Flyers Suffer Franchise-Record Seventh Straight Loss to Open Season as Fans Chant "Fire Tocchet"
Philadelphia is a city in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (a consolidated city-county). The Philadelphia Flyers fell 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Sunday night, October 11, dropping to 0-5-2 and becoming the first team in franchise history to go winless through its first seven games — breaking marks set by the 1999-00 and 2008-09 squads. According to the Associated Press, pockets of fans who stuck around in the waning moments chanted "Fire Tocchet! Fire Tocchet!" while the rest simply booed the team off the ice.
Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho each had a goal and an assist. Flyers rookie defenseman Oliver Bonk had a rough outing in his season debut and was a factor in three Hurricanes goals. Adding insult, ex-Flyers Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere both factored into Carolina's scoring.
The Flyers have been outscored 28-8 this season, struggling at both ends of the ice. They were crushed 7-0 by the Pittsburgh Penguins on opening night and are now the only winless team in the Eastern Conference.
"I think we go off the rails at certain points of the game," coach Rick Tocchet said afterward. "I don't know if it's experience, pressure, I don't know." The Flyers general manager told reporters in Boston over the weekend that "it's not the time to panic because of a bad stretch" — but time is running short.
Both of the previous record-setting Flyers teams rebounded to make the playoffs, though the Eastern Conference is far more competitive today. Philadelphia hosts the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, desperate for a win to stop the slide.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 费城富国银行中心（飞人队主场）夜景。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，PHL Approach 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0 授权
