The Philadelphia Flyers were able to overcome a fairly bad game by their standards and still sneak out with the full two points against the Nashville Predators in Thursday night’s 3-1 win on the road. It was sunshine and rainbows for the visitors — Matvei Michkov scored his first goal in 10 games, Travis Konecny got on the stat sheet, Cam York and Noah Cates continued their excellent seasons — but over on the other side of the ice it was pure misery and distain.
It was a loss that was so frustrating for the Predators, so full of scoring chances but not being able to put the puck in the back of the net or connect on an offensive play, that one of their key players was questioning whether or not they even should be a hockey player.
After the game, Nashville center Ryan O’Reilly was in front of the media, standing in the locker room of the team he was once excited to sign for as an unrestricted free agent, and essentially put it out into the world that he doubts he should even be where he is.
“For myself, No. 1 center, turn the puck over everywhere, can’t make a six-foot pass to save my life,” O’Reilly said despite scoring the lone Predators goal in their loss to the Flyers.
“We’re not going to have much success if I’m playing pathetic like that. It’s stupid. I don’t know the answer. I’ve had one good year in my career. I don’t have an answer, that’s for sure.”
Ryan O’Reilly just torched himself in the locker room after the loss.
“I can’t make a 6-foot pass to save my life… I’ve had one good year in my career” pic.twitter.com/1cLUzra5Y2
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) November 7, 2025
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Yikes. That’s rough.
Even if it somewhat feels good that the Flyers were able to cause such a shake-up in an opposing player’s brain — to play such a frustrating game and not even play that well but still able to sneak away with the win — you feel just a tad bit guilty. O’Reilly has consistently been one of the better two-way centers in the NHL through his career. Maybe not ever winning another Selke Trophy after earning the title in 2019, but at the level where he will pot in 20 goals and over 55 points while matching up against the opposing team’s top line. That’s a real solid hockey player.
So, no, sorry to disagree with you Ryan but you have had multiple good seasons. They weren’t recognized nationally or whatever, but you’re just two years separated from a 69-point campaign during your first year in Nashville. Just last season was your first year ever where you registered more giveaways than takeaways. That’s impressive! Don’t worry big guy, you’re doing just fine. Heck, with that goal on Thursday night you’re now up to six and you have 10 points in just 16 games. Wow! That’s so good.
O’Reilly continued, citing his recent performances and how abnormal they have been.
“The last few games, I’ve been making mistakes left and right that I normally don’t do. You can’t expect to win like that. It’s frustration everywhere.”
That goal on Thursday night was O’Reilly’s first point in six games and while he was not able to get on the score sheet during a poor stretch of results, as the Predators were 1-3-2 through those last six games, he still made an impact elsewhere. Not that we’re trying to really pump the tires on an opposing player, but O’Reilly really only had one poor showing when it comes to the underlying numbers. According to Natural Stat Trick, during the Oct. 28 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, when O’Reilly was on the ice the Predators were out-shot-attempted 13-5. That’s not great. But in the five games since then, O’Reilly’s worst on-ice shot attempt share was 56.52 percent against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 1. He’s generally still been an impactful player.
Having said that, it is still a little funny that the Flyers this season are playing a style that can frustrate the ever-loving crap out of the top player on the opposing team. Yeah, we can try to prove him wrong out of the goodness of our hockey blogger heart, but it is innately funny for the Flyers of all teams to send a player down into a depressive life-questioning spiral like this.
You’re really thinking about your life choices and whether or not you should even still be playing hockey at 34 years old, because of the Philadelphia Flyers pulling out some devil magic for a win on the road? You’re better than that.