Another brutal Philadelphia Flyers loss, another instance of head coach John Tortorella really giving it to them in the post-game press conference.
Following the 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Monday night — a game that the Flyers really needed to win to solidify their playoff hopes — Tortorella took his allotted time to speak with the media as a chance to really dig into his issues with the team. And it seems like they’re less specific and more just broad impressions after losing a gutsy game where his team needed two points.
“Soft. One guy played: The goalie,” Tortorella aptly said.
One positive that Tortorella took away from the game is the first impression of his new goaltender, Ivan Fedotov. After original starter Sam Ersson did not look all that great, giving two goals on the six shots he faced in the first period, the 27-year-old Russian netminder took the reins the rest of the way, making 19 saves and allowing two goals, including the overtime game-winner.
Outside of the netminder’s NHL debut, Tortorella had nothing good to say about his roster. Going as far to say that some just don’t have it in them to compete when the games become important.
“You’re finding things out here, when these games are a whole different plane. It’s still regular season, but it’s a whole different thing. So we’re finding things out,” he said.
“Not the whole game and not the whole group. There are certain people who don’t have a clue how to play, or just don’t have it in them, to play in these situations. That’s why I’m glad we’re playing in them, because we have to figure things out as far as what we’re going to become as a team.
“That was embarrassing in the second period for the Philadelphia Flyers uniform. High marks how we came back in the third, for some guys.”
Yeesh. That is rough, but not completely unnecessary.
The Flyers did take multiple feet off of multiple proverbial gas pedals in the middle period. In 15 minutes and 15 seconds of 5-on-5 play, the Islanders had a 28-9 lead in shot attempts, had five high-danger attempts while the Flyers had none, and managed to get 15 shots on goal to the home team’s two. It was a mess in all three zones.
Maybe the Flyers were just completely out of gas, as they have played a heck of a lot of hockey over the past month, but Tortorella won’t hear any excuse about fatigue. He views rest as a factor, but certainly not the factor.
“Yeah, yeah, we can talk about that shit too. Rest, this, that, the other thing. If you don’t have enough balls to play in these types of games, rest doesn’t do us any good,” the Flyers coach said.
One player had to stand tall for the Flyers to come out completely even in that second period, with one goal scored and one goal allowed during those 20 minutes. And Tortorella made the call to make the switch in between the pipes, and for Fedotov to make his debut, during the first intermission.
“I wanted to bring him in, it just didn’t look right with (Ersson), and I was really impressed,” he said. “I put him in a hell of a spot and he’s the only goddamn player to play in the second period.”
Well, as if this couldn’t be more perfectly time. After the controversial result and brutal talk about this team, they now have three days until their next slate of games. Coming up next, is a back-to-back against the lowly duo of the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets — two teams whose playoffs hopes have died months ago (or before the season started). Now it will be a true test to really see what this team is made of.
If they can’t get up for two crucial games against, frankly, bad teams, to earn at least three points and keep themselves in the running for the playoffs, then what are we even doing here?
The Flyers are still in third in the Metropolitan Division, but the Washington Capitals are just one point below and have three games in-hand. Additionally, the Detroit Red Wings are just one point behind if the Flyers drop into the Wild Card, and the New York Islanders are just four points behind with two games in-hand, as well.
Philadelphia has put themselves in a precautious position to potentially be placed out of the playoffs. All of this after holding this position for the majority of the season. The possibility of them falling out and missing by a couple points is becoming more of a reality, so Tortorella’s response feels just a little justified.
