Flyers are woefully in need of change

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The Flyers are now one of four teams currently occupying last place entering the Thanksgiving break.

Two of those teams have made a change behind the bench. 

The Los Angeles Kings were the first when they relieved John Stevens of his duties on Nov. 4. And just two days ago, the St. Louis Blues followed suit when they cut ties with Mike Yeo and replaced him with former Flyers coach Craig Berube.

Following Wednesday’s dreadful 5-2 loss in Buffalo (see observations), it became clear something drastic has to change within the Flyers' organization. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except, when it comes to the Flyers, nothing seems to change. Whether it’s the coaching staff, an inefficient penalty kill, bad starts coupled with poor goaltending, it’s the same problem areas that surface game after game. 

That lack of game readiness falls back on coaching as the Flyers dropped their fourth in a row. They simply weren’t ready to play from the opening drop of the puck. They weren’t equipped to handle the youth, speed and skill of a very confident Sabres team in the midst of its longest winning streak in 12 years.

Captain Claude Giroux was rather succinct in his evaluation of what went wrong.

“Lost battles. Didn’t make plays. Played on our heels. Can’t start like that,” Giroux said.

Despite the Flyers having an extended amount of rest with three days in between games, you could detect they would possibly have a lethargic start to this game. They didn’t practice Sunday with the annual Flyers Wives Carnival. They didn’t practice Monday with a players' day off and the first 30 minutes of Tuesday’s practice resembled a team that hadn’t picked up its sticks in nearly a month.

“We didn’t do enough in the first 10 minutes,” Dave Hakstol told reporters Wednesday. “We didn’t do enough to give our goaltender a chance to get into this hockey game. On the flip side, he didn’t give us a save early on either, but the two go hand in hand.   

Of course, the one area the Flyers require more stability and less change is in net as Alex Lyon became the fourth goaltender to start a game for the Flyers just 21 games into the season.

Lyon’s season debut couldn’t have come off the rails any quicker as the Sabres torched him for three goals in the first nine minutes, and then came the backbreaker with eight seconds remaining in the first period, which gave Buffalo a comfortable 4-0 lead to start the game.

Unlike last Saturday’s game against the Lightning, there would be no four-goal comeback. Not even close.

“Disappointing obviously. I just feel bad for the team. I can’t put them in that position,” Lyon said. “But I’ve been pulled before and I’ll probably be pulled again. I've just got to try and bounce back and erase it. Quick memory is the best medicine you can have.”

Lyon may have a quick memory, but those attending Friday’s game against the Rangers won’t.

Turn in a similar performance like this and the fans will be demanding change.

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