Brookover: Flyers need more firepower
The end is never easy even when you think it might actually be the start of something good. And so a half hour after his team's season concluded Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 loss against the more talented Washington Capitals, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol was reluctant to look too far ahead.
The end is never easy even when you think it might actually be the start of something good.
And so a half hour after his team's season concluded Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 loss against the more talented Washington Capitals, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol was reluctant to look too far ahead.
"I'm disappointed . . . that we're not preparing for Game 7," Hakstol said following his team's six-game elimination by the Caps. "That's the overriding feeling that I have right now. I've been proud of this group all the way through. We've had a lot of ups and downs, but I think the group has really stuck together, pushed forward and found a way to accomplish things rather than find excuses why we weren't going to be able to accomplish things."
Give the Flyers credit for that much. When the calendar flipped from 2015 to 2016, the ice they skated upon was thin, but they overcame a significant points deficit in the standings and earned the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference in a season when a lot of people did not think that was possible.
In the big picture, however, this season's accomplishment was a modest one hardly up to the demanding standards that the recently deceased Ed Snider established for the franchise. The Flyers, in fact, have gone four straight seasons without winning a playoff series.
Hakstol said he needed a few days to assess the positives that came from his team's playoff appearance, but then quickly reminded himself how big of an underdog the Flyers were in this series against the team that finished the regular season with the NHL's best record.
"I don't know if many people gave us an opportunity in this series, but there wasn't one guy in our room that thought our season would end during this series," Hakstol said. "We came up short of that goal. We'll take a couple days and look at the positives, of which there will be a great number."
That's fine, but the bottom line after watching the Flyers play the Capitals was obvious and best summarized by winger Brayden Schenn.
"I think we obviously took a step forward this year," Schenn said. "I still think we obviously have a long way to go. It's still valuable to get into the playoffs and learning what the playoffs are all about and how to win. It's not easy to win in the playoffs as we found out and hopefully it will help us for next year."
The Flyers, of course, said similar things two years ago after being eliminated in a seven-game first-round series against the New York Rangers. That series, in fact, was a lot like this one. It was obvious that the Rangers had more talent and the only reason it took them so long to dispose of the Flyers was goaltending. Two years ago, it was Steve Mason who extended the series. This time, it was Michal Neuvirth as Mason's replacement after the Flyers lost the first three games.
Neuvirth was spectacular again in Game 6, stopping 28 of 29 shots and helping to kill a five-on-three Caps power play that started near the end of the first period and extended into the start of the second. The Wells Fargo Center erupted with emotion when the first period ended with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Nick Schultz and Radko Gudas assisting Neuvirth in the momentum-changing penalty kill. Neuvirth's teammates, starting with Gudas, surrounded the goaltender at the end of the period almost as if it was the end of the game.
"You definitely felt how fired-up the guys were when we came in the locker room, and the whole rink was fired-up," Bellemare said. "It felt like we had the momentum."
They did, but they could not get a goal even when they had their own five-on-three advantage in the second period.
Six goals in six games is not going to be enough to win any playoff series going forward and it is fair to wonder if the Flyers have enough firepower to take the next step needed to become an elite playoff team like the Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who will face each other in the next round.
Hakstol defended his captain, Claude Giroux, and his top line, calling them warriors, but they could not match Alex Ovechkin and the Caps' top line in this series.
Still, the Flyers would like to believe that this step forward is different than the one they took a few year ago against the Rangers, which was followed by a playoff absence last season that led to the hiring of Hakstol.
"This is obviously a different team than we had two years ago," forward Jake Voracek said. "We have a lot of young guys coming in and playing great, great hockey. [Nick] Cousins, [Scott] Laughton, [Shayne] Gostisbehere."
Of that trio, Gostisbehere was the only one who showed he is ready to be a star right now. The Flyers are also excited about a long list of highly touted prospects, but that list is also filled with defensemen and it is clear from this series and this season that the Flyers need more offense from their forwards.
Hakstol proved to be a fine coach in his first NHL season and he has the confidence of his players.
"I think through the whole season we improved," Bellemare said. "From the first day with the coach when he gave us his system, we believed in it and we just worked, worked, worked. I think if we keep going with that belief of just following the system, it will all come together. That's why we made such a good playoff push and got to the playoffs. We are growing up as a team all together. I think to improve we just have to follow that path."
Another sniper or two would also help the coach's cause.
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