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A better game… but not good enough

Monday, 3/22/21 vs New York Islanders

Result: 1-2 OTL
Flyers Goals:
Oskar Lindblom (Giroux, Voracek)

Recap

This is the third game since the rock bottom, 9-0 loss to the Rangers last week. Since then, the Flyers have had a few periods where the entire team seems to deflate. When it rains, it pours.

The 9-0 loss to the Rangers included a hideous second period, allowing seven goals against. The Flyers followed up in good fashion by notching three goals, but also allowed three in the third. Luckily, Lindblom put the Flyers ahead in regulation. But the team would not ride that into the next game. Instead, the Flyers would give up four in the first period, ultimately losing 6-1. Playing a full 60 minutes is something this team has struggled to do. The offense has been getting better at puck possession, but defensively, there’s much work to be done.

Last night, in the rubber match against the Isles, goaltending stole the show. The Flyers played their most consistent game in over a week, outshooting the Islander 37-20 in regulation, but it would be the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin making all the difference in this game. A quick third period goal by the Islanders would ultimately send this game to overtime where a Flyers’ turnover would lead to an Islanders’ win.

A team effort

A big difference from this performance compared to the last handful of games is the full game. The Flyers had multiple lines generating chances, while defensively backing up Brian Elliott in net. They worked hard and they worked smart. In more recent games, you can almost see the confidence leave the ice when they give up their lead. However, that was not the case. They seemed determined, but sometimes the opposing net-minder has something else in mind.

Standout

Oskar Lindblom, scoring the Flyers only goal of the night, off a pass from Claude Giroux, scored his third goal in the last three games. He adds this in addition to a fight and several big hits since he was a healthy scratch a week ago. Having a sluggish start to the season (no fault of his own), A.V. gave him a night off, which has seemingly given him a boost in his performance ever since.

Looking ahead

The Flyers will have a quick turnaround, facing the New Jersey Devils tonight, Tuesday March 23rd. If the team plays like one cohesive unit, they should be able to find some more success. The chances they were able to develop gave them the confidence they needed to stay on top of the puck and maintain control. Unfortunately, against the Islanders, there just wasn’t enough puck luck.

Let the Kids Shine

Saturday, 4/17/21 vs Washington Capitals

Results: 6-3 Loss

Flyers goals scored by:
Ivan Provorov (Giroux, Farabee)
James van Riemsdyk (Aube-Kubel)
Wade Allison (Hayes, Giroux)

And We’re Back

This season has been rough. If you’ve followed this team over the past decade or so, you’ve witnessed a lot of disappointments. The 2012-13 season began a rocky road of missing the playoffs one year, having a first round exit the next. While the Flyers finally made it past the first round last playoffs, they are on track to continue the “every-other” trend.

It’s tough to stay the course. I love this team and tune in every game, but the stretches of bad hockey can wear you down. It takes the fun out of the game. With that being said, I decided not to tune into the game last Thursday against Pittsburgh, although I did watch OT and what wizardry by G and Coots. But we’re back. Time to focus on the positives.

The Kids

While I absolutely hate the Flyers not being in playoff contention, I do enjoy watching the young guns get an opportunity. It’s a little preview of the potential main roster additions for next season.

Yesterday’s game against the Caps saw Wade Allison dressing in his second NHL game. And he scored! We love to see that. His presence in front of the net was great to watch. He played smart, taking short shifts, not risking that he might get stuck out on the ice for an extended period of time which could cause some defensive break downs. I’m excited for his future with this organization.

The Home Stretch

The season is winding down. Barring a miracle, the Flyers won’t be coming back from their point deficit in the standings. It’s time to look towards the off-season. Fletcher and crew have a lot of work to do. From the expansion draft, to the entry level draft, to free agency. This team needs some work, but it doesn’t feel too far off. Maybe I’m just being too optimistic.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers play today, facing the New York Islanders for the final time this season. Continue looking out for the youngsters to shine as they get their opportunities in the majors. After today’s game, the Flyers will have three whole days off which might be the most since Covid ran through the division in February.

