The Philadelphia Flyers cobbled together five of a possible six points on a just-concluded three-game road trip before putting forth a flat performance at home in their last outing.
The Flyers will look to get back on track Wednesday night when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“You’ve got to handle prosperity,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said after his team’s 4-0 setback to the New York Islanders on Monday. “You win a game, you feel good about yourself, you’ve got to be even-keeled. To be a really good team, you have to handle prosperity, let (Friday’s 7-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche) go. Get your business hat on for the next game. Obviously we didn’t.”
Tocchet didn’t stop there, noting what he deemed as a lack of hustle after the Islanders converted while short-handed to open the scoring at 14:29 of the first period.
“There was no effort coming back,” Tocchet said. “We had two guys go to the same guy and one guy doesn’t backcheck. It seemed like when they scored, some guys accepted it.
“It’s effort. If one guy backchecks, there’s no goal. That’s just Hockey 101. For some reason, we just weren’t all in the game. The game plan was there, we didn’t execute it. That’s on me.”
Tocchet also took issue with Trevor Zegras, who has struggled to add to his team-leading totals in goals (19) and points (46). He has just two goals, three assists and a minus-5 rating in his last 10 games.
“It’s been slipping, not just (Monday) but a bunch of games lately,” Tocchet said of Zegras’ performance. “It looks like he’s not pushing the pace. He’s kind of waiting around. He’s got to step up and push the pace.”
The Blue Jackets had been pushing the pace by winning six of their last seven games before seeing Monday’s contest against the visiting Los Angeles Kings postponed because of the winter storm that snowed in much of the country.
Prior to the postponement, Columbus erupted for a season-high goal total in an 8-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Zach Werenski, who leads the team in goals (19), assists (36) and points (55), set up a pair of tallies on Saturday to boost his point total to 25 (10 goals, 15 assists) in his last 17 games. The offensive-minded defenseman is one tally shy of his third 20-goal season.
Mason Marchment recorded his third career hat trick and added an assist on Saturday to increase his point total to 11 (eight goals, three assists) in nine games since being acquired from the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 19.
Impressive numbers to be certain, but new head coach Rick Bowness still sees room for improvement.
“I enjoy it because I see the areas that I know we can be better at,” Bowness said. “I like that challenge. Even though we’re winning. I like the challenge of keep pushing us to make us better.”
The Metropolitan Division rivals split their four-game season series in 2024-25, with the Blue Jackets winning the final two games.
–Field Level Media
