Flyers takeaways: John Tortorella’s team needs to simplify ... and stay out of the penalty box

Another game, another loss for the Flyers.

After beginning the season out West, the Flyers returned home on Tuesday to the unfriendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center. Two straight losses — with just one goal scored for the hometown team — have put the Flyers at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and among the basement dwellers of the NHL.

Oof.

Here are three things the Flyers, who have lost five in a row overall, can focus on to get back on track after a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals — a team they play again Wednesday in Washington (7:30 p.m., TNT/truTV/MAX):

» READ MORE: Opinion: Yes, the Flyers are rebuilding. But John Tortorella’s team has to be more competitive than this.

The Flyers are struggling to find their game and as they struggle, they are losing their structure.

Known for their speed and transition game last season, the Flyers look like a shell of themselves with passes missing their connections, guys trying to force pucks through multiple bodies, and the team’s inability to maintain possession.

In the first period, things were looking even as each team had 10 shots on goal, and, according to Natural Stat Trick, 15 shot attempts apiece at five-on-five. But just over 15 minutes into the game, the Flyers were trailing 2-0 thanks to two shorthanded goals.

They put a combined eight shots on goal over the final 40 minutes — out of 26 shot attempts — and did score the first goal on home ice when defenseman Travis Sanheim sniped one in the first minute of the final frame. It was just their 14th goal — and only eighth at five-on-five — of the season across six games.

“I think at times we can be more simpler, just more straight ahead. A lot of times last season, we were just going north, catching teams with our speed and taking advantage of it,” Sanheim said. “It feels like at times we’re trying to slow it down a little bit and make the extra play or make a play that’s not there.”

The speed game that the Flyers showcased last season has not yet surfaced. This season they are not in the top 10 for any category after being No. 1 in max speed (24.21 mph) and fourth in the amount of 22-plus mph bursts (103) last year, according to NHL Edge. That top speed belonged to Owen Tippett, who has maxed out at 21.39 mph this season, slightly below the league average for a forward of 21.48.

They’ve also gone from having 19% of their shot attempts come from high-danger areas at five-on-five to the second-fewest high-danger chances for (33), at 14% of all shot attempts, according to Natural Stat Trick. Part of that is because the Flyers have spent just 39.7% of the time at even strength in the offensive zone; the league average is 40.8%, according to NHL Edge.

“If we just stay and play our game, it’s not a safe game, it’s a very aggressive game, we’ll get our goals,” coach John Tortorella said. “There is a fine line, of playing aggressive, on your toes and checking forward vs. cheating and hopping in behind the play.”

Did the Flyers have their chances against the Capitals? Sure. Travis Konecny was stopped on a breakaway after exiting the penalty box. And about seven minutes later Bobby Brink was robbed by Charlie Lindgren, who lost track of the puck. Before all that, Sean Couturier hit the post.

But there was a lot of disconnect and the Flyers need to get back to playing simple hockey: shortening passing lanes, using their speed, getting to the front of the net, and making goalies work. Two of their goals against the Calgary Flames came after making goalie Dustin Wolf move side to side. Brink‘s goal against the Edmonton Oilers came because of traffic in front. Cam York’s marker vs. the Seattle Kraken came off quick short passes that opened a lane.

“I don‘t know if it’s poor execution or gripping the stick or watching it,” Couturier said. “We‘re turning pucks over, feeding right into their transition, and that causes us to take bad penalties, eventually you‘re kind of chasing the puck. So I think we’ve got to manage the puck a little better, go to work down in their end, and try to get more possession time instead of just forcing plays and trying to create something out of nothing.”

On one end of the spectrum, the Flyers are third in the NHL in penalties drawn (34). On the other end, they are third in the league in penalties taken (37). Not a great balance.

Among the 32 teams, the Flyers are dead last in five-on-five time on ice per game (42 minutes, 36 seconds), having spent almost 48 minutes shorthanded and more than 43 minutes on the power play this season.

It’s great to be on the power play, and the Flyers have scored at a respectable 20% clip there — five goals out of 25 opportunities. But they allowed two shorthanded goals to the Capitals on three power plays on Tuesday, with both goals coming against the second unit.

“We need to play better and support each other in the open zone more,” said defenseman Egor Zamula, who was heavily involved in the two goals against with the man advantage.

The Flyers gave the Capitals five power plays, and although the penalty kill was perfect — it’s ranked third in the NHL (88.5% effective) for the season — the inability to play heavy minutes at five-on-five has impacted the connectivity of the forward lines.

“Yeah, I think so,” Couturier said when asked if it has been hard to find chemistry with lines getting placed into the blender a lot this season.

“It’s tough on Torts. We’re taking so many penalties, it gets guys out of the flow of the game and he’s trying to get everyone involved. That’s on us, we’ve got to be more disciplined and it’s important. Last year, a good thing for us was we were disciplined, we played hard whistle to whistle, and so far we’ve been taking way too many penalties.

“I know we have a good penalty kill, we trust in ourselves. But it just takes the flow out of the game.”

As mentioned already, the Flyers put only 18 shots on goal in the entire game. The one positive is that, compared to the game against the Canucks when they missed the net more than 20 times, they missed only 10 shot attempts on Tuesday — one being the post that Couturier hit.

But the Flyers need to put more rubber on net and more pressure on goalies. Last season, they ranked fourth in the league in shots on goal but also had the second-lowest shooting percentage (8.5%); this season they‘re in the bottom quarter in shots on goal with a shooting percentage of 7.7%.

Shots don’t always translate to goals, but more shots mean more time spent in the offensive zone. And more time spent in the offensive zone means less time in your own end and more chances to score.

“We‘re not scoring,” Tortorella said. “As we started to get more frustrated, that’s when we gave up chances. … I look back and it’s funny with the game, what if Coots scores on the second shift of the game, right, instead of hitting the crossbar? What does it do for the team’s confidence to have a lead in their building? Those are the things that we just have to keep on fighting and trying to force good things to come our way and then hopefully build and gain a little momentum with our confidence.”