NHL draft lottery talk becoming unavoidable as Flyers give up 7 goals in loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
After putting together a couple of competitive performances against contenders, the Flyers played like a rebuilding bunch Sunday afternoon against a team worse off than them.
The Flyers were handed a 7-4 loss by the Blackhawks at United Center. Chicago entered with the NHL’s second-to-worst record and on a seven-game skid.
The seven goals matched the most the Flyers have allowed in a game this season.
The Flyers (28-35-9) are very much playing out the string on this 2024-25 campaign. They’ve lost 10 of their last 11 games (1-9-1), a stretch in which they’ve scored just 1.73 goals per game and given up 4.09.
John Tortorella’s club has dropped 18 of its last 24 games (6-15-3).
The Flyers are 1-10-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets and have been outscored 52-29. They were coming off a hard-fought, 3-2 overtime loss Saturday afternoon to the playoff-bound Stars. Two days before that, they outshot the NHL-best Capitals 28-16, but lost, 3-2.
On Sunday, they deserved a fifth straight loss. They’ve now had four losing streaks of five or more games.
The Flyers went 1-1-0 against the Blackhawks (21-41-9). They beat Chicago, 3-2, in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center during November when Matvei Michkov delivered the game-winning goal.
More: Tortorella feels for his team, says Flyers will ‘evaluate, but also try to win’
• Ivan Fedotov was back in net after being pulled Saturday when he allowed two goals on three shots.
He made 22 saves on 29 shots Sunday.
The Flyers relinquished leads of 1-0 and 3-2 in the first period.
They gave up three more goals in the second period. Two of them were power play markers, the first at 5-on-3. Both Michkov and Sean Couturier were in the penalty box for tripping when the Blackhawks padded their lead to 5-3.
After Travis Konecny scored to draw the Flyers within one, Travis Sanheim was whistled for holding the stick of the opponent and Chicago struck a second time on the power play.
Meanwhile, the Flyers’ power play went 0 for 2, dropping to 0 for 30 in March.
Blackhawks netminder Spencer Knight stopped 24 of the Flyers’ 28 shots.
More: All four parts of the Tortorella interview
• With 10 games left, the Flyers are getting closer to the bottom four of the NHL standings. The farther they fall, the better their odds are in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
The Flyers, 28th in the league’s 32-team standings, are just three points ahead of the Sabres. Buffalo has played three fewer games and it has two more matchups with the Flyers.
A little over three weeks ago, the Flyers were 24th in the NHL standings when they knocked off the Jets, 2-1, in a shootout.
• With two assists Sunday, Matvei Michkov now has 20 goals and 30 helpers on the season. His 50 points are the most by a Flyers rookie since Mikael Renberg had 82 in 1993-94.
Renberg’s mark is a franchise record for most points by a rookie in a season. Michkov is tied for 12th on the Flyers’ all-time rookie single-season scoring list.
Along with Konecny, Sanheim, Jamie Drysdale and Bobby Brink also scored goals Sunday.
• Garnet Hathaway (undisclosed) and Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body) remained out.
• The Flyers wrap up their five-game road trip Tuesday when they visit Scott Laughton and the Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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