Flyers suffer 6th straight loss, but did they turn a corner? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
In the short term, the record and result are bad. The Flyers fell to 1-5-1 after losing their sixth straight game Wednesday night with a 6-3 decision to the Capitals at Capital One Arena.
But in the big picture of this 2024-25 season, the Flyers saw an important breakthrough offensively, something they could potentially build on as they try to shake these early troubles.
After falling behind 4-0 before the midway mark of the game, the Flyers finally found themselves and actually outplayed Washington the rest of the way. The offensive life was desperately needed for the Flyers.
They nearly tied the game at 4-4 with 7:39 minutes left in the third period but Morgan Frost couldn’t bury a great look at a wraparound attempt. Almost five and a half minutes later, the Capitals scored their first of two empty-net goals to finish off John Tortorella’s club.
The Flyers had a glaring miscue on Washington’s dagger. With their net emptied for the extra attacker, Egor Zamula went to make a line change as Jamie Drysdale sent a pass his way. It directly resulted in a turnover and Pierre-Luc Dubois’ empty-netter to make it 5-3. Future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin scored the second on the abandoned net.
Drysdale (two assists), Matvei Michkov (one goal, one assist) and Owen Tippett (one goal, one assist) had multi-point performances for the Flyers, who had scored just one goal over their previous two games.
This skid matches the Flyers’ longest losing streak in the first 10 games of a season since 2008-09, when the team dropped its opening six games (0-3-3). That club went on to still make the playoffs with 99 points.
Since March 24 of last season, the Flyers have gone through losing streaks of eight and six games. In that span, they’ve lost 15 of their last 18 games (3-12-3) and been outscored 76-40.
The Capitals (5-1-0) swept the home-and-home back-to-back set from the Flyers by a combined score of 10-4.
• Travis Konecny got the Flyers on the board with a power play marker 4:48 minutes after Washington ballooned its lead to 4-0.
The goal from the team’s best player seemed to relieve some pressure off the Flyers’ shoulders. Tippett then scored his first off the season a little over four minutes later. And Michkov made it a one-goal game 6:36 minutes into the third period with a 4-on-3 power play snipe.
Sean Couturier…