Flyers say their winless start hasn’t fractured the locker room ‘one ounce’: ‘We’re all in this together’
The Flyers are off to a franchise-worst start at 0-5-2, but they believe they have what it takes to turn this around. “The only way we’re going to get out of it is in the room," said Nick Seeler.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum,” a man is sentenced to death and awakens to find himself in a small, airless room with a pit below. He faints and wakes up, this time tied to a wooden board with a razor-sharp pendulum swinging above him, inching closer and closer with every move.
It ticks and tocks as Father Time swings it back and forth. Tick. Tock. Dread. Inevitable doom. Tick Tock.
» READ MORE: The winless Flyers are in complete disarray, and the clock is quickly ticking for them to turn it around
The Flyers have not yet been handed a death sentence. But the weight of every loss and extension of their season-opening winless streak, now at a franchise-record seven games entering their matchup with the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP), feels as heavy as the hopelessness the man had in the cell.
Is time also ticking on this close-knit roster and/or the coaching staff? When things go bad, and teams can’t get out of it on their own, as soul singer Sam Cooke said, “A change is gonna come.”
“We’re not thinking about that right now,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “We’re trying to win hockey games, and we’re not where we need to be, and that’s all we’re focusing on right now.
“The only way we’re going to get out of it is in the room and just get back to how we know we can play,” he said. “We just need to have compete and man-on-back mentality, and hold on to pucks, and do what the coaches have been preaching.
“I think we had a good meeting this morning, and it starts in this room. Obviously, unacceptable what’s been going on, and we all know that in the room, and we just have to stick together and get through it together.”
Through seven games, the Flyers rank dead last in almost every statistical category, including goals per game (1.14), shots per game (20), and shots against per game (35.1).
The advanced stats are just as bad, per Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five. Last in Corsi for (shot attempts) percentage (37.96%) and scoring chances for percentage (32.18%), highest expected goals against (19.6), and they are tied with the Calgary Flames — who, by the way, haven’t won a game either — for the worst high-danger goals for percentage (18.18%).
“It’s been a horrible two weeks. It’s been horrible. We know it, and we’re the ones — we have to fix it,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “The coaches did a [heck] of a job [on] a day off, and they came in, and they put a video together of what we can get better at, and I think every guy watched it last night. Hopefully it transpires in the game.”
Although coaches tend to get the first slice of the axe, Seeler squarely put the onus on the players to work the team out of the doldrums. And that’s fair, as they are the ones on the ice doing — or in this case, not doing — the work.
» READ MORE: How does the Flyers' franchise-worst winless start compare to some of the city's other pro sports teams?
“There hasn’t been one ounce of turning on each other. We’re all in this together, and it’s at times where guys are speaking up, and there’s also times where it’s just complete silence,” forward Owen Tippett said.
“And we know what we have to do, and there’s nothing really to be said other than each guy knowing what they have to do. And I think that’s kind of what makes it harder at times. But it’s also nice that we have that, and guys aren’t going to turn on each other, and we’re all in this together. And to get out of it, it’s going to be all of us.”
Breakaways
Flyers president Keith Jones was at the Prudential Center on Monday watching the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils. The Flyers have expressed interest in centers on the Senators, notably Shane Pinto, in the past. … The power play is one thing that is not currently ranked last; it is sixth-worst at 9.5%. … Goalie Dan Vladař will start in goal, and forward Jack Studnicka will make his Flyers debut, centering the fourth line with Noel Acciari and Michael Bunting. ... Defenseman Helge Grans, who was placed on waivers Monday, cleared.
