Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Flyers vs Blue Jackets Recap - March 14th,2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome to Hatrix on official Flyers podcast. This is Rick Mullen. be your host tonight. And this show will be dedicated to reviewing game the Flyers just played last night against Columbus Blue Jackets. Bad turnout the Flyers. It's not not what us the fans wanted to see. And I'm sure it's not what the Flyers wanted to see either. ⁓ Flyers lost to one in a shootout. win by the Columbus Blue Jackets. ⁓ Could have made up some points here tonight. was a big game for the Flyers. The Flyers had ⁓ like a four point points on the table here. ⁓ chasing Columbus and you know Columbus walks away with two, Flyers walk away with one. So you know, net Columbus Blue Jacks went back up by at least one more point. ⁓ I think there are like three, four or five points ahead of us at this point. It's slipping away here, ⁓ fans. The Flyers playoff season is slipping away here and we all knew it. We kind of know it's almost impossible for them to get to be in the playoffs this year, ⁓ still mathematically in this running. So they going to get there? No, probably not. They're not going to get there. ⁓ But it's nice watching these games thinking, man, what if they did? What if they went on that run? What if they were able to win these games and get in the playoffs? It would be such an incredible feat. It'd be a great step ahead for the team. And think the fans want to see that, but this team just isn't built that way. This struggles. ⁓ Our are just, I mean, I'm sorry, let me go back on that. ⁓ Vlad is it for us. Vlad is ⁓ keeping teaming these games. ⁓ Vlad standing on his head. We couldn't expect Vlad to be this good when we signed Vlad in the off season. ⁓ didn't have any idea that he was going to turn out as good as he is. And man, he is playing well beyond my expectations. I think well beyond the Flyers expectations and feel really bad for him. Yeah, really do. If this team could just figure out how to score a goal or two more per game, they'd be winning these games, you know? And it's sad that they just can't figure this out all these years. So. Columbus outshot the Flyers, think, at the end of the second, going into the third period, or at the end of the third period, like 21 to 11, something like that. was a crazy off balance. The Flyers barely had any offense. And when they did, was weak opportunities. And they weren't able to convert on anything. A lot the team looked banged up. ⁓ TK's not looking strong out there. ⁓ I he's dealing with a lot of injuries. ⁓ you know, again, I think there were some things that happened tonight that added to this loss. and going to talk about that a little bit. So, a couple of things the game, you know, Barkie ended getting a boarded really hard and, you know, from behind, knocked to the ice. ⁓ It wasn't a good, it wasn't a thing. And, he looked hurt. He did go off the ice and he was off the ice for a while. He came back in the beginning of the period, but he wasn't on the bench at the start of the period. So we thought, you know, maybe he wasn't coming back, but it was nice to actually see Barkie get out there and actually recover from the hit that he took from Columbus. you know, it good to see Barkie, be able to get back on that ice, you know, and not just come back and show up to play. most guys who get buried like that, they come back and are tentative ⁓ and Barkie Barkie wasn't tentative in any way, shape or form. He came out hard. He came back the injury and he played just as hard as if he wasn't injured. So good for Barkie. Kudos for him to get up and actually come back out and ⁓ play, play hard us. The Flyers and Columbus going into this game. Like I said, it was like a playoff style game. Should have been both of them are fighting to get in and Both of these teams are close to each other or at least were. And Columbus came out and they scored first. crazy stat here. There's a crazy stat here, but the Flyers are first in the league with allowing the first goal in the most games played. Crazy. That's ⁓ but we're always coming from behind. We can't seem to get a jump on teams or put them away early. Just doesn't happen. Flyers are... Flyers give up that first goal and then chase the game all night. So it was really sad. But this game was predictable when you started watching them and you started seeing how they were playing. They were playing poorly. They didn't play really that hard. They came out flat. They didn't drive the net. They didn't put a lot on the net. Obviously, they had 11 shots, I think, after two whole periods. I think they finished the game with 17, something like that. I have to look. But the shot count was like way off. They put nothing on the Columbus goalie and not going to score unless you do. I mean, you got to put pucks on net and you have to drive the net. ⁓ to be looking for rebounds. And ⁓ said, can't score if you don't take the shot. hopefully they start listening, they start figuring out how to shot and shoot because we have a lot of guys who ⁓ opportunities and I was watching this and I thought, man, shoot the puck, shoot, shoot. And they would, they'd go for that last pass and miss it. You know, where they go to