The Flyers were on the penalty kill, but with only 1:30 left and down one.
It didn't really matter if they were short at that point. Someone needed to attack to try and get the puck. Instead, the New Jersey Devils were allowed to sit with it behind their own net for a bit, while the four Flyers skaters stood around waiting for them to make a move.
You could feel the mix of frustration and apathy fill the Wells Fargo Center, as faint waves of boos tried to counterbalance cheers from a decent contingent of traveling Devils fans who helped fill out the building.
The Flyers went on to lose, 3-1, Sunday after an empty-netter from Dawson Mercer on a late center-ice draw officially sunk them.
The homestand from hell got worse.
That boost the team was on coming back from the 4 Nations break? It's gone now, and so is Scott Laughton after weeks (and years) of trade rumors finally materialized into a deadline deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, with Andrei Kuzmenko and Erik Johnson getting shipped out, too.
The lineup that's left lost its fourth straight of a seven-game homestand on Sunday, which was going to be the make-or-break between slim playoff hopes or taking whatever they can get for the rest of the season before the organization shifts to the summer and another crucial draft.
They haven't been getting much, though.
The Flyers have been outscored, 17-6, during the spiral, and as of Monday, sit seven points out from the Eastern Conference's second Wild Card spot with 17 games left – and with Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and then Carolina, all teams in the postseason race, each on deck to end the homestand.
Barring some kind of miracle run, the Flyers aren't going to make it, which in the long term, might be okay. But for the players at ice-level and the fans watching from night-to-night, it is aggravating.
"Believe me, it sucks for us, and I know it sucks for them," defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who had the Flyers' lone goal on Sunday, said postgame. "We'll work to come back strong and get a win."
"It sucks. There's no hiding behind that," center Ryan Poehling added. "But I think there's no time to feel sorry for yourself. It was definitely a gut check."
And another reminder that the Flyers still have a long, long way to go.
A couple of other thoughts…
Michkov got benched again
Matvei Michkov went chasing after a puck down the ice that the Devils recovered in their own end.
Owen Tippett got down the ice, too, and got his stick in the way of an attempted breakout pass, but the bounce fell back to the opposite Devils defenseman, and as it did, Michkov took a wide turn that left his back to the play and way behind catching up as New Jersey went rushing the other way.
Cody Glass scored on another favorable bounce as the Devil up high, with the Flyers' four other skates having collapsed in toward their own net.
Michkov stayed up by the blue line and never took to Glass sneaking down. The Devils went up, 1-0, with 8:50 left in the first period, and the Flyers' star rookie didn't see the ice for any of that remaining time.
John Tortorella sat him down again, and didn't send him back out until a couple of minutes into the second period.
- MORE FLYERS
- Trading Scott Laughton was tough for Danny Brière, but crucial to the Flyers' rebuild
- Flyers future draft picks
- NHL Trade Deadline: Flyers trade Scott Laughton to Maple Leafs for prospect, first-round pick
It's not the first time the Flyers' coach has benched (or scratched) Michkov this season, and it's not leaving any other player immune from criticism either.
That said, the 20-year-old winger is being held up as a major piece to the team's future, so any time he gets sat down for an extended stretch, that will inevitably draw attention. From the fan base, irritation, too, as the later into a progressively lost season the team gets, the more people are going to want to see promise and growth in its youth.
But they can't see that with Michkov on the bench. Moreover, at a certain point, comes the question of how much of an effect these benchings actually yield after so many times. There's a real risk to that move wearing thin.
Postgame, Tortorella tried to shrug off the first question from the media about Michkov's benching with "Yeah, situations happen," and "It's part of the process."
He got a follow-up, but cut it off not seeming to want to entertain the subject. Said Tortorella in full:
"Just let me tell you guys something, okay? There are a number of things that come into play, not one specific play, okay? And you are at a disadvantage because I'm not going to give you information. It's not always the play on the ice that I'm trying to teach. So use that as a context before you start all you bulls***. There are so many things that go on and with me trying to develop that player, and I'm gonna continue to do it the way I think it should be done.
"But don't just look at THE PLAY. No, he didn't do the job as far as backchecking. No, he didn't do the job in the offensive zone, but there are a number of other things that come into play. And again, I need to show you the respect that I'm not gonna give you that information, and you don't realize that. So don't make a bigger deal out of it than you think you need to."
It's a response that isn't going to change any opinions on Tortorella at this point, good or bad.
And look, at the end of the day, Tortorella doesn't really owe the media anything, but when the most important player on the team in years gets benched within a lineup already spread thin and going nowhere for the rest of this season, yeah, that's always going to be a big deal – like it or not.
Lottery luck
Sixers fans have already been flooding back to Tankathon to see where the Sixers could fall, and if they'll even have a first-round pick, after their season crumbled into disaster.
The Flyers' current losing streak, combined with their selling at the trade deadline, shouldn't have their fans too far behind either — provided they weren't checking already.
Right now, the Flyers are seventh in the 2025 draft order as it stands by record. They have a 6.5-percent chance of jumping up in the draft lottery and claiming the No. 1 overall pick, per Tankathon.
They're set to have 11 picks in this year's draft, including three of them in the first round, with some notable center prospects available – like James Hagen, Michael Misa, Roger McQueen, Caleb Desnoyers, and Anton Frondell – especially if they move up.
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