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Recap: Flyers 5 - Bruins 1; Quick Hits

September 29, 2017, 12:29 AM ET [227 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
RECAP: FLYERS 5 - BRUINS 1

The offensive floodgates opened for the Flyers in a 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center in the next-to-last game of the preseason schedule. It was the Flyers’ first regulation win of the exhibition slate, as the team improved to 3-1-3 overall. Here are five developments of note in Thursday’s tilt:

1. Special teams click.

The Flyers struggled mightily on the power play in Boston last Thursday before commencing training camp work on special teams. Since that time, there were baby-steps taken in each of the next two games (a home-and-home set with the New York Rangers), with the second unit arguably outpacing the top unit in generating offensive zone entries, movement and pressure.
In this game, everything started to click. Although the top unit did not score, it generated numerous scoring opportunities.

“Hopefully, we’re saving some of our goals for opening night,” Voracek said with a grin.

Meanwhile, the second unit struck for a pair of man advantage markers.

First, a slap pass from Sean Couturier to Travis Konecny was swiftly re-directed into the net by the second-year forward at 13:12 of the first period to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Rookie forward Nolan Patrick picked up a secondary assist for a pass-out from behind the net to Couturier in the left circle.

Later, Konecny returned the favor to Couturier. At 4:06 of the third period, Couturier got to the net for a re-direct of a feed from Konecny from the right circle. Ivan Provorov drew his first assist of the preseason as the Flyers rounded out the 5-1 win. Overall, the Flyers went 2-for-7 on the power play.

“I liked everything I saw in the first two, three, four power plays. Absolutely I thought both units moved it well. Coot’s unit moved it real well all night and were able to finish a couple, I thought the other unit was really good as well,” Flyers coach Dave Haksto said.

“I thought early on they were, it looked like things were getting to a pace where they were snapping pucks around. They were crisp, they were recovering pucks, making the next play, and nothing was slow enough or really lethargic, it was just sharp and crisp.”

The Flyers were 4-4 on the penalty kill. For good measure, the Flyers connected on a tic-tac-toe shorthanded rush as they gained a 4-0 lead at 8:46 of the second period. After a defensive zone faceoff, the Flyers poked the puck into the neutral zone with Filppula carrying the mail. Sam Morin joined the rush to receive the puck and then made a tape-to-tape feed to Wayne Simmonds for a virtual tap-in.

2. Top line settling in.

The experimental top line trio of Sean Couturier centering Claude Giroux on the left wing and Voracek on the right remained together for the third straight game. There was progression from game one at Madison Square Garden to the rematch with the Rangers in Philadelphia the next night. On Thursday against the Bruins, the line generated a pair of even strength goals on the tallies that made it 2-0 and then 3-0 in the Flyers’ favor.

"I think today was our best game, we found each other a little bit better and I mean if we just keep playing together and keep building on what we are doing and obviously we got some room for improvement but we did a lot of good things out there,” Giroux said.

With 11 seconds remaining in the first period, Voracek jumped on a loose puck below the faceoff dot as it squirted free after an initial Radko Gudas shot set up by an accurate pass from Giroux. Voracek then proceeded to elevate the puck over Boston goalie Tuukka Rask’s blocker side to give the Flyers a two-goal lead heading to intermission.

At 4:51 of the second period, the lead became 3-0. On this sequence, Voracek hit a pinching Brandon Manning in stride. From the left circle, Manning fired a shot over Rask. Giroux earned a secondary helper on the play.

There were other scoring chances as well, including a close-range chance for Couturier and a similar sequence to the Voracek goal that saw the Czech winger fire just wide of the net on a bid for a second goal.

3. Patrick’s vision, passing and fists.

Patrick and linemate Jordan Weal have shown emerging chemistry and ability to find one another on the ice with clever passing plays. Weal has been a bit unlucky on the stat sheet (one assist in five games) but has generally kept up a similar level of solid play to what he showed at the NHL level in the latter portion of the 2016-17 season before re-signing with the Flyers over the summer. On this night, Weal was credited with a pair of takeaways as he hounded Boston puck carriers.

In addition to Patrick’s power play assist on the Konecny goal, the rookie continued on several other shifts to show himself to be a player with excellent ice vision and a deft passing touch.

For the first time as a Flyer, Patrick showed he also has a feisty side.

With the score 4-0 in the Flyers favor late in the second period, tempers flared between the two teams. The fuse was lit on a clean but jarring hit on Weal along the side boards by Bruins defensemen Charlie McAvoy and picked up steam with the after-the-whistle scrum around the Boston net.

After much chirping and jostling back and forth, Patrick dropped the gloves with veteran Bruins skill forward David Krejci. They engaged in a lengthy and tiring bout that was more wrestling match than fisticuffs but the Wells Fargo Center crowd and the Flyers players got a big charge out of it.

“It kind of happens fast on the ice. Adrenaline kicks in. I’m not scared to do it if it happens but still it’s not a huge part of my game,” Krejci said.