That About Does It

Tuesday, 4/13/21 vs Washington Capitals

Result: 6-1 L

Flyers goal scored by:
Sean Couturier (van Riemsdyk)

Quiet Trade Deadline

Monday was the trade deadline. Not surprisingly, the Flyers remained relatively quiet. It appears that Chuck Fletcher listened to offers on Scott Laughton, but ultimately the team decided to extend his contract for five years. The team did make two trades, sending Erik Gustafsson to Montreal for a 7th round pick, and Michael Raffl to Washington for a 5th rounder.

Do or die

After collapsing against Buffalo this past weekend, the Flyers are essentially in a “every game must be a win” scenario. And unfortunately that was not the case last night.

Seven minutes into the game, Washington opened up scoring. This was quickly answered by the Flyers, in what seemed like hopefully a good and competitive match.

But then they poured it on. Washington had two power plays in the first period and scored on both. Then added one more onto the scoreboard before the period end.

The second period saw the Caps score one and the third gave the Caps their third PPG, making them 3/3 on the night.

What next?

While Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres was painful, this game was just uninspiring. It felt like the end to the season, even though the Flyers still have fourteen games left.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, however, this was the teams 6th game in 9 days. That’s a hell of a lot of hockey. Unfortunately, only two of those six come with a W.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will be in Pittsburgh on Thursday. As the season heads into the final stretch, it will be interesting to see how the team overall handles their situation. It’s a time like this that you hope the team will at the very least try to have fun. Try to make the best out of a bad situation. And ultimately get ready for an important off-season

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Sunday, 4/11/21 vs Buffalo Sabres

Result: 5-3 Loss

Flyers goals scored by:
Oskar Lindblom (Gostisbehere, Aube-Kubel)
Joel Farabee (Patrick, Couturier)
Shayne Gostisbehere (Farabee, Myers)

The Good

Following up yesterday’s showing, the Flyers came out hot. Just like the Bruins game on Saturday, the team seemed to be firing on all cylinders. The offensive pressure, the defense stood tall and the netminder minded the net.

The Flyers have had a handful of players who were not playing to their potential. But we’ve seen them turn it around. Konecny seems to be back to his former self. Sanheim has rebounded from a not-so-great month of March. Hagg has returned from injury. Ghost has been a scoring machine, despite being waived a couple weeks ago. The team looks like the 2019-2020 Flyers team.

All of that was present during this game. The Flyers came out sizzling. Two goals in the first period, the momentum and the energy was there.

The Bad

Following the Flyers hot first period, the Buffalo Sabres rallied to score two goals and tie up the game. Some of the old habits creeped back in.

The start of the third looked bright. Ghost gave the Flyers the lead, and the Flyers stayed on top for the majority of the period. But then things fell apart.

The Ugly

With a one goal lead and a few minutes left in the game, the Flyers took a bad icing. On the ensuing face off, the Sabres were able to gain control, throw the puck on the net and Jeff Skinner sent it home. The Refs took a look at it, as Skinners skate pushed the puck in, but they determined it was not a distinct kicking motion, and it was a legal goal.

Twenty five seconds later, the Sabres would strike again, giving themselves the lead in the game. With only a few minutes left the Flyers fought to tie the game, until Buffalo sealed it with an empty net goal.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will travel to Washington to play the Capitals on Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Flyers, the hole they dug for themselves got a little deeper and now dirt is falling on top of them.

Time to Get Your Hopes Up

Saturday, 4/10/21 vs Boston Bruins

Result: 3-2 Win

Flyers goals scored by:
Travis Konecny (Hagg, Sanheim)
Shayne Gostisbehere (Konecny, van Riemsdyk)
Sean Couturier (Farabee, van Riemsdyk)

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

Coming into this game, the feeling was that every game is essentially a must win from this point forward. If the Flyers want any chance of playoff hockey, it will take a tremendous turnaround and a little luck to climb the standings. So, they laced up their skates and got a very important win in regulation against the team in the last playoff spot.

