The Philadelphia Flyers lost their fourth straight game Sunday afternoon. Losing 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils.
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2:20… 4 shifts… 8:50 glued to the bench.
That was Matvei Michkov’s stat line in the 1st period after being benched by John Tortorella.
Michkov was slow getting back into the zone on the Devils opening goal. Then, drifted and stayed in top of zone by the blue line instead of picking up the eventual goal scorer in the high slot.
His one defensive lapse in his first four shifts resulted in a 1st period benching.
This isn’t an unusual treatment by John Tortorella on the Flyers young superstar. It has happened multiple times this season already. Once even for more than half the game.
The benching lasted just to the end of the period, like most of them have this year.
While will continued benchings may look bad on the surface, its for the greater good. Especially for the future of this Flyers team where they will relying heavily on Michkov.
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After showing no effort in their last three games, the Flyers finally showed some grit and meaning today.
The two Devils goals came off very unfortunate bounces. Both resulting from the Flyers trying to make the smart play, but the puck ending up in the back of the net.
In their previous three games, the Flyers had no structure… no fight… and flat out, just no heart.
But, even in today’s loss, the Flyers started to get back to their style of play. Even with the games becoming less meaningless as the losses mount up.
The main point now for the Flyers is to not lose what they are trying to build. Which, is a slippy slope with the team knowing they are fighting an uphill battle on a nightly basis.
However, as the old saying says – when the going gets tough, the tough get going – it is still beneficial for the Flyers to find who can last and who separates themselves as a future piece on this team.
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QUICK HITS…
+ Jamie Drysdale played in career game #200 this afternoon. In 77 games with the Flyers, he has 6 goals and 14 assists.
+ Travis Konecny’s goal-less is now stands at 8 games. Konecny has just 2 goals in his last 24 games after starting the season with 20 goals in the first 41 games.
+ Ivan Fedotov followed up his great performance in Winnipeg with another strong effort. Stopping 21 of 23 Devils shots.
Next up, the Ottawa Senators Tuesday at 7:00 pm at the Wells Fargo Center.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mitchell Leff – Getty Images
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