Poor Luck or Poor Play? A Look at the Flyers’ Recent Penalty Kill Struggles
Though the Flyers have found a way to stay firmly in the playoff picture through their first 16 games, it certainly hasn’t been pretty.
Philadelphia has looked good, bad, and everywhere in between, and have dealt with many challenges – COVID, shot differential, and especially the Bruins.
But one of their biggest challenges has been the penalty kill. Operating at just over 70 percent, the Flyers have the third-worst penalty kill in the NHL.
While the stats don’t lie, the Flyers penalty kill has been brutal, just looking at the percentage alone may not tell the whole story.
Let’s look at how the penalty kill has fared in their last six games where they are 12/20 on the penalty kill and try to pick up on what exactly has plagued the Flyers when down a man.
2/3 vs Boston Bruins // 1/4 on the PK
Bruins’ first PPG:
GIF: gifs.com
The first of three third-period powerplay goals for the Bruins, Pastrnak beats Hart upstairs after a great find from Bergeron.
First off, Hart has no shot here and it’s a great pass from Bergeron to a wide-open Pastrnak. But the Flyers have both defensemen go to the puck which leaves the entire opposite side of the ice open and somehow cannot block the pass.
What’s to Blame? Poor Penalty-Killing (and Also Some Pretty Good Offense)
Bruins’ second PPG:
GIF: gifs.com
With the Flyers up one with under 20 seconds to go and facing a 6-on-4, there’s not much you can do but collapse in front of the net and try to block everything. The Flyers do exactly that and block not one, but TWO shots on this sequence.
But with two extra skaters, Boston is at a supreme advantage and the puck bounces right to Pastrnak who swats it out of the air.
Can’t fault the Flyers’ PK for this one.
What’s to Blame? Poor Luck
Bruins’ third PPG and OT winner:
After a poorly-timed penalty after Boston tied it up late, the Bruins and their red-hot powerplay get even more time and space with a 4-on-3.
With the formation the Flyers play, there will almost always be a skater undefended in front of the net. All the Flyers can do is try and block the shot or hope Hart comes up with the save.
Hart makes the original save but can’t jump on the rebound. It’s hard to place blame with only three men on the ice as it’s such a disadvantage and there’s plenty of open ice.
It’s hard to expect Hart or Provorov to jump on this loose puck.
What’s to Blame? Putting Yourself in This Situation in the First Place.
February 5 vs Boston – 3/3 on the PK
Surprisingly, the Flyers didn’t allow a powerplay goal in this game, killing three Bruins’ power plays in the first period.
February 7 vs Washington – 0/1 on the PK
Capitals’ PPG:
GIF: gifs.com
Washington opens up the scoring on what would be their only power play of the night. Here, it’s actually Couturier who gets caught flat-footed at the blue line which lets Washington go in with speed.
With Couturier trailing behind, Raffl has to collapse into the slot which leaves Ovechkin wide open to walk in and fire.
Ovechkin has scored hundreds of goals from this spot, you just can’t let him walk in undefended like this.
What’s to blame? Poor penalty-killing (and a great shot from Ovechkin)
February 18 vs New York Rangers – 3/4 PK
Rangers’ PPG:
GIF: gif.com
After an 11-day rest, the Flyers’ penalty-killing problems continue. In the Rangers’ only power play goal of the night, it’s a deflection from the high slot from Blackwell that beats Hart.
Raffl isn’t able to deflect the puck out high and Bunmaman is just sitting back hoping for the block. When he doesn’t get it, that leaves two Rangers players available in the slot for a deflection.
With the Flyers’ running a “wedge +1” formation, the goaltender is already responsible for one player out in the slot looking for deflections, so someone needs to have Blackwell tied up or you have to come up with the blocked shot.
It’s hard enough to deal with one player out in the slot, but two is even harder. Not much Hart can do here.
What’s to Blame? Poor Penalty-Killing
February 21 vs Boston – 2/3 on the PK
Bruins’ PPG:
GIF: gifs.com
With the Flyers’ formation, they have one forward roaming around and creating havoc up top. Ultimately, they look slow here and it’s fairly easy to get a puck right on the net.
If you’re going to employ the “wedge + 1” formation, you need to make it hard on the Boston players up top. Don’t give them time to think. Make them work. They just simply don’t do that here. Again, not much Hart can do on a great deflection from Nick Ritchie.
What’s to Blame? Poor Penalty-Killing
February 24 vs New York Rangers – 3/5
Rangers’ first PPG:
GIF: gifs.com
It takes just four seconds for the Rangers to cash in on the powerplay here. There are a few things that one can look at here.
First, it looks like Provorov gets caught sleeping as Kreider sneaks behind him undefended to grab the rebound. As the only Flyer on that side of the ice, he has t be responsible for the backdoor player in Kreider.
But you can also look at the original shot and say that Elliott needs to swallow that puck up and not allow a rebound. It’s not deflected, there’s no screen out in front of him. As an NHL goaltender, it’s probably one he wants back.
What’s to Blame? Poor Goaltending and Penalty-Killing
Rangers’ second PPG:
GIF: gifs.com
Once again it’s Chris Kreider tapping in an easy one for the Rangers’ second power play goal.
With Zibanejad heading down into the circle, someone needs to pick up on him. Provorov is occupied with Kreider down low as Hagg decides to double up Strome with Farabee.
It allows for an easy cross-ice pass to a wide-open Zibanejad who makes a great pass to Kreider for a tap-in.
What’s to Blame? Poor Penalty-Killing
I think we can conclude that the penalty kill isn’t just unlucky. They have just been poor as well.
Going 12/20 on the penalty kill over six games just won’t cut it. As the Flyers sit towards the very bottom in penalty kill percentage, it’s a serious problem they have to address.
And while they have fallen victim to some bad luck on the penalty kill, most of their shortcomings have been their own fault.
Losing their man in coverage, giving opposing teams too much space, not getting to lose pucks. Their 70% penalty kill rate is no fluke, Mike Yeo and the penalty kill have to find ways to improve and get back to how they were playing in late January where they went 14/15 against the Islanders and Devils.
The Flyers have the talent with Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, Ivan Provorov, and Phil Myers, they just need to find how to make it work.
Featured Image: Matt Slocum/AP
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