burn that last defender and couldn't get around them and they lost their opportunity to shoot. So this team lacks confidence in shooting and they need to work on it. I don't know if there's drills that can be done during where all these guys do is just shoot, like shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. So ⁓ get it in their head ⁓ shoot the puck when you can. ⁓ shot opportunities don't come around too often. And so when you have it, ⁓ got to take it. ⁓ just have to. And this team doesn't, this team chooses to make that one last move to try to get in a little deeper, to try to make that one last play, that one last pass. And most of the time it doesn't work out for the Flyers. So ⁓ Rick Tocque, and he's back to baffling me a little bit here. Man, his line combinations are just, makes no sense. It just doesn't. I think there's like four or five minutes left in the game. It's a tie tie game, one one. And this is a big game for us. know, Columbus probably don't care. You know, I they do, they need to get points to get into that last spot, but they're, they're, they're not chasing us. You know, they're not behind us. They had this game in hand. They felt strong about it, I'm sure. ⁓ And the amount of shots we were giving up versus what they were doing ⁓ was well off balance. So I think Columbus going into the overtime for them was way better than us getting to overtime. We should have tried to win this game. There was four or five minutes left in this game and it was important for us to get shots, get a goal. ⁓ you know, Tachit goes and puts out probably the slowest line I've seen the Flyers ice in a long time. He goes and puts Glenn Denning and Kutz and Grunström out for a pretty decent long shift. It's baffling. I just don't understand why. He doesn't shorten that bench and put out the guys who have a chance of winning a game, a chance of actually scoring the game. mean, it's, has what, two goals in the last 30 games and one was an empty netter. You know, it's, it's just crazy. And Glenn Denning is so slow. He's so slow. He's not getting anything to that. He's, he's, know, he's a waiver pickup for the rest of this year and then he's gone. We understand that, but why put that, that line on the ice? I just don't understand. Talk just. baffles me with his decisions. And it's a shame. You know, I wish he was sharper. I wish he went and shortened his bench when the games mattered, but he doesn't. And we never seem to be able to win. know, I believe a lot of it has to do with his decisions. And a lot of it has to do with the Flyers power play, which we're going to talk about here because this is crazy, crazy insane. So the Flyers power play ⁓ success percentage, right? From 21 to 22 was 12.6%. 22 to 23, they were 15.6%. 23 to 24, they were 12.2 % effective. 24 to 2025, they were 15%. 25 to 26, the year we're in currently, the flyers as of mid-March here are 15.2 % effective. ⁓ we are ranked 32nd last in the league in power play. That's why we lose games. That's 100 % why we lose games. If I were the coaches of this team, knowing we were lacking talent, lowing that, knowing that regular strength goals are hard to come by for this team. I would have this team practicing multiple different lineups. The power play, moving the puck, shooting, figuring out plays to get shots. just over and over over over over again, I would be putting different line combos out there ⁓ throughout practice, getting guys used to doing a power play, setting up a couple set plays, and just getting shot, shot after shot after shot. Then when you get into games, you do the same thing. If you put out a line, it doesn't work, use a different line the next time. If this combo isn't working, but one or two guys look good, keep them on the ice, but give them three more new guys. focus my energy on this power play because in reality, the Flyers had four power plays last night, four. They went 0-4-4 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. And that's the difference. That's the difference makers. If they can pot one of those four, two of those four, we win that game in regular time. We had four minutes at the end of the third ⁓ and did nothing. We barely got the puck in the zone, let alone got shots on net. We had two minutes, I believe, in overtime, and we didn't do anything with that one either. We choked. This power play is the reason, and don't get me wrong, I get it. The Flyers aren't filled with a bunch of stars. ⁓ They win and lose sometimes in regular time. when you look at what these Flyers have available to them to win a close game like this, We're always either tying, going to shoot out and winning or losing and over time. This doesn't not have to be. If they could just turn around and get a little production from their power play, one goal, one goal in these tight games makes a huge difference. And it did tonight that this team could have won. They didn't win because they can't score. They didn't win because their power play is atrocious. They didn't win because they can't even figure out how to get up the ice and in the zone and set on a power play. And that's what I would be focusing on. If you don't have the stars to do it, you need to take these groups of guys and just practice and practice and practice and