The Flyers fell to the Avalanche on Monday night 7-5. The winless streak now sits at 9 ahead of a date with the Devils on Wednesday. Things don't get any easier with back to back games Friday in Las Vegas before a potential break Saturday in Arizona. Now on one hand you can say that firing a coach in a back to back game situation is hard enough. How would the team respond? Well they did score 5 goals so that's a plus right? It's the first time they scored for our more goals since October 27th against the Oilers. There were some positives to take away from the game for sure.
The Flyers scored on the power play, and the puck movement looked better but the end result was still another loss. Giroux scored twice, once on the power play. Lindblom off the 4th line finally notched his first of the year and Atkinson and Laughton (SH) also had goals. Still the Avalanche never saw the game in danger. The Flyers got out of the first period down 4-3 but Cale Makar going end to end on the power play told as much of the tale as you needed. The team is looking to get back on track with the Devils. If they can keep playing the way they have been the past 2 games the losing streak could finally be a thing of the past. It's going to take some time for interim coach Mike Yeo to get any kind of system in place with so many games in a short amount of time. The longest break of the month doesn't come until near the end of the month right through the Christmas holiday.
While we look for them to try and break the losing streak tonight let me throw out a few names for you as possible head coach replacements. The next coach is going to have a big impact on Chuck Fletchers future with the team. This is probably his most important hire 1. Mike Yeo. He's obviously going to get a chance to lock the job down as his own but with the season already spiraling it's very iffy from my point of view if he sticks the job. Let's not forget that when Mike was fired in St. Louis and Craig Berube took over the Blues were in last place and won the cup that year. 2. Dan Bylsma. Chuck Fletcher was the assistant GM in Pittsburgh when Dan won cups over there as their coach. He hasn't coached in the NHL since 2017 and is currently heading up the AHL's Charlotte Checkers.
3. Jim Montgomery. He's a former Flyer, mostly a Phantom, and we know this team loves to hire former players back into the organization. He was hired by the Dallas Stars in 2018-19 and lead them to their first playoff appearance in 3 years but was fired the following year. He spent some time in rehab dealing with an alcohol related issue and is now an assistant coach with the Blues.
4. John Tortorella. This is a popular fan choice in the area. He's spent time with the Rangers, Canucks, Blue Jacks and Tampa Bay. Won the Jack Adams (Coach of the year) in 2003 with Tampa and 2016 with the Blue Jackets. Won the cup in 2004 with Tampa and is the first American born coach to 500 wins. He's probably the 2nd most popular choice next to this guy. 5. Rick Tocchet. He's a former flyer so he has a leg up. Just inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame. Coached in Tampa for 2 seasons and Arizona for 4. He's currently a studio analyst for TNT. As far as coaching goes, he's the popular choice here in Philly for how he played the game but he's only had 2 winning seasons as a coach both with Arizona. Barely winning. 39-35 and 33-29. Lifetime he's 178-200. Making the playoffs once in 2019-20 with Arizona going 4-5. There are a few other names out there. Who would you like to see behind the bench?