The game’s scoring was opened up by Patrice Bergeron, but was quickly answered by Travis Konecny. This seemed to be the turning point for the Flyers. They came out a little slow, but the goal by TK lit a fire. Soon after, TK drew a penalty and set up a deflection for Ghost and put the Flyers up 2-1 heading into the first intermission.

The Bruins would score the lone goal of the second period, tying the game up. Early in the third period, some good passing set up Coots with the go-ahead goal.

Standouts

There were some major differences in this game from basically the last month. The first is that Travis Konecny was absolutely dominant. He showed his true self in that game. Scoring goals, drawing penalties, being the pest he can be without being too much of a “ding dong” as he put it. He deservedly was the first star of the game.

In their previous meetings this season, special teams has been a killer. The Bruins had scored 10 Power Play goals out of 22 Power Plays, only having not scored a PPG in one of their previous seven games. Two games of which, the Bruins scored 3 PPG out of 4 power plays. In addition, the Bruins scored a short-handed goal in there as well.

During yesterday’s game, the Flyers successfully killed all four penalties, which is a large factor in the black and orange securing two points in the standings.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers are back at it today at 2 pm EST. They take on the Buffalo Sabres in another must win game. The Bruins will be playing as well today, meaning a Flyers win and a Bruins loss could put the Flyers 2 points behind the Bruins. They are currently four points out, however, Boston does have two games in hand.

A Touch of Puck Luck

Thursday, 4/8/21 vs New York Islanders

Result: 3-2 Shoot Out Loss

Flyers Goals scored by:
Nicolas Aube-Kubel (unassisted)
Jakub Voracek (Giroux, Konecny)

Effort was there

Coming into this matchup, the Flyers seemed to have one foot on the gas pedal and the other on the break. Good game followed by bad. It’s as if no matter how well the team plays, they are unable to capitalize on the momentum.

The start of last nights outing was a little bumpy. The Islanders opened up scoring with two quick goals. Shortly after, Flyers defenseman, Sam Morin, delivered a hit that the referees would determine was a boarding penalty along with a 5-minute misconduct.

The Islanders, with a 5 minute long man advantage, set out to make quick work of the Flyers. But that didn’t happen. By some miraculous happening, the Flyers not only killed off the penalty, but they generated the same number of chances as the opposition.

Shortly after the Flyers killed off the penalty, Nicolas Aubrey-Kubel would throw a puck towards the net and the hockey gods would strike again. Fooling nearly everyone, his seemingly non-threatening shot wound up in the goal. With some life in them, the Flyers maintained pressure.

In the second period, their continued work ethic would pay off, tying up the game and Giroux connected with Voracek. For the remainder of regulation, however, both goaltenders would shutdown the opposing teams.

To the shootout

After the five minutes of three vs three failed to produce a victor, the game moved on to the shootout. It wouldn’t be until the fifth round that a puck made it into the net. Unfortunately it was the Islanders sliding it past Hart to win.

While the outcome wasn’t as hoped, the overall effort of the team was encouraging to watch, especially since the morale may not be the best. Whether the team makes the playoffs or not, it’s important to keep positive. We’ve seen just how skilled and dominant this team can be. There aren’t a ton of differences, personnel-wise, from last year. This off season will prove to be a very important period in the Fletcher era of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will have the Friday off and get ready for back to back games this weekend. On Saturday, the Flyers will host the Bruins followed by the Sabres on Sunday. Both games will be the final meeting of each team in the regular season.

They’re Hot Then They’re Cold

Tuesday, 4/6/21 vs Boston Bruins

Results: 4-2 Loss

Flyers goals scored by:
Jakub Voracek (Konecny)
Shayne Gostisbehere (Voracek, Provorov)

In dire need

The Flyers have been clinging on, just outside of a playoff spot. This week is tremendously important, being that the Flyers are chasing the Bruins for that 4th seed and just so happen to play them three times in six days.

