SAN JOSE -- The date was Nov. 17.
The Flyers had won their third straight game, defeating Phoenix, 2-1, while remaining the No. 1 overall seed in the NHL.
Also on that date, the Flyers' penalty kill was at a season-high (more than five games) at 87.2 percent success, ranked 11th overall.
Since then, the PK has fallen, but the month of February has seen its biggest drop as the Flyers are killing at a very poor 73 percent inefficiency -- 15 goals against to 52 kills.
The penalty killing unit consumes all players on the ice including the goalie, as well, said coach Peter Laviolette this weekend.
As a unit, between the goalie and the players, we can do a better job out there. All of us. All penalty killers, we need to do a better job.
Ive said this before through the course of the year. I think everything is a little bit cyclical where you catch a spot of time where youve taken too many undisciplined penalties or your power play is hot or cold.
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Penalty kill needs to do a better job and were in one of those ruts right now. I promise we will come out of it and down the road, youll be talking about how the penalty kill has killed this many out of this many.
The Flyers began this four-game, 10-day road trip by allowing three power play goals at Winnipeg, followed by another against Edmonton and gave up one more over the weekend at Calgary.
Tuesday night at the Shark Tank they meet injury-riddled San Jose, which has the third best power play in the NHL21.4 percent or about two percentage points better than the Flyers.
In other words, stopping the Sharks' potent power play -- Logan Couture (injured), Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski have 23 power play goals among them -- is no easy task.
The Flyers have had three games this month where theyve allowed three power play goals. And its a major reason for their mediocre 5-6-1 record in February.
You watch the kill units, which have added Nicklas Grossman and Pavel Kubina recently, and theyre not aggressively attacking pucks at the points or half-boards. They're almost in a collapsing shell around the net, allowing the offense to dictate.
Some of that is understandable given the precarious nature of the Flyers' goaltending these days.
Yet its just the opposite of how the Flyers PK units looked when they were going good. Players admit theyre a bit leery now given how badly theyve been burned this month.
When things are struggling, you tend to tighten up a bit, Matt Carle said. Try to keep things to the perimeter and to the outside, but we certainly want to be aggressive and putting pressure on the puck as much as we can. Hopefully, that will just iron itself out here over the next few games.
Claude Giroux, who was so dangerous earlier this season anticipating and picking off passes, then going the distance for shorthanded chances, isnt getting anything right now.
The bigger problem, of course, is keeping the puck out of the Flyers net.
Yeah, its been up and down, the power play and PK, Giroux said. Obviously, right now, PK is not doing very well. You just got to work on it and start blocking shots a little better. Its not an easy job to do, but we have to find a way to get the job done.
The Flyers arent getting many blocked shots which is one of the reasons why they acquired Grossman and Kubina.
Since their arrival, the defensemen are being slowly integrated into the Flyers' full special teams situation. Kubina has 71 seconds of PK in three games; Grossman has a little over four minutes in four games. It will increase in the weeks ahead.
Typically, something like that takes a couple weeks to get comfortable with your teammates, your system, the coach and everything else, Laviolette said of the newcomers.
"In saying that, I thought they have played pretty strong since being here.
Laviolette and his players believe the PK units, as a whole, will come around once they regain some confidence.
Confidence goes with anything, he said. You can always play confidence into it. The kill doesnt change to sink back because they scored a goal. Its the same thing.
To do it right, do it properly and kill the penalty. Against Edmonton we didnt get it done. Well look at it and continue to teach and get better.
Kimmo Timonen, who leads the Flyers in PK time (229:23) agreed.
Confidence is a lot of things, but we have to do basic things first before we think offense, he said.
Its hard work, being in the right positions. Weve been lacking a little bit of that every game. Just do things were supposed to do and well be fine.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.