- The Flyers are 0-2-2 after a 4-1 loss to the Lightning on Monday
- Rick Tocchet put the effort problem on the whole group, himself included
- Read below for the postgame video and what Dan Vladar said about the start
Rick Tocchet is out of patience with the Flyers four games into the season.
Tocchet was asked how he saw Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Lightning, and he didn’t sugarcoat it.
“We just didn’t compete,” Tocchet said. “There was some pockets there. We came, but not enough compete in this group right now. It’s on me.”
Pressed on why the effort only shows up in stretches, he went further. “It’s hard to do it consistently,” Tocchet said. “Starts with me. Like, this team is way too comfortable, and it did not compete tonight.”
Catch Tocchet’s postgame comments from Tampa:
Philadelphia is now 0-2-2, the franchise’s first four-game winless start since 2014-15. The skid opened with a 7-0 home loss to the Penguins, followed by overtime losses to the Devils and Hurricanes before Monday’s trip to Tampa.
Here’s how ugly the goal differential looks so far:
Five goals for and 17 against through four games. That’s not a slump you can pin on bad bounces.
The passing drew fire too when he was asked about the disconnect moving up the ice. “Eighteen-foot pass,” Tocchet said. “If you’re an NHL player, you got to execute some passes.”
This is the second time in a week the coach has gone public. After the opener, he called it the worst D-zone he’d ever seen.
Dan Vladar kept Monday’s game close with 32 saves, but the goalie still took his share of the blame when he talked about the start. “We’ve got to be better and it starts with me and (Joseph Woll),” Vladar said. “Hopefully we’re going to turn this thing around because, obviously, this is not us. This is not fun.”
Tyson Foerster scored the lone Philadelphia goal. Brayden Point, Pontus Holmberg, Ilya Mikheyev and Brandon Hagel scored for Tampa, and Andrei Vasilevskiy needed just 13 saves to tie Andy Moog for 20th on the all-time wins list.
Watch Mikheyev’s wraparound that put the game away:
Rookie Porter Martone said the group expects more of itself. “You can’t be getting outshot like that,” Martone said. “We have the skill in here, we have the people, it’s just doing it.”
The Flyers get their next crack at a first win Thursday in Ottawa.
