The Flyers are facing too many shots, even when they win | On the Fly

Good morning, Flyers fans. If you watched all 60 minutes of Monday’s game, God bless you. You are officially a diehard.

Only a diehard would have refused to change channels. The Flyers dropped a 6-1 decision to visiting Buffalo and the score was not misleading. From the outset, the Sabres outplayed the Flyers in virtually every area.

Buffalo is not supposed to be a playoff contender this year, but the Sabres sure looked like one on Monday. The Sabres’ forecheck gave the Flyers fits. They controlled the neutral zone, won the majority of the board battles, and rarely gave the Flyers a quality scoring opportunity.

The Flyers will get a quick chance to redeem themselves, hosting the Sabres on Tuesday.

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— Sam Carchidi (flyers@inquirer.com)

In their first two games — opportunistic 6-3 and 5-2 wins over Pittsburgh — the Flyers didn’t play as well as those scores might suggest. They were outplayed in four of the six periods and were bailed out by Carter Harts’s goaltending, superb individual efforts by Joel Farabee (four points in Game 1) and Travis Konecny (hat trick, four points in Game 2), and a strong (!) power play.

But their 5-on-5 play was a work in progress.

And, so, after Monday’s loss to Buffalo, I asked coach Alain Vigneault if those wins perhaps gave his team a false sense of security entering the matchup against the Sabres.

“I don’t believe the Penguins games had anything to do with tonight,” Vigneault said. “I think we made it very clear to our team that we needed to play better than we did, and we obviously didn’t do that tonight. I think Buffalo should get a lot of credit. They played a strong game. They made a lot of the right plays. They made us look very bad on the ice. Without a doubt, this was a team loss.”

The Flyers had little pushback all night, and that was the most disturbing part of the defeat. Instead of responding after a Buffalo goal, they sagged and never seemed to put back-to-back good shifts together, and the play was in their defensive end for a majority of the night.

The Flyers, their defense out of sync without veteran Matt Niskanen, have been outshot in each of their three games, including a 36-22 margin against Buffalo. The Flyers allowed the fewest shots in the NHL (28.7 per game) a year ago. In the first three contests this season, they are allowing an average of 34 shots per game, having been outshot by a combined 103-67 margin.

Vigneault said he wasn’t concerned.

“It’s a small sample size,” he said after Buffalo ended a seven-game winless skid in Philly.

It is, but the defense clearly misses the steadiness and calm play provided by Niskanen, who surprisingly retired after last season. Just as surprisingly, the Flyers only added an offensive-minded defenseman, Erik Gustafsson, in the offseason.

Maybe after the defense, which has two new pairings this year, plays some more games together they will get into a rhythm and show marked improvement. Right now, they are turning the puck over too much and that is leading to quality chances for their opponents.

Vigneault tinkered with the pairings in the third period Monday. The biggest eye-opener was putting Travis Sanheim on the top pairing with Ivan Provorov. Gustafsson, who had been on the third pairing, joined the second pairing with Phil Myers. That left two lefties on the top pairing and two righties on the second pairing. (Technically, Gustafsson is lefthanded, but he has played primarily the right side for the last three-plus seasons and says he feels more comfortable there.)

With the game out of reach, it was a good time to experiment — Vigneault also tried some different line combinations — but it would be surprising if he kept those third-period pairings together Tuesday.

As for Monday’s loss, James van Riemsdyk said the Flyers “need to do a much better job supporting each other over the ice. … It felt like tonight we were too stretched out a lot of the game, and I think that forced us to chase the game a little bit. Obviously, not a good night for us.”

The Sabres’ forecheck frustrated the Flyers, who played without Sean Couturier (rib injury), their best all-around player and someone who is used in all situations. Couturier was injured early in Friday’s 5-2 win over Pittsburgh.

“Obviously, we miss Coots in the lineup, but we have other guys that will step up and can fill his role,” goalie Carter Hart said. “I think Coots plays a solid 200-foot game, but when he goes down like that, we just need guys to step up in his place.”

That didn’t happen Monday, but they have a chance to regroup and split the two-game series with Buffalo on Tuesday.

“It’s payback already [Tuesday]. It’s really nice we can play [right away],” Nic Aube-Kubel said after his late goal ended Buffalo’s shutout. “We don’t have to stay on that loss for a while.”

Said Vigneault: “I’m happy we can get right back at it and prove what type of team we are. That’s the opportunity we are going to get. … I expect a much better game from us. Much better execution. Much harder to play against, and I’m confident that that is what we are going to see.”

In their first three games, the Flyers have spent too much time in their own zone. They have allowed 34, 33 and 36 shots, respectively, in those games.

A year ago, they allowed 30 or more shots in three consecutive games just twice in their 69-game season.

It’s important to note that that, like all teams, the Flyers are still building chemistry among the lines and pairings, something that couldn’t be accomplished during an abbreviated training camp that didn’t have any exhibition games. There will be bumps in the road. In time, improvement should come.

Still, the shot totals and the quality scoring chances allowed need to be reduced. Hart is a top-notch goalie, but he can’t be under siege every game.

Thursday: Flyers at Boston, 7 p.m. (NBCSP)

Saturday: Flyers at Boston, 7 p.m. (NBCSP)

Tuesday: Flyers at New Jersey, 7 p.m. (NBCSP)

Thursday, Jan. 28: at New Jersey (NBCSP)

Question: The back-to-back games against the same team seem to be a big hit. What are the chances the NHL permanently implements this during a “normal” season? Obviously can’t do it with West teams, but definitely can with the East. — Louis Christopher (@lcvalent) via Twitter

Answer: Thanks for the great question, Louis. The NHL is mulling over several future options, and I think it will keep several two-game, baseball-like series in the future. The players like them, it reduces travel and saves teams plane costs, and it intensifies the rivalries. It’s a win all the way around.

Send questions by email (scarchidi@inquirer.com) or on Twitter (@broadstbull), and they could be answered in a future edition.