The Flyers haven't been very resilient lately...

That game could've been really ugly if not for Mason. It's a shame the Flyers couldn't cash in and get a win. Another reason why using wins as an individual stat for a goalie is silly.
- NickTheKid87

Wins for goalies and pitchers in baseball are really silly stats. They don't mean anything. So many extenuating circumstances that play into it.

Tonight I would like to see this.

Schenn - Giroux - Voracek
Laughton - Couturier - Bellemare
Read - Vinny - Simmonds
Rinaldo - VDV - Akeson


First line has been playing well together. Second line I want to get Couturier more skill and better wingers. Also if Laughton is here then play him. Bellemare has actually been playing well and seems to always find the puck. Thrid line gets vinny some speed on wings and Read has good defensive awareness. Fourth line is what it is.

Tonight I would like to see this.

Schenn - Giroux - Voracek
Laughton - Couturier - Bellemare
Read - Vinny - Simmonds
Rinaldo - VDV - Akeson


First line has been playing well together. Second line I want to get Couturier more skill and better wingers. Also if Laughton is here then play him. Bellemare has actually been playing well and seems to always find the puck. Thrid line gets vinny some speed on wings and Read has good defensive awareness. Fourth line is what it is.
- J35Bacher

Needs more burger.

Go talk Islanders hockey on your page dude. By seasons end you'll have plenty to laugh about... or cry about. Idk how you deal with years of insignificance.
- GOA88

The old seasons end argument huh? Avoid the present. I guess I would if I were you too. When exactly are the Flyers going to turn it around? When they get their game changer Andrew MacDonald back in the line up? The rest of the division is looking fwd to his return as well!
All I said to you was I couldn't tell if you were joking as far as saying that you had more talent than the Panthers? Simple question and pretty valid as well yet you fly off the handle. I honestly don't think you do and there are probably more people than not that'd agree.

I really hope the ceremony is televised, and it's a well deserved honor for both guys. Hopefully next summer, Lindros will get into the Hall of Fame and we can see 88 hang from the rafters of the Wells Fargo Center.

Last night's "game" was an utter debacle.

Berube and Hextall are right to shred the players. Outside of the first line, and maybe Laughton and Bellemare, they sucked. There was piss poor execution and as the game went on they got outworked and outplayed by a wide margin. Only the sheer brilliance of Mason kept the game close on the scoreboard.

Vincent Lecavalier was terrible. Matt Read may as well have stayed in Philly. Wayne Simmonds was culpable for bad coverage on the first goal. Bryadon Coburn has continued to look terrible since his return from injury. Nick Grossmann didn't look much better. Sean Couturier had a rough night, including a very bad turnover that led to an odd man rush, and soon after the first goal. RJ Umberger looked like a corpse, until finally, Berube moved him to Couturier's line where they showed some life late in the game.

As bad as the players were, I'm going to toss some blame onto the coach. Berube said, after the game that the only guys that showed up were Giroux, Schenn, Voracek, Laughton and Mason. If that's the case, why did Laughton see 7 minutes of ice time, while Lecavalier (16:24) & Umberger (15:44) kept getting shift after shift? I don't care if they are vets, they're playing poor hockey and have been for awhile.

The coach has to do a better job of putting players in the right situations. That means you don't keep the highly ineffective VinnyBurger pair together. You don;t leave Simmonds at LW when he's clearly uncomfortable there and you have Read on the same line, who has played-and been effective-as a LW extensively over the past few years. You don't take the freshly recalled top prospect and jam him in between Rinaldo & VandeVelde and play him just 4 minutes through the first 2 periods.

It's a Catch-22. The players are, by and large, playing poorly. They have trouble executing routine and basic plays. They blow defensive coverage so often it's a sick joke. They get to running around in their own end and have no energy to win puck battles and push the offense the other way. They lack intensity at times and seemingly can't find it until they are in a deep hole with no way out. The leadership group on the team needs to start demanding more out of the rest of the roster.

