March Badness: The Flyers’ season-crushing month | Sam Carchidi

When March started, the Flyers had the best points percentage (.694) in the eight-team East Division. They had all their regulars back from COVID-19 protocol, and they were riding a three-game winning streak that included two shutouts, albeit both against Buffalo.

When the month ended, they were playing like the East Division’s worst team. They went 6-10-1 in March, and allowed the most goals (75) in any month in franchise history. They ended the month with a 6-1 loss to those same worst-in-the-NHL Sabres, who snapped an 18-game losing streak.

“Everybody needs to bring their ‘A’ game every night, and it seems we have some guys on and some guys off,” Flyers center Sean Couturier said after the latest defeat. “It’s tough to win that way. As professionals, you have to find your game every night. It’s tough to win when you have some guys off. Matchup-wise, it’s tough.”

Oddly, the Flyers outshot their opponents in 15 of their 17 March games, but most shots came from the perimeter, and when they did get inside, opposing goalies came up big.

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So what happened to the Flyers during a month that should have been celebrated because of their return to good health and the return of some fans at the Wells Fargo Center? Here’s a look at the team’s key components.

Well, for starters, their goaltenders looked lost.

Yes, Carter Hart and Brian Elliott were betrayed by a defense that appeared to be social-distancing from onrushing shooters. That said, they failed to make many clutch saves and allowed far too many soft goals.

Hart was 2-6 with a 5.04 goals-against average (gulp) and an .815 save percentage (double gulp) in the month, while Elliott was 4-4-1 with a 3.74 GAA and an .847 save percentage. There are reports the Flyers are showing interest in Detroit goalie Jonathan Bernier, but, at this point, with just 21 games left, does it really make sense to give up an asset (read: draft pick) for Bernier?

Overall, Flyers goalies have the league’s worst save percentage (.875), and the next-to-worst goals-against average (3.63)

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This is the biggest culprit for the Flyers’ collapse. Bad gaps, defensive breakdowns, missed assignments, the failure to clear bodies from out front. You name it, Flyers defensemen were guilty of it in March. Andrew MacDonald was the fans’ favorite whipping boy when he played for the Flyers, but he would have been a major upgrade over most of the defensive performances in March.

Phil Myers (minus-16 in March) and Travis Sanheim (minus-18 in March) took major steps backward, but they had company.

It didn’t help that the many of the forwards forgot that backchecking was part of their job description, contributing greatly to the team’s five-on-five decline.

The Flyers allowed 4.4 goals per game in March, 1.5 goals per game more than in their first 18 games (2.9).

Here are the defensemen and their March performances:

Masked by their defense’s poor play was the ineffectiveness of the forwards. Most of them were inconsistent at best. Some were invisible. Here are the March numbers of the regulars:

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The power play was a respectable 12 for 54 (22.2%) in March, but the penalty kill continued to show why it is tied for 28th in the 31-team NHL. The PK was 31 for 42 (73.8%) in March.

Alain Vigneault had a magic touch last season; not so much this year. Too much juggling of the lines and pairings, and not enough favorable results. Some of the juggling was because of injuries and COVID-19 cases, but some of it was because he got impatient and wanted things to change. Now.

Hey, you can’t fault a guy for being proactive, but there’s something to be said about developing some cohesion with the lines and pairings and letting the players develop some chemistry.

Assistant Mike Yeo, who runs the defense and the penalty kill, has also had a rough season.

General manager Chuck Fletcher said the Flyers’ shortcomings “start with me” because he’s the man who put this flawed team together. In fairness, the team is still loaded with Ron Hextall’s prospects. Fletcher, however, was the person who signed the offensive-minded Gustafsson, a poor defender, after Matt Niskanen retired. That didn’t work out, and he’s been trying to make a deal all season but hasn’t been able to find a partner.

He also failed to add a much-needed sniper to a lineup that has too many players with a pass-first mentality.

Heading into Thursday, the Flyers were three points behind Boston for the fourth and final East Division playoff spot, and the Bruins had three games in hand before Thursday’s game against Pittsburgh. The Flyers and B’s play three time next week, and Boston has won all five meetings (3-0-2) between the teams this season.

The Flyers have 21 games remaining, so making the playoffs is a long shot.

Unless they win at least two games in regulation next week against Boston, the Flyers look cooked. That will probably make Fletcher try to deal Jake Voracek and/or James van Riemsdyk, among others, by the April 12 trade deadline. With a flat salary cap, getting rid of expensive players — even quality expensive players — is nearly impossible, so Fletcher has a difficult task.

Barring a quick and unexpected turnaround, the best objective at this point is this: Try to stockpile draft picks and get younger and faster. Oh, and bring up some prospects with the Phantoms like forwards Tanner Laczynski, Wade Allison, and Linus Sandin, and, after he gets some AHL seasoning, defenseman Cam York, and give them a head start on next season.