After squeaking by win an overtime win the previous night, the second of two back to back matchups agains Boston would not go in the Flyers favor.

A hot goalie

Unfortunately for the Flyers, the Bruins were backed by their fourth string goalie tonight. The 22 year old, Jeremy Swayman, would make 40 saves on 42 shots.

After Patrice Bergeron scored two in the first, the Flyers would answer by tying the game up in the second period.

In the third, Brad Marchand would give the B’s the lead and the Bruins rode Sizzlin’ Swayman until the clock read zero.

Is there still hope?

Unfortunately for the Flyers, they now find themselves in 6th place in the division. Currently tied in points with the New York Rangers, both teams are five points shy of Boston’s 4th place division spot.

If the Flyers want to have any chance at making the playoffs, they need to find a way to string together multiple victories in a row. They have won 2 or more consecutive games only once in the month of March.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will take a trip to Long Island on Thursday, facing the Islanders who have wins in their last three. The Flyers will look to break that streak and carry the momentum into the back to back weekend games against Boston and Buffalo.

Closing the Gap

Monday, 4/5/21 vs Boston Bruins

Result: 3-2 OT Win

Flyers goals scored by:
Travis Konecny (Giroux, Provorov)
Sean Couturier (Provorov, Hayes)
Travis Sanheim (unassisted)

Must beat the B’s

The Flyers are currently sitting just outside of the playoffs (miraculously), meaning that the remaining games against the Bruins are especially important since Boston sits in the fourth playoff spot.

Having lost all five so far, the Flyers finally came out on top in the season long 8-game series. The only downside is that this game went to overtime meaning the Flyers only gained a single point on Boston, who now leads the point race by three, with Boston having two games in hand.

First period woes

During the month of March, the Flyers have been lopsidedly out-scored in the first period. Naturally, Travis Konecny scoring the first of the game was like a sigh of relief. This wouldn’t last long as the Bruins would tie it up shortly after.

The Bruins would go on to score the only goal in the second period. Going into the final frame with a 2-1 lead, it would be Sean Couturier scoring a power play goal early in the third, which would eventually send this game to overtime.

Bergeron Blows a Tire

As the three on three overtime period commenced, the Bruins would get control of the puck first. After an unsuccessful drive into the Flyers’ zone, Travis Sanheim would find himself with a great scoring chance, but he came up just short.

After a few back and forth chances in OT, Travis Sanheim would carry the rush into the offensive zone when Patrice Bergeron would lose an edge, giving Sanheim a clear path to the net. This time, he buried the puck giving the Flyers a much needed win.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers are back at it again tonight, facing the Bruins at home. They’ll face the Bruins for the final time this season on Saturday, after a quick Thursday trip to Long Island.

Any hopes of playoffs hinge upon a successful outcome of the remaining two games against the B’s. Even then, the race to the playoffs will be close.

Is that a pulse?

4/3/21 vs New York Islanders

Result: 3-2 Shoot out Loss

Flyers goals scored by:
Claude Giroux (Konecny, Voracek)
Claude Giroux (Voracek, Konecny)

A Fresh Start

After a horrendous month of March, the Flyers came off of a two day break to face the New York Islanders. This was Carter Hart’s first game back after sitting for the previous three in order to focus on practicing and taking a sort of “reset.”

Overall, for the first two periods, the game was very slow and didn’t seem too promising for the Flyers offensively. Defensively, it wasn’t great but certainly better than the what we’ve become accustomed to.

Captain Claude

In the third period, the Captain, Claude Giroux scored two goals, leading the charge to tie the game. The team came together put in the work and sent the game to overtime.

Overtime hockey saw both sides getting some chances, but this game would head to a shootout. The Islanders blanked the Flyers in the shootout and Matt Barzal’s lone shootout goal was enough to lift the Islanders to victory.

The tale of Hart and his glove

While the result could have been better, the biggest takeaway has to be Carter Hart’s return. Hart, who had been struggling in the month of March, was given about a week off to train and practice. One area that had been noticeable was his glove side.

