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VOORHEES, N.J. — Put those playoff plans on hold, Flyers fans.

And not just this season.

Philadelphia is stuck on the outside of the postseason for the fourth straight year after its fate was decided in Game 82. The Flyers’ acceleration from expected painful rebuild to the cusp of the playoffs was faster than expected — especially among those whose opinions matter most, coach John Tortorella and general manager Danny Briere — which made the late-season free fall all the more puzzling and gut-wrenching.

As far as next season? Even then, the playoffs aren’t necessarily a benchmark in the process.

“We are a ways away,” Tortorella said Friday. “We have so much work to do with this team. There are holes in the team. It’s going to take more time.”

Added Briere: “I know the expectation next year will be, oh, we’ve got to get in the playoffs. I don’t even know that we’re there yet. It was a great year. But there’s still a long ways to go.”

Don’t all rush to order those season tickets!

The reality is, preaching patience over playoffs has been the long-term blueprint in Philadelphia since Briere took over late last season. This season — which ended when the Flyers were eliminated last week in the final game of the season — was more about finding which of the young core are worth developing as the team grows into an Eastern Conference contender.

Tyson Foerster. Cam York. Owen Tippett. Morgan Frost. Samuel Ersson.

Not a bad start. Just not enough to chase a Stanley Cup.

“I think we still need to add talent to our team,” Tortorella said.

Pushing 66, Tortorella said he’s “as energized as I’ve ever been, already thinking about next year” and will return to the bench to do his part to see the rebuild through.

“I am totally in,” Tortorella said, “until Danny says, ‘Get the hell out of here.'”

Not a chance.

Briere championed the job Tortorella did this season as he guided the Flyers to the last game of the season with meaningful hockey to play. The Flyers were widely predicted by experts, fans and oddsmakers to finish near the bottom of the NHL. In his second season on the bench, Tortorella instead squeezed every ounce of talent and grit he could out of his players to thrust them into a playoff race.

For most of the season, the Flyers not only played over their heads, they succeeded while navigating the loss of No. 1 goalie Carter Hart, who was charged with sexual assault, and the murky circumstances that led to 2022 No. 1 draft pick Cutter Gauthier forcing a trade.

Yet the end was so crushing because a playoff berth was in hand until an eight-game losing streak that bridged March and April, which proved the death knell for their season.

Tortorella largely took the blame for the collapse.

“I couldn’t get the team to close the deal,” Tortorella said. “It was a concern of mine, 25 games left or so in the season, can we stay with it? I think it’s my job to get it to the end. I think the team played hard right to the end. I just did not close the deal.”

But why? The answers are somewhat obvious on the surface. Ersson went from backup goalie to regular starter and faded down the stretch under the stress of heavy minutes. The team ran out of gas after a rugged early March schedule against some of the top teams in the NHL. Perhaps a notoriously prickly Tortorella pushed his players past the point where they could produce more than what he expected out of them.

“I’ve made some mistakes this year,” Tortorella said, “not the ones you may think I did.”

Arguably the biggest mistake was benching Sean Couturier only 34 days after he was named team captain.

Only those inside the locker room know the true consequences of Tortorella’s choice in mid-March to make a such a bold and controversial call. But Tortorella fielded multiple questions and needed nearly 10 minutes to defend himself Friday — and stood by his decision.

While Tortorella admitted the timing wasn’t great, he added, “the captaincy’s not going to stop me from holding people accountable.”

Couturier said at the time he was “frustrated with the way I’ve been treated” and his agent called out the franchise for a lack of communication.

Tortorella said Friday the criticism “kind of caught me off guard, a little bit” but defended his style inside the locker room and insisted his players always know where they stand with the coaching staff. Tortorella also blasted agent Erik Lupien calling him, “a little piss-ant out there pounding his chest that really doesn’t know what’s going on between Sean and I.”

“I think it turned into a bunch of drama,” Tortorella said.

Torts? Drama? Who, him?

“You’ve got the wrong coach here then if we’re going to be hugging,” Tortorella said.

Tortorella, who won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004, brandished his reputation as a fiery, no-nonsense coach on a team still mostly full of young 20-somethings finding their way in the NHL. Briere has Tortorella’s back — and the coach seems to have the support of the locker room that largely expects him to return next year.

With the 12th pick in the draft, there’s little expectation of getting an impact player, and the Flyers are mostly looking at cheap, short-term deals — such as the one-year, cap-friendly deal given last year to Marc Staal — for veteran help.

“I still think there’s more that we need to do before we can take that next step and start pushing the envelope, taking some risks a little bit more,” Briere said. “I still think we’re at a stage where we need to think about the future, we need to build the right way to give us the best chance to be serious contenders for years to come and not just for a year or two.”

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team through five races this season. William Byron opened the year with a Daytona 500 victory in a Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in a Toyota won the next three races.

Berry, meanwhile, had to run down Daniel Suarez following a restart with 19 laps remaining to take control. Although Harrison Burton won at Daytona last summer for the Wood Brothers, Berry’s victory is the first not at a superspeedway since Ryan Blaney won for the team in 2017 at Pocono.