But the coach has to do a better job of holding guys accountable and putting the guys he has in a better position to succeed. Lecavalier isn't going to have success playing with Umberger and VandeVelde. Akeson isn't going to be effective if he's with VandeVelde and Rinaldo. Simmonds needs somebody that can get him the puck in the cycling game, and get shots on so he can be a disruptive presence in front of the net. Couturier & Read need to have help in the defensive zone if they're going to improve their offensive games.
- Jsaquella

I agree with what you're saying and it's amazing that fans notice this, and yet coaches turn a blind eye to it. I'm sure someone, in his infinite wisdom, will call us out and say something along the lines of "do you think you know more than the coaches...etc etc". I couldn't help but notice your Andy Reid impersonation here. Spot on!

Its not even having a pair, it's simply holding guys accountable. Instead of playing guys like Laughton or Bellemare more, he chose to give more minutes to Umberger & Lecavalier. He'll, he could have increased Rinaldo's ice time, as well, because Zac was giving a good effort when he's out there.

Nobody's absolving the players. They share-and in fact carry the lion's share-of the blame. Berube is 100% correct when he says only 4 or 5 guys played worth a damn last night.

The trouble is, when there's players playing badly, over an extended period and there's no consequences, it's hard for me to not blame the coach to an extent. You can talk about accountability all you want, but when you don't practice it, the message loses it's meaning.

It's tough for the players to hold a guy who is supposed to be a veteran leader to task for lazy & stupid play.
- Jsaquella

At least you could see guys like Rinaldo, Bellemare, Laughton.. Moving their feet. These players should simply have more ice time. They are working harder and going to get to more pucks. I don't mind Berube and we can't fire him yet but I really don't understand what he sees in Umberger. He is useless and there really is no argument.
He was " supposed" to bring a defensive, smart brand of hockey. He has just been lost but yet gets rewarded with ice time and PP time.

There just seems to be something wrong with chemistry and IMO a trade could shake things up. A trade where we don't get burned ( Schenn and Zombie)

There's no argument here. It's not about a system. There isn't a single hockey system in the world that could be effective with a team as soft as the Flyers are right now. With a team that doesn't skate, and doesn't compete.
Throwing words like system around, when it's not even known what it actually is.
- MJL

Im not blaming Berube for this teams poor play...just like i didnt blame Lavy for the teams poor play when he was coach. To me its about the players. This mix of players is just not good enough. I'm confused by your unwavering support of Berube compared to your previous criticism if Lavy. I haven't seen anything interesting or even slightly more advanced than your average high school coach come out of Berube. He has virtually no track record as a head coach. Lacy on the other hand has a great track record of coaching winning teams in the NHL.

Needs more burger.
- PLindbergh31

I am a huge hamburger fan... But not a Zombieburger fan.

Wins for goalies and pitchers in baseball are really silly stats. They don't mean anything. So many extenuating circumstances that play into it.
- PLindbergh31

Yup. It's nice to see the MLB pulling away from really using wins as the basis for the Cy Young Award like in years passed. When Felix Hernandez won in 2010 with 13 wins, I was thrilled. The NHL awards voters don't take wins into account as crucially either. They shouldn't be taken into account at all though. It makes Brodeur look like the best goalie ever too which we know isn't true.

this team sucks the life out of its fans

If they Flyers had a better team that could execute more effectively, leading to goals and general success, I think a lot of the woes of the team that we've seen the last few years would be gone. Winning cures all and having a team that doesn't get trapped in their D-zone as often as the Flyers do would be helpful. Hopefully Ghost, Sanheim, etc. pan out and we can get some more complimentary forwards and the team can push the puck in the right direction.

The old seasons end argument huh? Avoid the present. I guess I would if I were you too. When exactly are the Flyers going to turn it around? When they get their game changer Andrew MacDonald back in the line up? The rest of the division is looking fwd to his return as well!
All I said to you was I couldn't tell if you were joking as far as saying that you had more talent than the Panthers? Simple question and pretty valid as well yet you fly off the handle. I honestly don't think you do and there are probably more people than not that'd agree.
- Cptmjl

No I'm saying by the end of the season the Islanders along with the Panthers will fail to make the playoffs. AGAIN. While Philly will be another 1st rd exit, but in the playoffs nonetheless.

