Flyers vs. Bruins takeaways: Travis Sanheim struggles; lingering mistakes take over
On a positive note, the Flyers got a boost from Tyson Foerster, who scored the team's two goals on Saturday, marking his second career multi-goal game.
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The Hockey Gods giveth and taketh. In this case, they gave the Flyers five straight wins and now they’ve given them five straight losses.
“I like our team. Two weeks ago when we played Dallas, it’s probably the best game I’ve seen a team play under me in a number of years,” coach John Tortorella said on Saturday. “We’ve lost ourselves a little bit here. I think we’ve lost confidence offensively, although I thought we generated some offense today.
“That’s how the league works sometimes: You have some good weeks and you have some struggles. We’re having some struggles now. We’ve just got to try to put our head down and see if we can solve some problems and get better.”
The Flyers head into a seven-day break with their CBA-mandated bye week and the All-Star break; Travis Konecny is the lone Flyer who will be participating. For the Orange and Black, the break comes at a good time as they have played the most games of any NHL team this season, with 50.
“It’s no excuse,” Konecny said about the number of games. “We would have loved to find a way to get a few points out of the last couple games, but it is what it is and I’m sure it’s behind most of us already, and just move on and looking forward to getting back at it.”
Here are three takeaways from the 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.
Rinse and repeat
The Flyers’ struggles against the Bruins were not anything new. The same issues that have crept up as of late, including in the 3-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings two nights before, continued on Saturday.
Lack of discipline: As a team, the lack of discipline was a lot better. The Flyers took just three penalties in the game. But the Scott Laughton took two of those and now has 10 penalty minutes in his last two games. The veteran forward was called for hooking in the first period and goaltender interference in the third on a call that was sold by Linus Ullmark as he fell down. Laughton was clearly frustrated on the call — and he did have a point — but the Flyers were already shorthanded thanks to an unsportsmanlike call on Konecny.
No puck luck in their own end: After two goals went past Sam Ersson off the sticks of his buddies, the Flyers goalie didn’t get much help on Saturday. The third goal was a clear indication that the Flyers don’t have things going their way these days as Danton Heine deflected in front — after it was deflected off the stick of Nick Seeler. “Sometimes you earn your puck luck, too,” Travis Sanheim added. “We got a couple chances there [in the beginning]. Maybe it goes in, we get the puck bounce off the start and you kind of get that confidence and things go a little bit different. Just seems like we’re not getting those breaks right now. We’ve got to start earning those breaks, and hopefully after the break, we can get back to it.” Tyson Foerster did have his third-period goal of the night go off Matt Grzelcyk, so maybe things in the offensive zone are changing.
Defensive zone breakdowns: The Flyers did too much watching. Charlie McAvoy was ignored and scored on a cross-crease pass from Pavel Zacha backdoor to make it 2-0. David Pastrnak was given space to bang in the puck to give Boston a 3-0 lead and former Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk was just standing around the crease untouched to make it 5-0. As Tortorella said, “Don’t put this on Sam. Don’t put it on Sam. This is a group — I believe everybody can be better.” Foerster added that the Flyers “kind of hung [Sam] out to dry there” before noting that Ersson will bounce back. Ersson allowed four goals on 14 shots; Cal Petersen relieved him after the first period and allowed two on 14.
Sanheim struggles
After starting off the season strong, the Flyers defenseman has seen a considerable drop in his game. Although he got an assist against the Bruins, it was just his second helper in his past 15 games. And while he needs to up his game offensively, the blueliner’s lapses in his own end are glaring.
Sanheim was on the ice for four of the Bruins’ six goals and was a key contributor — in the wrong way. On Pastrnak’s first of the game, he inadvertently screened Ersson as the Bruins star forward shot the puck between the 6-foot-4 defenseman’s legs.
On the second goal of the game, by McAvoy, Sanheim was watching the puck and didn’t see the Bruins defenseman sneak down from the point. Sanheim, who is playing the left side now that he is paired with Jamie Drysdale, turned too late as the Long Island native easily tapped in the pass from Zacha.
Sanheim was also on the ice for the goal by van Riemsdyk. Alone in front as his defensive partner was up in the zone and center Ryan Poehling went to the right post to make a play on Pastrnak, Sanheim released JVR in front, allowing him to knock in the pass. On Boston’s sixth goal, Sanheim stuck with Charlie Coyle as he drove to the net but ended up knocking over Petersen, allowing Coyle the tap-in.
“Obviously it’s something that I have to continue to deal with,” Sanheim said, owning up to his mistakes. “I feel like I’m capable of playing in those situations and playing different sides. Obviously, I need to reset just as much as probably anyone in here.
“I need to get back to my game and the way that I was playing earlier in the year — being assertive, being aggressive, controlling the play and making the right decisions, being hard to play against, playing against top lines — and right now I’m not doing that.”
A positive note
With the Flyers missing the speed and drive of Owen Tippett for a fourth straight game, they got a boost from Foerster.
On his first goal of the night, he showcased an element that he is known to use more for taking pucks away than creating offense. Standing near the Bruins’ blue line, he received an outlet pass from Sanheim. The forward then kept his feet moving and did a bit of a mohawk skating maneuver to avoid a check along the boards before cutting to the middle. And known for his shot, he did a toe-drag to avoid Brandon Carlo before whipping it past Linus Ullmark.
Foerster used his footwork again in the third period, as he earned his second career multi-goal game. He got the puck in the right faceoff circle and, as a right-handed shot, had to turn to release the puck on his forehand. The puck did go off the stick of Grzelcyk, but the setup and quick shot by Foerster also helped to keep Ullmark from making the stop.
“It obviously feels good to score,” Foerster said. “But I’d give away those goals for a win any time.”