Flyers flash resiliency on four-game road trip, but are still learning what it takes to win

Less than four minutes, 30 seconds into the first period on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center, the Flyers found themselves in a familiar position — down 1-0, thanks to a power-play goal from Devils center Jack Hughes.

In 23 of their 31 games this season, the Flyers have conceded the first goal, which is tied for first in the league with the Chicago Blackhawks. But even when they’re down, they’re not always out. After their 2-1 victory over the Devils on the shoulders of goalie Carter Hart’s 48-save night, the Flyers now lead the league with eight wins when trailing first. Through 82 games last season, the Flyers only managed five comeback victories, which was tied with the Blackhawks for the league’s low.

The Flyers flashed a sense of resiliency throughout the course of their latest four-game road trip (1-1-2) that was missing last season. Despite allowing the first goal in three of the four games, the Flyers stuck with it and managed to snag four points, as each game was decided by one goal.

“I think especially compared to last year, I think our fight-back’s been really, really good and our energy really hasn’t wavered from the bench or gotten down or anything like that,” forward Scott Laughton said.

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On Thursday, Laughton responded to the Hughes goal early in the second period with a power-play goal of his own to tie the game. Even amidst a barrage of Devils shot attempts throughout the game (61 to the Flyers’ 41, according to Natural Stat Trick), the Flyers found a way to capitalize on a Devils mistake. Winger Travis Konecny scored the game-winner on a breakaway off of a Devils offensive-zone turnover forced by center Noah Cates.

“I think that we’ve showed that we keep competing,” Konecny said. “I think at the start of the year, when we were winning all those games that we were down, maybe by two goals to start, it’s not what we want. But it definitely shows us that we believe in each other and stick with it.”

Through 31 games this season, the Flyers are the only team in the NHL with a better win percentage when trailing first (.348) than when scoring first (.250). Of their 10 wins, only two of them have come when the Flyers tallied the first goal.

But even in October when the Flyers allowed the first goal in seven of eight games (5-2-1), coach John Tortorella expressed that the early deficits weren’t sustainable formulas for long-term success.

“I want to see us play with the lead more,” Tortorella said on Oct. 31 after the Flyers’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. “It’s harder to play with the lead. It’s easy to play in this league when you’re down because you just kind of let things go and you’re just kind of going for it. I want to see how guys react when we have a lead, and we haven’t had that that often to start games off. Plus, you just want to get a lead.”

While resiliency is an improvement over the repeated bending and breaking that characterized the previous Flyers season, the current Flyers are a major work-in-progress when it comes to learning how to lead. They’re struggling to execute the most integral factor to winning — scoring.

The Flyers’ process is improving. Their 49.1% shot-attempt rate through their last 16 games (21st in the league) is up from 43.5% (29th) through their first 15 games, indicating better puck possession in the second half of their schedule to date. But the Flyers continue to flounder when it comes to turning puck-on-tape into puck-in-net. In both their first 15 games and last 16 games, the Flyers racked up 37 goals in each span. Their 2.39 goals per game ranks 30th in the league.

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In the Tortorella era so far, work ethic has been a given. Resiliency is becoming a given. After all, Tortorella once noted after the Flyers’ 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Nov. 21 that the team will be in “deep [expletive]” if their energy and competitive levels ever drop off. This is the standard that Tortorella worked to establish during training camp.

But the NHL hasn’t added a moral victories column to the standings, and the Flyers have still lost 16 of their last 19 games (3-11-5). They are still seeking equilibrium among great goaltending, efficient defense, and prolific offense.

Whenever they take the next step as a team and achieve that equilibrium, they won’t find themselves in that familiar position time and time again — down 1-0, needing to lean on resiliency and pull off yet another a comeback.