Flyers takeaways: ‘Some guys accepted it,’ and more quotes from a disappointing loss to the Islanders

The Flyers were riding high after a solid week out west. But they crashed back to reality, losing a four-point game against Metropolitan Division rivals, the New York Islanders, on Monday.

Here are three interesting things said postgame:

Standing outside the coaches’ room in the bowels of Ball Arena on Friday in Denver, Rick Tocchet was asked if the win against the No. 1 team in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, could serve as a springboard for his team. The coach calmly responded that they could enjoy it for a moment but that everything needs to remain on an even keel.

It’s a smart mindset amid an 82-game grind, as there will be winning streaks, losing streaks, highs and lows, and everything in between. But while the Flyers won Friday to seal five of six points across a three-game gauntlet of games, Trevor Zegras said what everyone watching was thinking postgame Monday, “We just kind of came out and thought it would be easy, I guess.”

» READ MORE: Flyers lose 4-0 to Islanders in lifeless performance on home ice

What does Tocchet mean when he says his club needs to handle prosperity better? Part of it is that the Flyers need to sustain wins; they need to know that just because you win Night 1, it doesn’t mean Night 2 will be easy. And it’s something they should know since they have only won two straight once in 2026, have lost eight of their past 10, and are 3-10-4 after a regulation win this season.

The Flyers have been focusing on getting to the middle and driving to the net. But they struggled with it on Monday.

According to Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five, the Flyers had 13 shots, with just five from high-danger areas. It was a noticeable difference from their games the past week, where, against the Avalanche and Utah Mammoth, they had 12 and 13, respectively, at five-on-five.

Captain Sean Couturier said Monday that the team wasn’t “at our best on winning battles” and “going to the dirty areas,” as was evident from the eye test, too. Was it something the Islanders, who deploy a 1-1-3 system, were doing or that the Flyers weren’t driving to the net?

“Yeah, I think both,” forward Noah Cates said. “I think we were kind of perimeter, not getting guys to the front of the net and different things like that. But they’re so structured, and that’s just kind of their MO, has been for the last couple of years, kind of their hard and stingy defensively, and just kind of winning battles down low, and then getting pucks to the net and getting bodies there is tough against them.”

The coach wore this one, saying it was on him. But he’s not the one on the ice making the plays. His players are the ones who need to step up.

“We just got our butts kicked on home ice in a game where it’s probably tough to get to, and a lot of fans in the building,” Jamie Drysdale said.

It seemed that as soon as the Islanders found the back of the net — while the Flyers were the ones on the power play — in the first period, it sucked the life out of the building and the team.

» READ MORE: The Flyers will be irrelevant as long as they lack a No. 1 center. A trade for Robert Thomas could change that.

“There was no effort coming back,” said a frustrated Tocchet, who answered a follow-up question that it was Hockey 101. “We didn’t even have the puck, and then we had two guys go to the same guy, and then one guy doesn’t backcheck.

“We don’t have the puck, just come back in the slot hard. One guy stays in front, the other guy takes him, there’s no goal. And who knows, if we’re zeros after the first, maybe. But it seemed like when they scored it, some guys accepted.”