The Flyers Save Dave Hakstol's Job For Now, Get Points In 4 Straight Games On The Road
Final Score: Flyers 5, Coyotes 2 | (7-7-1)
Life as a Flyers fan is pretty complicated right now. On one hand, you desperately want this team to find any sort of success considering the past few years have been less than stellar. On the other hand, you know that every win this team racks up only prolongs Dave Hakstol’s tenure as the head coach of this franchise. And this was my fear heading into this 4-game West coast road trip. Before the Flyers hopped on a plane to Anaheim last week, this team had hit rock bottom. The team was riding a 3-game losing streak where they had gotten out-classed by Colorado at home, shutout by Boston on the road, and then completely embarrassed by the Islanders at home. Tensions were high in Philadelphia and I think if the team wasn’t just about to go on a road trip, at least one coach would have been fired. But because the team was about to hit the road, everybody’s job was safe for now and Ron Hextall would allow that road trip to serve as one last chance for the coaching staff to get things right with this team.
And then the Flyers went 3-0-1 on the trip after taking care of 3 shitty teams (Ducks, Kings, Coyotes), and taking the Sharks to overtime on Saturday night. 7/8 points on the road and points in all 4 games. I’d say that 65% of me is really happy about the way that trip worked out. The Ducks, Kings and Coyotes aren’t exactly great competition or anything and it’s not like beating those teams automatically makes the Flyers a great team. But good teams take care of business and beat teams that they are supposed to beat instead of playing down to their competition. And the Flyers did exactly that, while also playing up to the competition of the Sharks. It was a highly successful 4-game road trip and one that the Flyers can really build on moving forward. And it’s a great sign that the issues that are plaguing this team aren’t just roster related with the goalie situation and bottom defensemen.
But the other 45% of me? Well I know that in the long term, it probably would have been better for the Flyers to continue sucking during that road trip so that some change would finally be forced upon this squad. Because as they are right now, this isn’t a Stanley Cup contender team. I’ve been saying this since day 1. The 2018-19 Philadelphia Flyers are a playoff team. I’d bet my life on that. And I haven’t changed that stance at all, even after the Flyers got their doors blown off by the Islanders at home a couple weeks back. But as soon as the get into the playoffs? Well it’s going to be the same thing we’ve been used to seeing over the past 5-6 years. A 1st round exit filled with a ton of questions in the offseason about where this team goes from there. And I feel like I speak on behalf of Flyers fans everywhere when I say the biggest factor in the Flyers remaining consistently on the bubble is a coach who doesn’t inspire the team to shift in to that extra gear when the season comes down to 7 more games. So if the Flyers went out west for these last 4 games and came away with only 2 or 3 points? I think there would have been a legitimate chance that we’d see a coaching change this morning. But as for now? Dave Hakstol and the rest of his staff are safe. We’ll see if this team can finally get things going at home instead of tensing up every time they play in the Wells Fargo Center. But the one thing I think this team really has going for them right now that they didn’t have going for them before the road trip is that this is a team who is going to show some literal fight out there. We saw it in Anaheim, we saw it in LA, and we saw it at the end of last night’s game in Arizona.
I don’t care if this makes me a meathead or not. The Flyers are always going to be a better team when they are mixing it up, getting chippy out there, and getting in a few fights. The Flyers need to be a team who other teams absolutely despise playing against because they know it’s going to be a street fight for 60 minutes. The team seemed to just be rolling over and letting other teams pet their bellies before this west coast road trip. But 2 scrums in the final 30 seconds of the game last night, all stemming from players sticking up for Aube-Kubel? That’s a team who is not only playing the game with a ton of heart and grit, but also a team who is going to kick your ass if you wrong any of their teammates. Having that camaraderie within the locker room is going to be huge for this team moving forward, so everybody who wants to take fighting out of the game can kindly go fuck themselves. Flyers vs Yotes round 2 on Thursday night should be a good one.
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P.S. – Wayne Simmonds is the ugliest beauty in the league. Nothing he does ever looks good, but somehow it still works for him.