practice and get this power play better. It doesn't have to be first, second, third in the league, but if it was 50 % better than what it was halfway up the league standings, this team would be winning a lot more of these close games. The Flyers, if they have a new bench boss for the power play, he's not working either. Our last one didn't work either. So really what comes to mind is the players are the reason. The players are the reason this power play don't work. And if you're putting the same guys out there and it's not working, then shame on you as a coach for putting those same guys out there. If you need to change them up, regardless if they're your highest paid players or your most veteran players, you get them off the ice. If they can't score, if they can't generate offense on a power play, then they shouldn't be out there. Let the kids run. ⁓ Change it up. Just keep changing it up until you find some success. If I was the Flyers, if I was Danny Breyer, I would have a really hard talk with Tauke and I would tell him I was bringing in a power play specialist. I know it's late in the year, but guess what? Any increase in this power play success is only gonna roll into next year. So I would bring somebody in here who knows how to run a power play. hands down, bring them in, let them run with this for the rest of the year, let them teach these guys how to do a power play, let them figure this thing out, because it's been five years that the Flyers are less than 15 % successful on a power play. It's a disgrace. That would be my number one thing as a GM that I would do to improve this team. And I think, again, if they did, they could get maybe one power play goal a night. There's a lot more games that we ended up losing in overtime this year. that wouldn't even have made it to overtime and we'd be in the playoffs. So in my opinion, it was just a complete incompetence on this team to figure this power play out earlier in the season. After four years of it being ⁓ bottom, this year should have been a focus, more attention and finding guys who can play on a power play and make it work. Yeah, ⁓ I'm ⁓ ⁓ Long win it. It was a tough game to watch. I kept screaming at my TV. You had Denver Barkey get cross-checked. puts his arm up. We know the Flyers are going on a two-minute power play late in the game. guess what? The guy on the ice, I forget who, cross-checked Barkey, but he figures, you know what? I'm doing it again. And he just kept cross-checking them. So the refs, you never see this. The refs gave him two penalties on that play. Two. So we had a back to back four minute power play towards the end of the game and we did nothing with it. Nothing. It's terrible. It's terrible to sit there and you know, as a fan watch this game knowing this is it. This is it. Like this is our chance. And man, horrible. It was just a horrible power play. Can't get any success on it. Can't get the puck in. Whatever system they're running to skate the puck in doesn't work. It's just terrible. Your dumpings don't work. Nothing's working. So Focus on it. mean, hopefully they hear this, you know, they hear the fans and they know it they know they're terrible and I just don't know why there's not more attention to it You know when you're terrible and you go out and do the same things over and over again That's that's what's that the definition is to stupidity, know do this or insanity do the same thing over and over again and expect different results ⁓ That's what we're doing. You know, we've done it for five years now five years And we're still here. You figure one of those five years they would have figured it out. Or somebody in management would have said, holy crap, we can't be doing this every year. You we got to fix it. And this is probably something easy that they not easy that they can fix. The players obviously have to go out and do it. But it's definitely something that is easily seeable by every fan, every news reporter, every team we play against are going in not scared of our power play in any way, or form. So, you know, they really have to address it. They have to find somebody and bring them in and take care of this. Find the right guys, switch them up. I really like the thought of maybe putting Bump in front of the net and letting him just stand there, you know, like an old Wayne Simmons kind of guy, stand there. He had a tip in the other night doing the same thing, but change it up, figure out how to give other guys time if the guys that we have been giving can't get it done. All right, so moving on. ⁓ know, Flyers have a lot of things that they did poorly in this game. This game was hard to watch. It was one of those games where, you know, they couldn't find stick, you know, tape to tape passes. When we got the puck, we would throw a pass up the ice, miss our guys and give it to the other team. When we got the puck, we had so much pressure on us. We just dump it. Instead of having breakout plays, they, the Flyers defense and even the forwards at times are just chipping the puck up the ice, know, in the air up the ice to like nobody like a Helmery pass. Hopefully there's a flyer there when it lands. You know, and that shows that ⁓ don't have a system. They don't have a system to get up the ice. We're just throwing it away, you