The Flyers made some plays in this game that deserve mention. Included among them were several well-placed sticks by Noah Cates on a solid defensive night, and a shift by Scott Laughton in the second period where he almost single-handedly tied the game up.
But the bulk of this reflection goes to some background behind the numbers on the San Jose side. Most people will awaken Wednesday to see that the Flyers lost to a team that was 0-11-1 and had given up 10 goals in each of their two previous games.
Here’s the funny thing about hockey. When an NHL team hasn’t won in four or five contests – much less 11 – and that run has been punctuated by giving up 10 goals in consecutive games, almost no other NHL team wants to be the next to play that team. That’s because performances like that are not going to keep happening forever, even if nothing else goes on around the team. All are aware of the determination that will be in place on the part of the players and coaching staff to stop a slide like that. It is a classic “wounded animal” scenario.
But something else did go on around the Sharks on Monday – namely, general manager Mike Grier read his team the riot act, as outlined by Grier in a 45-minute media availability after the chat. (A 45-minute media availability is exceptionally long when someone isn’t getting hired or fired.) One of the main points was that Grier felt it was too easy for opponents to waltz into SAP Center and play the Sharks, and he wanted his team to change that. Immediately.
Given those circumstances, it was absolutely no surprise that the Sharks came out like they did against the Flyers on Tuesday. Yes, the Flyers made some mistakes over the course of the contest that didn’t help matters – for example, all five players were on one side of the ice when Anthony Duclair scored the Sharks’ first goal coming down the other side. But an early Sharks goal in this contest was about as predictable as the sunrise.
What wasn’t necessarily predictable was the Flyers having as much trouble generating offense as they did. But San Jose’s newfound directive and general sour demeanor built up over the last week caused the game to unfold like it did – with 74 penalty minutes, 37 per side. That caused a disjointed game with lots of special-teams play, which is not a situation in which the Flyers thrive right now.
So much happened over the course of the game that could be directly attributed to Grier’s mandate. When Travis Konency bumped Mackenzie Blackwood late in the first period, whatever his intent, if a Shark hadn’t gone after him then some of the Sharks on the ice at that point may not have been Sharks much longer. The Flyers played their best during a mostly penalty-free third period when there were long stretches of 5-on-5 hockey. Unfortunately for the Flyers, Mackenzie Blackwood had his best game of the season.
So on this particular night, the 0-11-1 start was irrelevant in determining the quality of the opponent. The effectiveness of Grier’s message will likely be short-lived, perhaps for not much longer than San Jose’s next game against Edmonton on Thursday, another team currently on life support.
From here, there isn’t much to dissect other than the Flyers simply caught the Sharks on the wrong night. There are issues the team needs to sort out, but nothing new that popped up in this particular game. They’ll simply push forward and get ready for Anaheim on Friday.
