Seeler was seen practicing with the team on Monday and Emil Andrae was sent back to Lehigh Valley in the AHL, which points to Seeler making his return for the back-to-back against the Capitals beginning Tuesday night.
Seeler took a puck off the leg during the preseason and had been sidelined since, but the Flyers' blueline can definitely use him back right now.
On Saturday against the Canucks, the Flyers ran with defensive pairings of Cam York-Travis Sanheim, Egor Zamula-Rasmus Ristolainen, and Erik Johnson-Jamie Drysdale. The latter two pairings especially struggled at effectively moving the puck out, and the hope is that Seeler coming back can help get things moving faster in that regard – along with bringing his shot-blocking prowess back into the fold.
"He's good at it," Tortorella said of Seeler's ability to push the puck up ice. "We talk about him last year, he bangs it around sometimes, but it gets up the ice quickly. Everything's done quick with him.
"So it's a part of our game that, after five games – I don't want to overstate it – we still have a lot of things to work on, but that's a part of the game we have to get better at and he'll certainly help us."
Seeler was practicing on a pairing with Drysdale on Monday, as observed by Hall. The two were regular defensive partners by the end of last season after Sean Walker was traded away.
Flyers at practice, sans Laughton:
F
Foerster-Frost-Konecny
Tippett-Poehling-Michkov
Farabee-Couturier-Brink
Deslauriers-Cates-Hathaway
Luchanko (extra)
D
York-Sanheim
Seeler-Drysdale
Zamula-Ristolainen
Johnson (extra)— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) October 21, 2024
An early test of the goalie plan
Faced with a back-to-back, home-and-home set, the Flyers are probable to have Ivan Fedotov take one of those games.
Sam Ersson has been solid to begin the year as the leading goaltender, but Fedotov in his two starts so far against Calgary and Seattle on the road has been rough, with 10 goals allowed across both games.
It's been a test of the Flyers' goaltending plan early, and might bring Alexei Kolosov into consideration for a look sooner rather than later if Fedotov doesn't get it in gear.
Asked about the confidence that he can on Monday, Tortorella bluntly replied: "I don't know. We're gonna have to see."
One more moment
After this season's Flyers were introduced to the home crowd on Saturday night, the team made another tribute to brothers Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, the South Jersey hockey stars who both passed away at the end of August.
Kids from the Hollydell Ice Arena, the rink in Washington Township that Johnny and Matthew grew up skating in, joined the Flyers and Canucks on the ice, and instead of one more moment of silence in memory, PA announcer Lou Nolan asked the Wells Fargo Center to cheer in 30 seconds of celebration for everything the brothers and the Gaudreau family have done for hockey across both Philadelphia and South Jersey.
Applause and stick taps grew as "Johnny!" chants carried throughout the arena, then Lauren Hart walked out to sing the national anthems, as she always does, but this time with 13 and a heart written in Sharpie on the white of her Flyers jersey.
The Philadelphia Flyers honour Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau and celebrate the impact that the entire Gaudreau family has had on hockey in the Philadelphia area. 🧡 pic.twitter.com/g6Miw3uUnF
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 19, 2024
The hockey community is still very much hurting from the loss of the Gaudreau brothers, and will for a long, long time.
But the numerous tributes, they've all been special, with the Blue Jackets' ceremony and the raising of Johnny's No. 13 into the rafters in their home opener last week reaching an entirely different level.
It was that first faceoff after that devastated the most though.
Sean Monahan, a friend and longtime teammate of Johnny's while in Calgary who signed with Columbus to play with him again, lined up at center against the Florida Panthers with no one on his left wing. Johnny was supposed to be there.
The ref dropped the puck and it was made sure that the faceoff was won to that opening on the ice as 13 seconds ran off the clock to tears and applause.
That hole is going to be there forever.
Monahan scored later that night, then turned and pointed straight to that new banner in the Columbus rafters.
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