Flyers Must Address Concerning Trend to Remain Competitive

The Philadelphia Flyers almost completely blew their 3-0 lead against the San Jose Sharks on Monday night. Almost. While the Flyers, who were up 3-0 at one point, recovered and managed to win 4-3 in the shootout, they almost fell victim to a concerning trend that has plagued them all year once again.

That trend is the consistent second period collapses. Through 16 games this season, the Flyers have scored only 10 second period goals, the second-fewest in the NHL ahead of only the Anaheim Ducks (5). At the other end of the ice, the Flyers have allowed a whopping 27, the most in the NHL.



Put two and two together, and the Flyers have a -17 goal differential in the second period this season. No other team in the NHL has a worse goal differential in any period. Jamie Drysdale Injury Status and Update Ahead of Flyers vs.

Sharks So, although the Flyers have crawled out of the league’s basement into 23rd place, there is a reason they were there in the first place. The irony is that two points separate them from 15th place, where the Bruins sit with 16 points, and last place, where the Nashville Predators have only 12 points. There is often a fine line between winning and losing in the National Hockey League, and the Flyers nearly found that out the hard way once again on Monday night.

Flyers seek to remedy their issues In his return to the lineup following a two-game absence, Matvei Michkov scored a beautiful breakaway goal early in the second period to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead. Jack Thompson and Mikael Granlund struck within 3:04 of each other to bring the Sharks within one goal heading into the third period. For all the world, it looked like the Flyers would turn the cruise control on and run away with that one.

Instead, they slammed on the brakes, and San Jose crawled back into the game. And they aren’t the first team to bedevil the Flyers in the middle stanza this season, either. “We have a lesson to learn there.

Found a way to win,” head coach John Tortorella said bluntly after the game. “I liked our game other than three or four minutes. We do some dumb stuff.

” The Flyers escaped the Sharks with two points, but they’ll have tougher matchups ahead, including Colorado, Carolina, and Vegas. There’s no time like the present to buck the second period trend and put the past in the past. This article first appeared on Philly Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission.

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