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In a scoreless game, Tyson Foerster dove headfirst to chase a puck and became entangled with Carolina's Jordan Martinook. Martinook then delivered two punches to the left side of Foerster's face, mirroring how the Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes and the rest of the NHL have manhandled the Flyers this season. No penalty was called on the blows, and moments later, Carolina scored en route to a 4-1 victory.
The Flyers are now 0-5-2, the only winless team in the Eastern Conference. After hinting at a promising future with a playoff series win last season—their first since 2020—coach Rick Tocchet's squad has regressed dramatically. In the closing minutes, frustrated fans chanted "Fire Tocchet!" while others booed the team off the ice.
"I think we go off the rails at certain points of the game," Tocchet said. "I don't know if it's experience, pressure, I don't know."
Philadelphia wasn't expected to be a Stanley Cup contender this season, especially after Anaheim matched their five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Leo Carlsson. But the level of poor play has been shocking. General manager Daniel Briere told reporters in Boston that it's not time to panic over a bad stretch, though he admitted it's getting close.
The Flyers were crushed 7-0 by Pittsburgh on opening night and have been outscored 28-8 overall, marking the worst start in franchise history. They had previously opened with six straight winless games twice (1999-00 and 2008-09), and both of those teams rebounded to make the playoffs. Since taking a 3-0 series lead against Pittsburgh in the opening round last spring, the Flyers have lost 13 of 14 games, including a 4-0 sweep by Carolina in the second round.
The Hurricanes' social media team even mocked Philadelphia with a post: "We've won more games in Philly in the last nine days than the Flyers, Eagles, and Phillies combined this month."
"There's still a lot of hockey left," Flyers captain Sean Couturier said. "Of course, if we don't figure this out soon, we'll be chasing and it's going to be too late. But yeah, there's no quitting."
Philadelphia is undermanned with forward Travis Konecny, defenseman Cam York, and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen out with injuries. Even at full strength, a sudden turnaround seems unlikely.
"We can't skill our way out of this one," Couturier said. "We have a lot of talent, but we can't skill ourselves out of it. We're going to have to work and grind and it starts the next practice. We better figure it out."
The Flyers signed forward Trevor Zegras to a four-year, $36.5 million extension after he posted a career-high 26 goals and 67 points last season, second-most on the team. This season, he has been perhaps the biggest disappointment with just two points and no goals.
"What happened last year was pretty cool, and maybe you feel like it's just going to keep happening, and you've made it," Briere said in Boston. "But the reality is we're a team that needs to have everybody working in the same direction. The way we're built, the full team is important to have everybody. We don't have a superstar that's going to come out and score four or five goals in a game to win a game by himself."
Key Analysis
Something must change quickly—whether it's effort, execution, the power play, or even the coach if Tocchet can't find solutions. Zegras said the Flyers are fully behind Tocchet, who played parts of 11 seasons across two stints with the franchise and became one of their most beloved and gritty figures. However, that goodwill could erode as losses pile up and the team shows little fight in blowout defeats. They already have four losses by three or more goals.
"You start thinking about the long term, then you're really going to be in trouble," Tocchet said. "You've got to try to win. How you win the next game."
Originally reported by nbcsports.