It\u2019s going to take a desperate effort by the Flyers almost every night to get back into the playoff picture. Wednesday night\u2019s effort was not a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Down to the Washington Capitals after two periods, the Flyers rallied for a tie the game 29 seconds into the third. But the Capitals retook the lead on a goal by defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk with 5:52 to play and went on to a 3-1 win at Bank One Arena.<\/p>\n
The teams traded scoring chances for almost the first 35 minutes with nothing to show for it until the Capitals finally broke through. A Flyer turnover led to a mismatch down low. Rasmus Sandin finished off a cross-crease pass from Hendrix Lapierre at 13:52.<\/p>\n
But the Flyers needed only 29 seconds in the third to tie the score. Travis Sanheim\u2019s long shot nicked off Noah Cates and past goaltender Logan Thompson. That ended Cates\u2019 18-game goal slump.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, one goal wasn\u2019t enough as the Flyers continue to struggle to score. Coach Rick Tocchet, working in-person with his team for the first time since Feb. 5, said his team has to establish a stronger presence in front of the opponent\u2019s net.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought there were parts of the game where we were pushed out in front,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cSo we have to start getting dirty in there. That\u2019s how you score. You\u2019ve got to get in front of the net and get those greasy goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers are just 3-9-4 in their last 16 games. This is not a bump in the road. It\u2019s a mountain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tic-tac-toe goals don\u2019t come late in the season,\u201d Tocchet said, alluding to the Flyers\u2019 sporadic physical play. \u201cSo we have to dial some guys to really get to the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
After vowing to come out of the break with some fire, the Flyers mostly produced smoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough one to lose,\u201d Christian Dvorak said. \u201cGave up too many odd-man rushes, especially late in the game. We had our chances, we just have to get a little more gritty in front of the net. Get some dirty goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cates knows the Flyers can\u2019t afford to play on the perimeter. They just aren\u2019t that offensively gifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to get more bodies there,\u201d said Cates, who was only several feet off the net when his goal went in. \u201cGet some bodies there. Just a huge 25 games (left). We need these points.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers had the better of the play in the first period, generating several good scoring chances and outshooting the Caps, 9-7. Goaltender Dan Vladar, back from the Olympics, was spotless in the opening frame.<\/p>\n
The Flyers, eight points out of a playoff spot going into their final 26 games, know there is little margin for error. So they had to hit the ice at full speed. Travis Konecny said the Flyers are aware of the stakes in each of these games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if we can just get back to fresh legs,\u201d Konecny said. \u201cPlaying the way we were (at the start of the season). Details, how we want to play our system and things like that. I think it\u2019s definitely doable. We know it\u2019s in the locker room. We\u2019ll see how the first two games go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
NOTES >> The Flyers complete a back-to-back with a game in New York against the Rangers Thursday. It\u2019s an 8 p.m. start. \u2026 The Caps were without Canadian Olympian Tom Wilson and defenseman John Carlson. \u2026 Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen finished a plus-9 in the Olympic tournament for Finland, which tied for the overall lead. Sanheim, playing for Canada, was plus-6. \u2026 Carl Grundstrom made a rare start on the fourth line with Nikita Grebenkin and Garnet Hathaway. \u2026 Defenseman Noah Juulsen played in his 200th NHL game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s going to take a desperate effort by the Flyers almost every night to get back into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472548,"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-472547","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\/116135622279860299","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472547","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=472547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}