Asked who was the oldest person he’d ever fought before the 31-year-old Krejci, the 19-year-old Patrick grinned and replied, “Not THAT old.”

Patrick has shown multiple times during camp that he has high-end ice vision and playmaking ability on top of a two-way game. However, he's had only a few bonafide scoring opportunities of his own and he has lacked the first-stride burst that would get him separation from defenders. Partially for that reason and partially because of a pass-first mentality throughout camp, Patrick's shot -- which is an very good one -- has rarely been on display.

4. Lyon roars in short-notice start.

With veteran Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott traveling to accept induction into the University of Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame, the Flyers recalled Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Alex Lyon for this game. Initially, he was slated to back up Michal Neuvirth. However, when Neuvirth took ill, second-year pro Lyon was pressed into starting duty.

The former Yale University standout acquitted himself quite well, stopping 31 of 32 shots and outplaying former Vezina Trophy winner Rask (14 saves on 18 shots) on this night. Malcolm Subban (six saves on seven shots) mopped up for Boston in the third period. Lyon’s best saves came on respective stops early in the second and third periods on Bruins star Brad Marchand. He also came up big in stopping fast-burgeoning sniper David Pastrnak.

“I feel like I have taken a big step from last year to this year and I did it because I was just focusing on myself, not getting too far ahead, not thinking about the past and for me that is the most important thing,” Lyon said.

Lyon got an early boost from a pair of disallowed Boston goals in the first period period. The first was immediately waved off due to a hand pass. The second was overturned on a coach’s challenge by Hakstol as Jake DeBrusk made incidental contact with Lyon’s skate within the blue paint of the crease as the puck was en route. Under Rule 69 (which covers the many variations of potential goaltender interference), incidental contact within the crease should result in the nullification of a would-be goal on the sequence. Spotted on replay by the on-ice officials, the goal was taken off the board.

The Flyers also had a goal of their own nullified. Before the Konency power play goal, Wayne Simmonds deflected a puck into the net with a stick above the height of the crossbar. The no-goal signal came immediately, and the Flyers did not put a fuss on what was a clear-cut call.
Lyon made the saves he needed to make and the team in front took it from there. Boston generated little momentum after a short-side goal by Krejci temporarily cut the gap to 4-1 early in the third, as the Bruins took back-to-back needless penalties and the Couturier goal restored the four-goal margin.

As the game drifted into garbage time late, Lyon got a bit lucky on a couple of long rebounds that eluded Boston attackers. Overall, though, the young netminder played a pretty clean and solid game in net.

5. Statement game for Manning.

With all of the talk at camp about the Flyers core of young defensemen vying for roster spots, veteran Brandon Manning has quietly shown signs of rounding into form in his last few outings. His best game of the preseason to date came in this tilt.

Apart from scoring a goal, he boxed out well, contained his man along the walls and cleared several pucks to safety. Overall, Manning enjoyed a plus-three night while logging 17:16 of ice time (including 4:25 of shorthanded duty.

“Brandon did [step up]. He did some of those little things that maybe nobody notices either that are important to a team, he played a good solid hockey game, absolutely,” Hakstol said.

**********

QUICK HITS

1) The Flyers have an off-day on Friday. They will practice on Saturday morning (11 a.m.) and then wrap up the preseason on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Islanders.

2) With Monday set as a travel day for the Flyers, the final roster decisions could be made on Sunday night after the final preseason game, and perhaps announced on Monday. The league-wide deadline for setting opening-night rosters is on Tuesday.

3) Could Oskar Lindblom be in jeopardy of not making the team? Whereas Nolan Patrick has played every game of the preseason, Lindblom has been scratched in two of the last three games. That may or may not mean anything. Keep in mind that Mike Vecchione was scratched in both ends of the home-and-home earlier this week and then sent down to the Phantoms. Lindblom would not require waivers to be sent down.

There have been subtle hints -- nothing said outright -- that the Flyers believe that, while Lindblom has played well defensively and put in an earnest effort in both practices and games, he hasn't been consistently assertive enough in the offensive zone. Lindblom has been credited with one deflection goal and one assist in four preseason appearances, which has included top unit power play duty and some early camp time on the top line. He's been involved in a few scoring chances, but perhaps not as many as the Flyers had hoped to see.

Remember: Ron Hextall's philosophy is that rookies -- regardless of their previous body of work at lower levels or future potential -- have to definitively pounce on roster openings by excelling in their projected role.

If Lindblom or one of the rookie defense hopefuls (Travis Sanheim, Morin or Robert Hägg) were to get sent down, it would hardly be the end of the world for them, although the decision would likely be quite unpopular with a vocal segment of the fan base. The players would be in good company, though. Claude Giroux got cut in his rookie pro year and spent a few months with the Phantoms. Shayne Gostisbehere was assigned to the Phantoms two seasons ago before an injury to Mark Streit opened the door to a callup to the Flyers.

4) Taylor Leier also did not play in this game, and he is definitely one of the players battling to avoid the final cut among the forwards. Only time will tell in forthcoming days. The feeling here is that Leier has outplayed several veterans in camp.
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