![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TMC-Z-Flyers-Hockey_26149.jpg\")
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler, left, brings the puck into the zone with New York Rangers defenseman Matthew Robertson, right, trailing during the second period Monday, March 9, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Chris Szagola)<\/p>\nPHILADELPHIA \u2013 Here\u2019s the thing: Even if the Flyers did somehow manage to squeak into the playoffs, what would be the point?<\/p>\n
They demonstrated in Monday night\u2019s game against the last-place New York Rangers they still have a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n
Maybe four wins in their previous five games had raised some hope.<\/p>\n
But after an embarrassing 6-2 loss to the last-place New York Rangers on Xfinity Mobile Arena home ice, why should any fans get their hopes up?<\/p>\n
Philadelphia remains seven points out of a playoff spot with 19 games to play.<\/p>\n
The six goals [in just two periods of play] were the most allowed by goaltender Dan Vladar this season.<\/p>\n
Both defenseman Nick Seeler and coach Rick Tocchet said the Flyers might have been suffering from a \u201clack of focus\u201d in this one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it was an energy thing,\u201d Seeler said. \u201cThe majority of the guys are playing the right way at this time of year. It takes everyone. Whether it\u2019s blocking shots, playing well in the \u2018D-zone.\u2019 And \u2018Vlady\u2019 [Vladar] deserved better. Everyone\u2019s got to get on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the Flyers\u2019 63rd game and the 42nd time they\u2019ve been scored upon first.<\/p>\n
Chasing games can be tiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard when you\u2019re down,\u201d Seeler said. \u201cYou can only be resilient for so long. We need to play the right way right from the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet went along with Seeler\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gave up six goals and four or five of them were in front of our net,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s the game. If you have a lack of focus in the D-zone, that\u2019s what happens. I just didn\u2019t like the D-zone converage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Have the Flyers taken the Rangers too lightly this season? They\u2019re just 1-2-1 against the Blueshirts and have surrendered a dozen goals in those two regulation-time losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope not,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have the right. That\u2019s a good question. I thought some guys [on the Flyers] looked nervous on the power play. You can\u2019t be nervous. You have to trust your instincts. You\u2019re going to have games like these when you get kicked in the teeth. That\u2019s where passion and all that stuff is going to be tested.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one of their ugliest periods of the season, the Flyers weren\u2019t even in competitive mode in the first as they fell behind by a 3-0 score.<\/p>\n
It was helter-skelter hockey from the get-go.The Rangers needed only 1:04 to score. No one covered Noah Laba in front, so he was able to easily convert a pass from Matthew Robertson.<\/p>\n
New York made it 2-0 at 13:07. Mika Zibanejad, one of the few Rangers having an above-average season, finished off a setup from Alex Lafreniere.<\/p>\n
Then the two switched roles on a power play. Lafreniere stationed himself right in the crease with little defensive resistance and finished off a Zibanejad feed with 37 seconds left in the period.<\/p>\n
Things didn\u2019t get much better in the second.<\/p>\n
After Matvei Michkov\u2019s power-play goal at 3:54, the Rangers went back to work.<\/p>\n
Two Ranger power-play goals followed as the Flyers played defense like the Keystone Cops. Gabe Perreault\u2019s shot shot at 6:40 made it 4-1, then Zibanejad went back to work, connecting from his favorite spot in the low end of the left circle at 18:40. Twenty seconds later, Vladislav Gavrikov\u2019s goal completed the onslaught.<\/p>\n
That was all for Vladar. He was replaced by Sam Ersson at the start of the third period.<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 penalty kill, normally a strength, gave up a season high-tying three goals. That didn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler, left, brings the puck into the zone with New York Rangers defenseman Matthew Robertson, right, trailing during the second period Monday, March 9, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Chris Szagola)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt needs to be better,\u201d Seeler agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s been strong here for a bit. That\u2019s a big part of the game. Special teams usually win the game. That had to be better tonight.\u201dSean Couturier was disappointed with the outcome and wasn\u2019t making any excuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t help him [Vladar] at all \u2026 awful,\u201d Couturier said. \u201cI don\u2019t care who you are playing, bad effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time of year, everyone\u2019s battling the same kind of schedule. It\u2019s on each individual to be ready, physically and mentally. I think mentally we weren\u2019t sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Konecny returns<\/p>\n
Travis Konecny returned to action after missing multiple games. Garnet Hathaway and Emil Andrae were scratched.<\/p>\n
Plan for Bump<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t sound like there\u2019s a set-in-stone plan for rookie Alex Bump, who played in just his second NHL game on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Konecny was back in the lineup so Tocchet chose to sit Hathaway to make room in the lineup for Bump, who played on a line with Konecny and Christian Dvorak.<\/p>\n
The Flyers could either keep Bump around or send him back to Lehigh Valley for a little more experience at the AHL level.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he\u2019s playing that well, how do you send him down?\u201d Tocchet said after the morning skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, New Jersey. \u201cSometimes for young players there\u2019s a wall and you have to let them play through that wall, have to play tired. Obviously he\u2019s in tonight, he played really well [in the first game].\u201d<\/p>\n
Short shots<\/p>\n
The Flyers have Tuesday off, then get set for a visit from the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night. \u2026 Vladar is just the fourth Flyers goaltender in the past 20 years to register 20 wins in his first year with the team. The others: Ilya Bryzgalov (33 in 2011-12), Sergei Bobrovsky (28 in 2010-11) and Brian Elliott (23 in 2017-18). \u2026 Trevor Zegras leads the NHL in shootout goals with six. On Monday night, he was back at center with Owen Tippett and Carl Grundstrom on the wings. \u2026 Couturier\u2019s goal with 4:32 to play was his first since Dec. 7 with a goaltender in the net. He had scored an empty-net goal in a recent game against Boston.<\/p>\n
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow his coverage at www.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2013 Here\u2019s the thing: Even if the Flyers did somehow manage to squeak into the playoffs, what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,11211],"class_list":{"0":"post-496103","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-dln"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116203688226143639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496103","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=496103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}