Philadelphia Flyers Show Inconsistency In 5-1 Loss to Tampa Bay Lightning

The Philadelphia Flyers’ 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday was a microcosm of their first half.

The Philadelphia Flyers played their final game before the All-Star Break on Thursday. Much like the entire first half of the season, this game was a tale of two teams for the guys in orange. They started off strong against the Tampa Bay Lightning but were weak after that.

Inconsistency has plagued the Flyers all season long. Thursday was no different.

The Playoffs!

The first period saw the Flyers team that belongs in the playoffs. They had jump, energy, and out-shot Tampa by a nine to three margin. Only the athletic brilliance of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevsky prevented the Flyers from having a lead. He robbed Claude Giroux and hotter than hot Travis Konecny in tight on numerous occasions.

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After 20 minutes, the game was scoreless, though Tampa had a power play that would extend fourteen seconds into the second period. The Flyers looked poised to hang with the best team in the league.

The Basement

Unfortunately for the Flyers, even the game before the All-Star break has three periods. The team that was in the basement of the Metropolitan Division took the ice after the first period.

The Flyers managed to kill off the last fourteen seconds of the Raffl penalty. However, Tampa’s hottest player, Brayden Point, scored just 11 seconds after the power-play ended. And then, slowly but surely, the wheels fell off the Flyer bus. A goal from Yanni Gourde, followed by a shorthanded goal by former Ranger Ryan Callahan ended a terrible stretch for the Flyers. The rest of the game was more frightening than a Stephen King novel and you, fair reader, will be spared further details.

Stir Until Desired Consistency Reached

The only bright spot in this game was a goal by Travis Konecny. Head Coach Dave Hakstol again showed a bit of evil genius as he pulled Neuvirth while the Flyers had a power play after Vladislav Namestrikov was called for interference at 11:27. Konecny was the extra player sent out, and he delivered.

Konecny is showing, game after game, that he deserved the promotion to the top line. He was far and away the best player on the ice last night that didn’t have a bolt on his sweater. One can only hope Konecny will continue this brilliance after the All-Star break.

Next: 3 Bold Predictions For The Flyers

Six Days to Stew

The Flyers, minus lone All-Star representative Claude Giroux, have six days to chew on this embarrassing home ice loss, as they are off until January 31st, when they are at the Caps. Washington should be looking to get the bad taste of last Saturday’s overtime loss out of their mouths, so the Flyers are going to need to play with some snarl. Here is hoping that choking down that performance last night provides some incentive for the Flyers to do just that.