PHILADELPHIA \u2014\u00a0One of the reasons the Flyers have struggled so much recently is that their special teams haven\u2019t been too special.<\/p>\n
Entering Saturday\u2019s game against the New York Rangers, the Flyers\u2019 power play had slipped to last in the NHL at 15.0 percent. The NHL average is 20.8.<\/p>\n
But perhaps the even more alarming number is the penalty kill. It started the season in the middle of the pack but, through 46 games, has fallen to 23rd at 77.8 percent.<\/p>\n
The Flyers looked better on the penalty kill in Saturday\u2019s 6-3 loss to the Rangers but still gave up one power-play goal on three attempts.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a pregame press conference at Xfinity Mobile Arena, coach Rick Tocchet discussed the issues facing his team outside of 5-on-5 play.<\/p>\n
The PK surrendered three goals in Thursday night\u2019s 6-3 loss at Pittsburgh. It was the second half of a back-to-back, in which the Flyers have struggled the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to look at the whole picture,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cSpecial teams have been a problem, they\u2019re biting us, especially right now. The PK has been leaking oil. Playing Devo (Christian Dvorak) on the power play, PK, \u2026 is there fatigue?\u201d<\/p>\n
It would help if the Flyers didn\u2019t take so many penalties, too. Nineteen teams have been shorthanded fewer times than the Flyers\u2019 144 entering Saturday action. The Flyers have only 20 power-play goals, last in the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to be a little bit of nervousness,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cIf you look at the last game (at Pittsburgh), we had three chances at the top of the slot. I think we had two blocked. That\u2019s execution. These are the things we\u2019re not getting right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
After the loss to the Rangers, Travis Konecny gave his thoughts on what has gone wrong of late.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to understand there are going to be lows like this,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of time to turn it around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Konecny is in his ninth year in the NHL. As one of the team\u2019s alternate captains, he speaks up when he feels it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n
Now might be one of those times. The Flyers went into this skid not having lost more than two games in a row all year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the effort was there,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all put in the time in practice. Things go the other way, the bounces and then we get frustrated. It\u2019s been like a weird, frustrating two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
NOTES >> Goaltender Dan Vladar, injured against Buffalo Wednesday, is listed as day-to-day, according to Tocchet. \u201cIt depends on how he feels after therapy \u2013 after 24 hours, whether you get better or not, what percentage,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cSo it\u2019s hard to pinpoint exactly.\u201d\u2026Bobby Brink did not play Saturday but could return on a road trip through Vegas, Utah and Colorado. Tocchet reported that Brink skated Saturday morning. \u2026 Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has been sidelined with an upper-body injury and will not make the trip. He was placed on injured reserve Saturday. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a long-term injury,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cIs it a week thing? Maybe.\u201d \u2026 Tocchet put rookie Denver Barkey on a line with Matvei Michkov against Pittsburgh, and both players seemed to respond. Michkov connected for his 10th goal of the season, just his second since Dec. 1. \u201cThey seemed to have a little fun playing with each other,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cThere was a little bit of pep in their step. For them it\u2019s being close together. A little chemistry, finding each other. I want them to have some fun and make some plays.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014\u00a0One of the reasons the Flyers have struggled so much recently is that their special teams haven\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-413821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115914418641741113","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}