The Flyers Can’t Get the Puck Back. That’s the Whole Problem.

Four games into an 84-game season is less than one Eagles game. In football terms, the Flyers lost Week 1. Nobody should be calling the season. But 0-2-2 with 76 shots on goal against 158 isn’t bad luck. It’s a structure problem, and Monday’s 4-1 loss in Tampa showed all of it.

Tampa had 71 shot attempts to the Flyers’ 40, and 4.71 expected goals to 2.04, per InStat. Here’s why.

What’s going on

The D-zone. The Flyers are defending in a box +1. The idea is to protect the house, and to be fair, it does keep teams to the outside at times. The problem is nobody is pressuring the puck. If you don’t pressure, you don’t get it back quickly, and by the time you do, the guys who won it are at the end of their shift.

Tired players make safe plays. The Flyers had 51 breakouts on Monday, but they also had 22 dump outs and 28 dump ins, per InStat. That’s the high flip to the neutral zone, or getting to the red line and dumping it in for a change. Neither one gives you possession.

The top pair lived in it. Sanheim and York played 17:15 together and were on the ice for 21 Tampa shot attempts and just 7 for.

The neutral zone. Tampa sat in a 1-2-2 all night. Flipping pucks into that hoping to win a 50/50 battle just isn’t going to work. The Flyers lost the puck 17 times in the neutral zone.

The offensive zone. This is where the game was decided. Tampa had 28 scoring chances. The Flyers had 15. They couldn’t generate any meaningful zone time, and when they did get set up, it was from the outside. Tampa had 11 attempts from the inner slot right in front. The Flyers had one. You’ll never compete with the top teams if you can’t slow it down and set up, and you can only bail water for so long no matter how well you take away the middle.

What I’m seeing

The first goal against came off a faceoff. Zegras lost position on Brayden Point and Point redirected the shot, and InStat charges Zegras with an error leading to a goal. Off a lost draw, the center has to stay between his man and the net so he can control that stick and not let him redirect it.

Thankfully, Vladar looks like he did last year, which is huge after the Pittsburgh game. He stopped 32 of 35 and kept Jake Guentzel, who had 1.37 expected goals by himself, off the board. Tampa’s second goal came on a 3 on 1 off a turnover. That one isn’t on him.

The Flyers’ goal is the sequence I want to see more of. It started on a rush, but what made it was what came after. They recovered the rush shot, Seeler hit Foerster coming up the wall, and Foerster attacked back down. It went in off Porter Martone, and Foerster gets the credit. Win the loose puck, move it, attack again.

Outside of the goal, Foerster looks like the guy they wanted to lock up long term. He led the team with 8 shot attempts, 5 scoring chances and 0.39 expected goals. The hockey IQ is obvious, and he’s attacking with the puck and being evasive enough to find soft ice.

Martone was much more physical, mixing it up after whistles, and he drew 2 penalties. That edge is what made him so effective last year. He’ll take a penalty sometimes, but it sends a message every time he’s physical, and it may be how he stays engaged in games.

Michkov needs more ice

Michkov’s skating is so much better this year. He’s getting his feet moving earlier and quicker than he did last year, and it shows up in two places.

The first is how he moves the puck. He’s making quick slip passes into space instead of holding it and waiting for something to open up. He completed 8 of his 9 passes on Monday, and on the power play he kept finding Konecny off the wall for the one-timer at the top of the circle.

The second is how early he gets involved. He’s joining the rush, and a lot of the time leading it, much sooner than he did last year.

He played 16:41 on Monday, and 3:46 of that was on the power play. That’s not enough. Right now he needs to be playing 18 to 20 minutes a night. Konecny (19:01), Foerster (18:45) and Zegras (18:05) all played more. On a team that’s struggling this much to create offense, your best playmaker can’t be your fourth-most-used forward.

About Jiricek

Everyone is going to point at the one turnover and say there’s the Jiricek mistake that always comes. Outside of that one play, he was not the problem Monday. He was one of the best defensemen the Flyers had.

He was even in shot attempts at 14 for and 14 against. Every other Flyers defenseman was at 36% or worse. He lost the puck 3 times all night, while York lost it 10 times, Benoit 8 and Sanheim 7. He won 7 of his 10 puck battles and completed 9 of his 11 passes. And he and Seeler were on the ice for the only Flyers goal.

One mistake ended up in the net, and InStat charges him for it. That’s fair. But judge the whole game, not the one clip.

The power play

It has zero goals in four games. PP1 was Konecny, Foerster, Zegras, Michkov and Drysdale, with Konecny in the bumper. That spot was Martone’s to start the year, so that’s the big change as they try to spark it. PP2 was York, Jiricek, Barkey, Tippett and Martone. It didn’t get much time, but Jiricek got an open look from the bumper. There was no traffic, so it was an easy save for Vasilevskiy. I think that’s a great spot for Jiricek. The Flyers need to use his shot.

The bigger problems show up on film.

They’re not moving it quick enough. There aren’t enough quick one-touch plays, so the kill never has to reset. Penalty kills aren’t worried about this power play, so they jump it every chance they get.

And when they do move it quick, it works. A couple of quick one-touch passes and a switch of sides, and the kill has to reset. An aggressive kill that keeps getting caught out of position slows down, and the lanes open for real looks. That’s the power play they need every time.

None of that matters if they can’t get set up, and right now they’re not getting into the zone. On this one, instead of entering with numbers, Drysdale throws it up to Foerster in a 1 on 4. That’s not an entry. Come in with support, or regroup and come back with speed. Only two guys should be carrying it in: Michkov, and Zegras if he can attack down and pull back up without losing it. Zegras already carried it in 6 times on Monday, the most on the team.

What I’d like to see moving forward

Michkov at 18 to 20 minutes. Give your best playmaker the puck more often.

On the power play: quick one-touch passes to move the kill, and clean entries from the two guys who can carry it in.

On loose pucks: there needs to be some desperation about keeping it in the zone. Monday, whenever the Flyers lost possession after a shot or on a 50/50 puck, they didn’t compete hard enough to win it back. Send two guys on every loose puck.

In the D-zone: adjust the box +1 so someone is pressuring and they win the puck back while they still have legs. Then go D to D against the 1-2-2 instead of the high flip.

Week 1 is gone. The adjustments for Week 2 start Thursday in Ottawa.

Rep the guys who showed up

Foerster scored the Flyers’ only goal and led the team in chances. Martone brought the edge all night and drew 2 penalties. If you’re with me on both, their tees are in the shop.

Data: InStat (Flyers and Lightning player and line data, shot maps), NHL.com box scores.