PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With their 3-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia Flyers have a 12-game winless streak for the second time in franchise history. And there is a possibility of setting a new and unwanted record Tuesday night at Long Island.
It has been almost 23 years since the Flyers first hit 12 losses in a row, their longest winless streak at the time.
There may not be a better indication of the state of Flyers hockey than the announced attendance of Monday’s game: 14,868.
"Losing is just awful," said Keith Jones, WIP Morning Show co-host, former Flyer and current Flyers broadcaster for NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Full disclosure, though: The Flyers’ 12-game winless streak, from Feb. 24 to March 16, 1999, was quite different from this one.
"We were actually a first-place team when that road trip [at the Florida Panthers on Feb. 24, 1999] started, and came back and could not find a way to win a game," Jones said. "A little bit different than what's happened on the Flyers right now. We had our personnel available, and it was one of the more remarkable losing streaks that I've ever been a part of anywhere in my life in hockey going back to childhood.
"For the [current] Flyers, it's much more difficult. They do not have the personnel right now available and [because of injuries] they're missing their Top 5 centerman [Sean Couturier] and a guy that was going to be the anchor of their defense in Ryan Ellis, and it's gonna to be difficult to end this thing in a challenging game against the [New York] Islanders tonight."
Jones said the 1999 streak was worse because they were a team in contention, while this one isn't. He says the availability of players is far less than expected when the season started, and there have been some issues with COVID-19, “but more important, it's major injuries to star players, including their best center iceman in Sean Couturier.”
After losing to Dallas, Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo emphasized his club — which already had a separate 10-game winless streak this season — wasn't making excuses. At the same time, he echoed what Jones said about the state of this roster.
"The last thing that I want to do is sit here and say it's okay that we lost a hockey game," Yeo said. "That's for sure. None of us accept this, but there is a certain reality to it, too, you know. We've got eight guys out of the lineup, and obviously we're feeling the effects of that."
After the NBC telecast of Monday's game, Jones told a story about the Flyers snapping their 1999 winless streak. They won a game after they canceled a players-only leisure trip to New Orleans that late former Flyers head coach Roger Neilson had scheduled because the team was playing so well.
"Ironically we won the next game that we played in and then started to play a little bit better before the regular season ended,” Jones said.
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The Flyers ended up losing in the first round of the playoffs that season to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. However, the next season, they made it to the Conference Finals and were a competitive team for almost every season after that through 2012. The franchise has won only one playoff game in the eight seasons that followed.
But forget the playoffs. At this point, the Flyers have simply to win a game. While Jones thinks the Islanders have the advantage of two nights off compared to the Flyers’ back-to-back, he said he thinks this is an opportunity for Philadelphia to beat a New York team that has struggled this season.
Nonetheless — does Jones feel any better that he's not part of the only team in Flyers history with a 12-game winless streak?
"It would feel great if I wasn't covering this team every night," Jones said, "so it doesn't feel as good as it probably should."