Photo courtesy of Amy Irvin/38Photography
After closing out a road trip with five straight losses, a near severe injury to their captain and making headlines for a CBA travel violation, the Flyers returned to practice on Monday and spoke about the road trip as a whole.
The common theme: no one is happy with the performances.
GM Ron Hextall led the way with comments.
"Obviously, we’re not happy with the performance of the team," Hextall said. "We’re not at the point where we’re looking at getting rid of guys, but I would say that probably we’re not far from the point where if we don’t get it going, we’re going to have to start thinking about some things.
"In saying that, you look at those things all the time. Every day, who can help us now and who can help us in the future. If there is anything out there, then we will move forward with it."
Head coach Craig Berube wants the Flyers to take advantage of the next few games at home – the Flyers play nine of their 12 remaining games in January at Wells Fargo Center – calling the Ottawa Senators an equally fragile team as the Flyers.
"When we're an aggressive hockey team and we're skating, we're really good," Berube said. "It's a confidence thing. Against Carolina and New Jersey, we didn't come out as aggressive as we should have. They're fragile teams too. It's important that we take the ice tomorrow an aggressive hockey team and a physical hockey team."
There was some thought that Berube would be on the hot seat if the Flyers didn't close the road trip with success. After the type of game they played in New Jersey, the whole system seemed lost. But Hextall backed Berube and put the blame on the players.
"Yes, absolutely," Hextall said. "We’ve got to be mentally stronger as a group. We’ve got to come out with consistent effort and also consistent performance and that’s the biggest thing I’ve seen. There’s nights where we’re not on our game or simplifying the game and we don’t look like a very good team.
"Then there’s nights where we’re connecting things and guys look sharp and we’re a pretty darn good team. It’s hard to access why and where. The first thing you have to is look at individuals, then take the group collectively and try to figure out where things have broken down."
The Flyers may be doing so without their captain for the second straight game. Claude Giroux missed practice on Monday and remains day-to-day.
Hextall said Giroux's issue is getting a skate on and that once he's able to, he should be playing. But for now, the Flyers captain continues to be a possible scratch.
Zac Rinaldo filled in for Giroux on the top line and may get the chance to play there on Tuesday. Rinaldo also shed some light on how the players are experiencing a lack of confidence.
"We talk about being positive on the bench, not getting frustrated and losing our temper," Rinaldo said. "Whether it be the refs or mistakes and guys bicker back and forth sometimes. We give teams too much respect out there.
"We talk every day but we have to stop talking and actually do it. We've got to play a full 60-minute game. I think we're showing way too much respect to every team."
Hextall said the Flyers have been handed some bad breaks in the last five games on the road, but that the team must create their own breaks and find ways to win. Through all of this, he expects the players to meet expectations that so far have not been met.
"Do we have a good enough team on paper to make the playoffs?" Hextall said. "Yeah, we do. Have we played up to expectations individually or collectively? The answer as a group is no. We’ve some individuals who have had good first-halves.
"Our players are professional and we expect them to perform at a high level every night. There’s been some disappointment this year with our club, for sure."
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
