The Philadelphia Flyers are 12th in the Eastern Conference, but general manager Paul Holmgren said no coaching change is imminent.
In speaking with the media Thursday, Holmgren said, "I haven't even thought about" making a coaching change.
Rather, he placed the impetus on his players to raise their level. The Flyers have lost four of their past five, including a 5-2 defeat against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday that dropped them three points out of a Stanley Cup Playoff spot with 20 games left in the regular season -- the fewest of any team in the League, starting with a rematch with the Devils on Friday at Wells Fargo Center.
"If there were 100 puck battles, I don’t know if we won a handful of them," Holmgren said of the loss Wednesday. He added that his team was "making a lot of mistakes. Some of them are from a lack of competitiveness, and I think our team needs to compete better. I don't think we can let the players off the hook here."
Laviolette was hired by the Flyers on Dec. 4, 2009, and led the team to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. They've made the playoffs all three seasons he has been coach. His players staunchly defended him after the game Wednesday.
"It's not his fault; we play the game," defenseman Kimmo Timonen told reporters. "It's always easy to blame the coach. He only places the system down and we have to execute the system. If we don't, then that's our fault."
Scott Hartnell said, "[Laviolette] is emotional. He's intense. He thinks the game really well. His bench awareness is great. It's definitely not his fault. I think a lot of guys have a lot of respect for him."
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