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Flyers Schedule Only Gets Harder After Losing Four Games in a Row and Dan Vladar to Injury, But Other Than That, Everything is Great
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The Flyers got thumped 5-2 in Buffalo on Wednesday night despite allowing just 14 shots. They’ve lost two games inside of that barn this season by the same score.
It’s four losses in a row now as the orange and black fall out of a playoff spot.
“We’re not making the big moment, not playing smart hockey,” head coach Rick Tocchet said after the loss. “We have moments and we’re not delivering right now. That’s the key, that’s it. (We concede just) 14 shots, but we’re giving up four unbelievable middle shots, which is, the last couple of games it’s uncharacteristic of the team right now… the last three games – I don’t know, pressure? Things like that we’ve got to deal with. You gotta push back on certain things, but stupid penalties aren’t going to help. We have to react better to moments.”
To make matters worse, Dan Vladar exited via injury and Sam Ersson had to come in. The Flyers didn’t even say if it was an “upper body” or “lower body” injury, we just got “injury” from the team, which is sad and funny at the same time. Soon the NHL is only going to tell us that a player suffered a “body injury” and then we’re going to have to Zapruder the film trying to find out what exactly happened.
For now, add Vladar to an injury list that includes Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Rasmus Ristolainen. They’ve had to elevate guys like Carl Grundstrom and Nikita Grebenkin to fill the forward absences and they’ve only scored six goals in their last four games. Granted, three were against the bogeymen Lightning and Leafs, and the Sabres are on fire, but the Flyers have looked like a totally different team since smacking around Quitter Gauthier and the Ducks on January 6th.
To make matters worse, the upcoming schedule continues to be a grind:
- Tonight: at Pittsburgh (on the second half of a road/road back to back)
- Saturday: vs. Rangers
- Monday: at Vegas (1st in Pacific)
- Wednesday: at Utah
- Friday: at Colorado (best team in the NHL)
They need the Rangers home game badly. Even a loser point in Yinzerville helps. But if Vladar is out for an extended period of time before leaving for the Olympics, the Flyers might be toast. Then we’re hitting the Tankathon board and looking at the draft order for 2026.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com