know, so if we're throwing it away and giving it to the other team all night long, then what does that say? That means we're chasing the team all night long and they're dictating play. We're not. They are, and we're chasing the game. And that has a lot to go back to why the Flyers are first in the league with allowing a goal scored against them. And it has to change. You need a system. You need a way to get out, break out of your zone and get up the ice. Not just chipping pucks up the ice because you have nothing else. So I'm going to blame some of it on the players. Obviously they have to perform, but if this is a coaching thing, a system thing, then Taked and his team have to figure out. a different way of making this work. I really, really miss Torts hockey. ⁓ really do. ⁓ we first got Torts in here, his team was aggressive. They were a like as soon as they got their hands on the puck, it was an aggressive race down the ice, a big, big long pass, quick breakouts ⁓ it was effective. You know, the team got down the ice. Yeah, again, he still had some struggles with scoring goals and stuff, but the play was much different. I think this team had ⁓ much more cardio. I think they were in way better shape. They were better skaters. They were faster aggressors on pucks. They all had some dog in them. They just couldn't finish. This team that we're seeing now under-talk, it is a lot more lackadaisical. Some guys do try hard, but when one guy's trying and some of the others aren't, It doesn't work. If one guy goes to one corner of the ice, he's assuming and expecting the rest of his team to be in different positions on the ice to cover. And when you go in and forecheck hard and the goes around the net and he thinks you're over there and you're not, that's a fall through on ⁓ system. And we see that a lot. You can see that all the time. Konekny is getting in ⁓ over line and Konekny is throwing a puck from the right-hand boards and wrapping around the net. to other side of the ice, which is usually there's a defenseman over there to keep it in and there's nobody there. And it happens constantly, like one, two, three times a game. You know, we have a guy going up the right side, wrapping the puck around the net and there's nobody on the boards on the other side. The puck just wraps around, goes all the way out and down the ice, you know, and that's system. either these players don't understand the system ⁓ or a talk system isn't putting somebody there. Or talk system is putting somebody there, but the players aren't there and talk is not holding them accountable to this and That that's some hard love here. You know you want to be you know ⁓ a Player favorite you want to be a player's coach you want to the respect not from you know being a hammer but being Fair and I think talk it needs to maybe be a little harder. I don't know Maybe he is maybe he's being really hard and this team just doesn't get it or They already tuned them out, there's just common sense things here, simple things that should be happening and like that, like somebody in that spot on that wing being there and there's nobody there. And it's ⁓ simple little things like that that are the reason why the Flyers lose games. Simple reasons like putting the wrong lines out at the wrong time of the game. Simple reasons like not shortening up the bench and putting a team, better lines out there when the game's on the line. Simple things like working this power play until you got it down. You know, every single solitary practice from now to the end of the year. That's what I would do. Work this power play. Figure it out. Get it done. Like five years now. Five years. You have to fix it. So anyhow, that's all I have for tonight. You Flyers had a tough game. I think the fans watching the game had a tough night. We expect it more. Vlador, let me finish with Vlador. You know, Vlador stood on his head again tonight. He made some wild saves. He really did. He kept them in this game and you know, thank God Vlador is on this team and thank God he has the personality he does. You know, he's such a good guy. He's such a teammate, good teammate. I think somebody asked him at the end of the game something about, you know, how do you think you played tonight or whatever? And you know, his response, you know, he only gave up like two goals, you know, wanting to shoot out and one during regular time. And his response was, I should have saved one more shot. Such a shame. He's such a good guy. He's been playing so hard and the Flyers just can't figure out a score for him. And I feel bad for Vlad and I'm glad he's here and hopefully he continues to play up to this level moving forward and makes a name for himself. So anyhow, with that said, we're going to check out now. We'll be back after the next game doing a recap. Somewhere in the next few weeks. I want to do a little show on a flyers book I'm reading and kind go over that. So ⁓ I'm to come out with that later. But you know, I'm to do this book review about the ⁓ in a upcoming. It's a really good book. It's really interesting to read. And ⁓ I think ⁓ will enjoy ⁓ So with ⁓ take care. Please look us on YouTube, Apple and Spotify. Send us questions or ideas to our mailbag, is h-a-t-t-r-i-c-k-s podcast99 at gmail.com. Go Flyers.