With the lower-body injury (likely a groin pull) suffered by Ryan Parent last night, the Flyers face the scary proposition of either using Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and Danny Syvret as a defense pairing or splitting up the struggling Kimmo Timonen - Braydon Coburn pairing temporarily. Either way, it's not a promising scenario.
In each of the last two games, John Stevens has had to shorten the bench and more or less go with four defensemen. Tollefsen has struggled in the limited ice time he's received and the club is trying to careful in how it spots Syvret. Neither player can be considered a reliable starting NHL defenseman at this point.
Last night, after Parent went down, the Flyers gave very heavy ice time to their top four defensemen. After the game, Chris Pronger acknowledged that that with the hot temperatures and soft ice last night, the game was "taxing" on him. It showed, as he looked very heavy legged in the third period.
****
Six games into the 2009-10 regular season, my early impression of this Flyers club is that it's not significantly better or worse than the clubs of the last two seasons. They can look like a dominant team for 25 to 40 minutes a game and can just as readily look flawed and vulnerable.
"Team bonding" platitudes aside, what did the team really accomplish with their five days of off-ice activities in Florida? I fully realize that long layoffs are often more detrimental than helpful to a team (and it's ridiculous to have so much idle time in October when the team already has a compacted schedule later in the season due to the Olympics). Yes, it's early in the season and a team needs time for the pieces to fall in place.
Even so, I get the sense that none of the carryover problems that scuttled the club's hopes for a lengthy postseason run last year have been solved. How many times can John Stevens talk about accountability and attention to detail before management starts to question whether the club's seeming inability to carry solid first periods over through the rest of the game reflects on the man behind the bench?
I'm not advocating that the team fire John Stevens. But I am saying that I'd like to see this hockey team get back to point where it rarely beats itself, doesn't get outworked and gets angry at iself after losses. Not panicked, but motivated to do what it takes to avoid putting themselves in must-win situations later in the season (when points in the standings become increasingly hard to come by).
Florida competed hard last night and gained ever-increasing confidence because the Flyers couldn't get any separation on the scoreboard. Let's be honest here, though. Florida was still very beatable last night, and a club that fancies itself a "relentless" and hungry contender should have found a way to get the job done.
Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at last night's game, and the fickle nature of special teams play.
*****
I will be doing book signings for the Pelle Lindbergh book on Nov. 4 at the Chester County Book Company (starting at 7 PM) and on the afternoon of Dec. 12 at the Barnes and Noble in Deptford, NJ.
You can order
Pelle Lindbergh: Behind the White Mask online at
Barnes & Noble, via
Amazon or through
Middle Atlantic Press.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»