Carchidi: Lowly Flyers Good at This

This is not earth-shattering news, but it’s becoming painfully more obvious with each game: The Philadelphia Flyers don’t have anyone they can rely on as a clutch scorer.

Maybe one day, Cutter Gauthier, who is tearing things up at Boston College, will be a true sniper for the Flyers.

But right now, the Orange and Black don’t have anyone to fill that bill. So they lose most close games, even though their goaltending has been very good.

If you exclude empty-net goals, they are 1-10 in their last 11 games decided by one goal, including Friday’s 2-1 defeat in Vegas, one of the NHL’s high-quality teams.

The Flyers were tied heading into Friday’s third period, a familiar development this year. It’s happened 10 times. They have one win in such circumstances.

Admirable, but …

It’s admirable that they stay close with a lineup that is patchwork because of injuries.

It’s maddening that they have opportunities to win games and can’t put the puck in the net.

In Friday’s loss, the Philadelphia Flyers controlled the overtime before Kevin Hayes gave up the puck to Jonathan Marchessault, and he scored on a breakaway with 1:39 left in overtime.

Marchessault didn’t miss on his opportunity. Naturally.

“We had a couple of guys who had some Grade-A chances,” said Scott Laughton, who scored the Flyers’ lone goal, “and they didn’t go in and it goes the other way. We’ll put this one behind us.”

Can’t finish

The Flyers struggle mightily at finishing off breakaways or other glorious chances.

That’s why playing teams tough but ending up with a loss is getting old. To them. To their long-suffering fans.

“We work our fricking bags off every night,” said right winger Travis Konecny, whose frustration boiled over on Wednesday and he went after Alex Ovechkin late in the game. “There’s a lot of credit to be given out, but we hate losing. Just tired of looking at the positives all the time” in a loss.

Maybe on Sunday, when the Flyers face a team worse than them, Arizona, they will be able to find the back of the net and gain some much-needed confidence.

Morgan Frost, who excelled in juniors and with the AHL’s Phantoms, is one of many players who would benefit from a goal or two. He has one goal in his last 26 games, but he is not alone in his scoring struggles. It’s been a team effort. The Flyers are last in the NHL in scoring, averaging 2.36 goals per game.

Will the Coyotes (8-13-4) be the tonic that the Flyers (9-13-6) need to start scoring?

We can only hope.