Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Reasons for the Flyers recent struggles? Laviolette takes the blame

Philadelphia Flyers v Florida Panthers

SUNRISE, FL - FEBRUARY 16: Head coach Peter Laviolette of the Philadelphia Flyers talks to the team during a time out against the Florida Panthers on February 16, 2011 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. The Flyers defeated the Panthers 4-2. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Peter Laviolette

Joel Auerbach

Times have been tough for Philadelphia lately. The once dominant team at the top of the Eastern Conference standings is now just two points ahead of Pittsburgh for the lead in the Atlantic Division and also just two points ahead of Boston for the top spot in the East overall. A four game losing streak will always help do its part to bring about the worries and fretting from the fans and media alike but coach Peter Laviolette has an idea of what’s wrong.

Laviolette says that the Flyers’ lethargic play of late is his own fault thanks to working the team too hard in practice before playing three games in four days. After yesterday’s 7-0 humbling at the hands of the rival Rangers on NBC’s Game of the Week, it’s hard to argue with Laviolette as Chuck Gormley of The Courier-Post shares from Flyers practice.

“The two games prior to [yesterday] we had energy but we got beat. The bounces that were going our way, aren’t going our way, like the shots that are going in from behind the goal line. Things didn’t click and you could have come out on the other side of those two games. We still could play better, don’t get me wrong. Yesterday they didn’t have the pop we needed. It was like we were moving slow out there.

“If I am being honest, I have to take one hundred percent responsibility for what happened yesterday. We came into the month of March and we wanted to push. We pushed hard for three days and will continue to push hard, but yesterday I think we felt the effects of that. We came in and we didn’t have the jam that we needed to play a team that had plenty of it. I think it’s an isolated [incident]. That type of game is really tough to take, and it’s one of those losses that makes you want to get sick over, but it’s one game. We need to move on. We need to get that energy back up to a really high level and prepare ourselves for the next game and not dwell on that game. There was no pop out there.”


There was no pop, there was no defensive coverage, there was no offense, and there was no goaltending. One thing the Flyers have had a lot of is the flu. Jeff Carter missed their games against Toronto and New York with sickness as have a handful of other players. Illness combined with getting worked hard at practice leads to getting demolished on the road by a team that hasn’t been able to throw the puck in the ocean, never mind in the goal.

The Flyers have played all season long without so much as a minor disturbance along the way. Now that they’re meeting adversity head on it seems to be that the sky is falling for some Flyers faithful. Provided that Laviolette is right and that some rest for his team will get their legs back under them, this will be just a bump in the road when it gets looked back upon later on. What’s changing the landscape for them is the much better play out of Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington in the East. It’s been almost too easy for the Flyers this year, but if they can avoid cracking under the pursuit of their rivals they’ll be just fine.