Heading into this game, the team announced that Hart would be in net and that everyone, especially Hart, was very confident. And the glove saves were flashed. Over and over again.

While he gave up one in each of the first two periods, overall, he looked like the goalie we remember from last season. Opportunities that would have resulted in goals last week were handled by the young net-minder.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will head to Boston for Monday’s matchup. The Bruins have won all five of the meetings between the two clubs so far. The Flyers are four points behind the Bruins, making the last few meetings very important for the Flyers if they hope to keep playoff chances alive.

Literally Nothing Has Changed

Wednesday, 3/31/21 vs Buffalo Sabres

Result: 6-1 Loss

Flyers Goal by:
Ivan Provorov (Couturier, Voracek)

The Sabres win their first in March

The Sabres came out hot. Or the Flyers came out cold. Who knows? Probably a mix of both, but the Sabres made easy work in the first period. Two back to back goals would send the Flyers into the locker room with a deficit on the scoreboard for the umpteenth time this season.

The Flyers would come out with a little more hustle in the second period, cutting the Sabres lead in half. Then, things fell apart again. The Flyers would let in two goals to end the period, seeing Brian Elliott getting pulled.

With Alex Lyon in net, and the Flyers once again facing a three goal deficit in the final 20 minutes, the last ditch effort would fail. The Flyers would get a power play but the Sabres would pot an empty net goal followed by one last goal (both short handed).

When will this end?

The same problems that have been around for the entire month of March continue to haunt this team. It seems that no matter what the coaching staff does, they just can’t spark the life back into the group.

With General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, waiving Shayne Gostisbehere, clearly he is still trying to find a way to reinvigorate the hockey club, but as he’s mentioned, it’s a tight market.

Some good news

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. The Flyers’ AHL affiliate, Lehigh Valley Phantoms have had quite the surge due to several Flyers prospects. Zayde Wisdom, Tanner Laczynski,and Tyson Foerster have been red hot.

Also before yesterday’s game, the Flyers officially inked Cam York, the defenseman picked 14th overall in the 2019 NHL entry draft. York finished his season with the University of Michigan, where he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will have two days off, getting back into action on Saturday, April 3rd, where they will face the New York Islanders. The Islanders, who are coming off back to back losses against the Pittsburgh Penguins, will look to build momentum for Saturday’s tilt when they face off against the Washington Capitals this evening.

I Mean They Won So That’s Good I Guess…?

Monday, 3/29/21 vs Buffalo Sabres

Result: 4-3 Win

Flyers Goals:
Kevin Hayes (Sanheim)
Claude Giroux (Couturier, Voracek)
Sean Couturier (Provorov, Giroux)
Ivan Provorov (Konecny)

Well that was interesting

The Flyers. What a team. They came so very close to ending the Buffalo Sabres 17 game winless streak. However, despite multiple players looking like they have never played professional hockey before, the Flyers were able to string together a solid 20 minutes of play.

After taking an early penalty, the Flyers set the tone of their play. They seemed to be outmatched by a Buffalo team that has a whopping six wins this season.

Poor positioning in their own zone gave Buffalo enough chances to wind up with a 3-0 lead heading into the third period. An issue that has plagued the Flyers this entire season remains prevalent.

A miracle on ice

Head coach, Alain Vigneault, reportedly did not join the team in the locker room for the second intermission. He left it for the boys to figure out. Apparently this ignited something, because the Flyers would come out and score three unanswered to tie the game.

A quick turnover by the Sabres, shortly after the overtime period began, would see Travis Konecny connecting with Ivan Provorov for the game winner.

Buffalo would end their 9-game losing streak by making it to overtime, however their winless streak extends to eighteen games.

Looking Ahead

The Flyers will look to win the next one in regulation when they take on the Buffalo Sabres again on Wednesday. After that, they will have a long two days off before meeting the New York Islanders this weekend.