VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers owned Saturday’s lopsided loss.
“I tried not to turn my head around (Saturday night),” forward Wayne Simmonds said after Sunday’s practice at Flyers Skate Zone. “I just listened. We know we messed up.”
That mess-up included seven goals against, the first four coming 6:46 into the game. The result was a lifeless 7-1 defeat at the BB&T Center to the Florida Panthers and an 0-1-1 start to the season.
“There’s no way to make light out of a loss like last night,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “How it happened doesn’t sit well with anybody. We addressed the important things inside of the locker room. Guys are looking at things honestly and taking responsibility. You move forward from there.”
But when it came to pinpointing the “important things,” as Hakstol called them, the coach and his players identified different culprits for the stunning loss.
“It’s just compete level,” Simmonds said. “I think we were a half step away from a lot of those chances, second, third opportunities and we didn’t get there. They out-battled us.”
Flyers forward Ryan White, who brawled with Panthers tough guy Shawn Thornton and earned a cut next to his left eye, had a similar take.
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“We have to play with emotion. We didn’t have enough emotion in the first period last game,” White said. “That’s what happens when you don’t show up and aren’t emotionally involved. It’s going to be a tough night.”
But the coach disagreed. Hakstol saw the issue as more mental than physical.
“I think that’s one of our captains taking responsibility,” Hakstol said of Simmonds’ comments. “That’s what you want to see out of a leader like Simmer. We got ourselves in a big hole pretty quick and that’s a tough situation mentally to overcome. I thought our compete was pretty good. Mentally, there were some holes. Things we gave up came back to haunt us in a big way.”
The Flyers get a second crack at the Panthers on Monday, when they play host at the Wells Fargo Center in their home opener.
And after such a crushing loss, Simmonds put it simply.
"We’re playing the same team that just spanked us," he said. "We have to get up for that. We have a chance at redemption."