Yup. It's nice to see the MLB pulling away from really using wins as the basis for the Cy Young Award like in years passed. When Felix Hernandez won in 2010 with 13 wins, I was thrilled. The NHL awards voters don't take wins into account as crucially either. They shouldn't be taken into account at all though. It makes Brodeur look like the best goalie ever too which we know isn't true.
- NickTheKid87

Definitely. Outside of Mason, last night was an unmitigated disaster. It really speaks volumes how consistently this team doesn't show up. The lack of effort is really pathetic.
- PLindbergh31

It's weird because they were showing signs of life before the 5 day break.

So what teams need defense? That is where I am moving Coburn. I could start my package with Coburn and Read and add a pick depending on what type of player is coming back. I know this team is taking less penalties but I feel like they miss having that physical presence. I want a winger with some grit.

Jamie McGinn
Evander Kane
Marcus Foligno
Nick Foligno
Devante Smith-Pelly
Pat Maroon
Alex Burmistrov
Matt Calvert

It's weird because they were showing signs of life before the 5 day break.
- Hextall271

If only we could play the Oilers every night

Hexy, thank you for bringing some emotion into that dressing room...I would keep Giroux, Voracek and Mason and purge the rest

Im not blaming Berube for this teams poor play...just like i didnt blame Lavy for the teams poor play when he was coach. To me its about the players. This mix of players is just not good enough. I'm confused by your unwavering support of Berube compared to your previous criticism if Lavy. I haven't seen anything interesting or even slightly more advanced than your average high school coach come out of Berube. He has virtually no track record as a head coach. Lacy on the other hand has a great track record of coaching winning teams in the NHL.
- Dkos

I was wondering the same thing myself...seems a bit hypocritical to me

If only we could play the Oilers every night
- PhillySportsGuy

Not sure if we would have beaten the Oilers with last night's effort.

Not sure if we would have beaten the Oilers with last night's effort.
- Hextall271

Vancouver did…Barely

No I'm saying by the end of the season the Islanders along with the Panthers will fail to make the playoffs. AGAIN. While Philly will be another 1st rd exit, but in the playoffs nonetheless.
- GOA88

What makes you think any of this? What are you basing this on? What exactly makes Philadelphia a playoff team and the Islanders not?

Half your forward lineup is vinny, akeson, rinaldo, VDV, laughton, and umberger. Your defense is the thinnest and arguably worst in the league. Florida is definitely more talented.
- rangerdanger94

This man speaketh the truth.

Are there any fans of the movie Men at Work here? The movie with Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez? Does anyone remember the name of the character of the guy they found dead on their garbage route?

The Coach is not going to include a player like Laughton in the after game criticism. Laughton wasn't awful, but he looked like a player that isn't ready for the NHL. So he's obviously going to give that player a pass. They're down 2-0 in the game, Lecavaleir is an offensive player. He can score. That's why he's playing more then Laughton is. Not really hard to figure out. And they're going to keep playing Umberger and hope that he gets out of his doldrums. Again, with Raffl hurt, the only other LW's are Umberger and Rinaldo.

There is nothing about that game that is on the coach. He's playing the players that he has.
- MJL

Agreed

Lecavalier is offensive
Holmgren gets a pass also

Looking at the ice time from last night, I am convinced Berube has no idea what he is doing at this point.

There comes a point where players who are playing like crap and giving no effort need to have their ice time cut, and players who playing hard and giving effort need to get more.

I DON'T CARE what the score was, Laughton, PEB and Rinaldo were skating hard and trying to do something while VLC and Umberger were going through the motions...Couturier, and surprisingly Read (because he is supposed to be fast)looked like they were skating in sand.

You, as a coach, need to send a message that if you don't work hard, you wont see the ice...PERIOD. Bellamare getting less than 10 minutes is a travesty.

Our defense is what it is. This is on the forwards just as it has always been. Bunch of over rated pansies.

Berube isn't long for this team if they don't pick it up substantially over the next few games. You heard it here first.