Last season, the Philadelphia Flyers had a Cinderella season, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals after an abysmal 2006-07. This season, the club is off to a horrid start, going without a victory in their first six games. Why are the Flyers in such a funk?
Flyers Injured Defensemen
Ryan Parent - out 3-4 months with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Randy Jones - out after surgery for a torn labrum in his hip. Derian Hatcher - on the shelf with an injured knee. Three key injuries on the blue line have thinned out the club's defensive corps to the point that Philadelphia had to keep Luca Sbisa, the Flyers first-pick in this year's draft, up with the big club rather than sending him down to the minors or even juniors. Sbisa, along with Ossi Vaananen and the recently acquired Andrew Alberts from Boston simply are not of the caliber of a Jones or Parent.
And this thinned-out defense has no doubt contributed to the Flyers giving up a leads twice against Montreal and San Jose thus far this young season, which resulted in four of their six losses.
Flyers Goaltenders Seeing More Shots
With a depleted group of defensemen, Flyers goaltenders are seeing more rubber, and are subsequently letting in more goals. Through October 20th, the club is averaging 31 shots on goal given up per game, and the goalie tandem of Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki have given up a combined 22 goals against, worst in the Eastern Conference. Add to those numbers 35 shots given up by Philly in a 7-6 shootout loss to San Jose on October 22nd. Biron and Niittymaki have already each been pulled once this season. The Flyers goaltenders can only play as well as their fellow Flyers in front of them, and those fellow Flyers simply haven't been very good defensively so far this season.
Flyers Taking Too Many Penalties
In the loss to Colorado on October 16th, the Flyers took 12 penalties, twice as many as the Avalanche. And Colorado capitalized on the power play that night, scoring three with the man advantage. In a loss to San Jose on the 18th, Philadelphia again took double digits in penalties (12) in a 5-4 overtime loss. The Flyers have a tendency to play undisciplined at times and take bad penalties in bunches. It hurt them in last season's playoff run, and it's proving to be equally as devastating in the early stages of this season.
When Does the Flyers Losing Streak End?
Of course, all of the concern about the Flyers bad start may be moot in a few months or even weeks should they finally get healthy on defense and reel off a series of wins. The club is, on paper, far more talented than their current last-place standing in the Atlantic Division. But the Flyers are only two seasons removed from an equally dismal 1-6-1 start that cost both then-coach Ken Hitchcock and G.M. Bob Clarke their jobs. Current coach John Stevens' job is safe, by all indications, but could this lousy start be a harbinger of bad things to come?