It was the 101st victory for the organization spanning 20 drivers.

Suarez in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing finished second, followed by Ryan Preece in a Ford for RFK Racing. Byron was fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, Austin Cindric of Team Penske and Alex Bowman of Hendrick.

AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing was eighth, and Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano had late control of the race until Las Vegas native Noah Gragson hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to bring out the ninth caution of the race. Berry was in second when the caution came out and second behind Suarez on the restart.

Berry won in his 53rd Cup race and just his fifth race with the Wood Brothers, the team that signed him when Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of last season.

The 34-year-old Tennessee driver was a 40-1 underdog to win Sunday’s race and his win put the Wood Brothers back into the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Bell to the back

Bell came to Las Vegas on a three-race winning streak with an opportunity to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races.

But his chance to extend his streak was stymied when Joe Gibbs Racing had to change the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after Bell qualified 13th and the penalty dropped him to the back of the field for the start of the race.

He never recovered in what was an overall subpar day for the four-driver JGR contingent.

Bell, who complained about the handling of his car most of the race, finished a team-high 12th. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.

Chase Briscoe was 17th and Ty Gibbs, who rolled a sprint car Saturday night at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished 22nd. Denny Hamlin, winner of more than $200,000 over two nights of playing slots in the Las Vegas casino, couldn’t convert his luck to the track and finished 25th.

Up Next

The Cup Series races next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track that had been in the playoff rotation the last three years but has now been moved to a spring race. Tyler Reddick won last October and Bell won in 2023.

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell will have to start from the back of the field in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive Cup Series race after NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.

Bell had been set to start 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he is trying to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races. But JGR changed the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after qualifying, resulting in Bell forfeiting his starting spot.

Bell came to Las Vegas coming off victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas in Texas and Phoenix. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972. Among those who have accomplished the feat, seven are in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame and six are Cup Series champions.

The drivers who have won four consecutive races in the modern era are Cale Yarborough in 1976, Darrell Waltrip in 1981, Dale Earnhardt in 1987, Harry Gant in 1981, Bill Elliott in 1992, Mark Martin in 1993, Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Johnson 18 years ago.

Bell’s three straight wins are the Cup Series’ longest streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.

His three wins this year tie his career-high victory tallies set in 2022 and matched in 2024. At Las Vegas, Bell has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. He was the runner-up in Vegas’ past two fall races.

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McDowell on pole as Bell seeks 4th straight win

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McDowell on pole as Bell seeks 4th straight win

Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell captured pole position for the seventh time in his career during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It’s the first pole for Spire, which has shown stark improvement with an infusion of cash brought by new majority owner Dan Towriss, who also controls Andretti Global in IndyCar and the Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026.

McDowell’s previous six poles all came during the 2024 season, his 17th in the Cup Series.

Christopher Bell qualified in 13th position but will start from the back of the field as he searches for a fourth consecutive win. NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.

He could become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup Series races — an accomplishment that only eight drivers have achieved in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.

Lackluster qualifying hasn’t been a deterrent for Bell thus far, as he started 19th before winning at Circuit of the Americas and 32nd before winning at Atlanta.

Joey Logano will start Sunday’s race alongside McDowell on the front of the grid, qualifying in the top two at Las Vegas for the third time in five races. Austin Cindric will start third, while Las Vegas native Kyle Busch starts in fourth.

Bell has received a congratulatory text message from Johnson after each win in this three-race streak, and he is hoping the seven-time NASCAR champion hits that send button again Sunday.

“It is still the coolest thing in the world to me that I have Jimmie Johnson in my phone,” Bell said. “He has talked to me, he has sent me a text message after every win so far. I’m still shocked every time I see his name pop up. I respect the heck out of him. It’s an honor to know that he thinks of me after the race to send a text message. That is so cool.”

Bell’s three straight wins is the Cup Series’ longest winning streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.

The three wins this year tie his season-high set in 2022 and matched in 2024, and setting a new mark isn’t out of the question at Las Vegas, where he has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. Bell, in his No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was the runner-up in Vegas’ last two fall races.

He is not considering a fourth consecutive victory a lock, even as he has dominated the first month of the season.

“One thing is for sure: Nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week,” Bell said. “Everything is still ahead of me and nothing is set, and we have to go out there and perform. This has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand it is a new week. It’s a different race, and everyone is going to be bringing their best stuff to try to beat me.”

Perhaps the greatest threat to end Bell’s hot streak is Larson, who has won at the “Diamond in the Desert” three times since joining Hendrick Motorsports. Larson’s first win with Hendrick came at Las Vegas in March 2021, and he has claimed two of the previous three races held at the track, winning the South Point 400 in October 2023 and the Pennzoil 400 in March 2024.

“I think since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, it’s probably been our best racetrack,” Larson said. “Getting a few wins, I think two other second-place finishes in that time has also been really good. The track is great, but getting to come to the city and have fun on the Strip and all the stuff that it has to offer, it probably makes it one of my three favorite races to get to.”

Logano is the most recent winner at Las Vegas, as his victory at the South Point 400 in October propelled him to his third NASCAR title.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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