QUICK HITS: OCT. 13, 2017
1) The Flyers have another day of practice on Friday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, ahead of the home opener on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center against the Washington Capitals. Claude Giroux was not with the team yesterday at practice due to a family situation but is expected to practice on Friday. Jori Lehterठfilled in on Giroux's left wing spot with Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek.
2) On Thursday, Oct. 19, the Wells Fargo Center complex will unveil a statue of the late Ed Snider at 4:00 p.m. The date was chosen not just because the Flyers play that night (vs. Nashville) but also because it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Flyers' first-ever regular season home game. On Oct. 19, 1967, the Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum, 1-0.
The statue unveiling and related speeches are open to the public and free to attend. In the event of rain, the speeches will be moved inside the Wells Fargo Center in the Broad Street Atrium. For full event details and information on the creation of the nine-foot statue, click here.
3) Over the last four seasons, the Flyers have enjoyed the NHL's 7th-best home record but are just 24th on the road: the biggest home vs. road record disparity of any team in the NHL over that time frame. On the Flyers' official website, I took an in-depth look at both sides of the coin and why the opening road trip this season, despite finishing at 2-2-0, was an encouraging baby step toward narrowing that gap. For more, click here.
4) Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said that he was pleased with the way the defense pairing of Shayne Gostisbehere and rookie Robert Hà¤gg has gelled in the early going of the season. The coach said that Hà¤gg's poise and adaptability to partners of different styles has thus far been a boon to the team.
“Just a real sound player. I think he empowers his partner, in this case Ghost, to go out and do the things that he does well. I think the two of them competed hard [during the opening road trip]. I thought defensively they had a little bit of chemistry, which is really important. I like the composure of Robert’s game," Hakstol said.
"On that trip, he played some heavy minutes and against some heavy players. It's a real good foundation for him. Now, it's just a matter of digging in, studying his game and working to improve some of the small details."
When they were first put together as a pairing in training camp, Gostisbehere (who had played right defense for much of his pro career) asked Hà¤gg which side of the ice he preferred to play. The rookie said he was equally comfortable on either side, and was instantly agreeable to playing the right.The coaches left that up to the two players to work out between themselves.
5) Hakstol said it was a bonus, but by no means a necessity, that the Flyers have multiple defensemen who feel comfortable playing either side of the ice: Gostisbehere, Hà¤gg, Andrew MacDonald, Travis Sanheim and Brandon Manning. There are two -- number one defenseman Ivan Provorov (left side, lefthanded shot) and Radko Gudas (right side, righthanded shot) -- who prefer to stick to their natural side.
While plenty of defensemen can adjust to the challenges of playing their off-side -- playing pucks on the boards off their backhand and dealing with the risk of having the puck in a more vulnerable spot over the middle when on their forehand -- others simply feel more comfortable on their stronger side.
Hakstol was asked if he felt that Sam Morin, who was sent to the Phantoms on Wednesday, is a candidate to adapt to playing right defense since Provorov, Gostisbehere and Sanheim are currently playing that side. The coach said that he sees Morin as a left defenseman and the young player would not be asked to switch.
According to Hakstol, the lineup decisions that excluded Morin from the lineup in each of the four games (as well as veteran Manning the last three, and Sanheim in the opener in San Jose) were all based on the balance of abilities between the group of six in the lineup. However, for every game, he considered combinations that would include Morin.
My read on this statement is that since Morin cannot be paired with Provorov as two left-side defensemen and since Morin and veteran Gudas are perhaps a little too similar in their playing styles to be a pairing, that left breaking up Gostisbehere-Hà¤gg (a pairing the coach wanted to keep together during the road trip) as the main alternative option that would have gotten Morin into the lineup. The coach has not thus far been inclined to break up the long-running pairing of Provorov and Andrew MacDonald, although moving MacDonald down and someone else up to play the right side with Provorov could also have opened combinations that would have included Morin.
Asked specifically what his outlook was for Morin, Hakstol stressed that he thought the player had a strong camp and a bright future with the Flyers.
"There's all positives right now for Sam Morin," Hakstol said. "Obviously, being sent down to the American League is always a tough thing. But there's so many positives with what Sam did here through camp and even through the first part of the regular season although he wasn't in the lineup. There are some specific things that we're going to ask Sam to go back and really concentrate at working on and improving."
"He's got to do his part to show he's the most ready to come help us when called upon. When that is, I can't answer for you whether that's some time in the near future or some time a little more down the road in the more distant future. Probably, it'll be some time this year."
6) Final words on coach's challenge in Nashville: Hakstol said that he felt there a high enough statistical probability that the controversial offside challenge in Tuesday's game in Nashville would result in an overturned tying goal that it was worth the risk of remaining down 5-on-3 late in a tied game. The decision, he said, was based on what he thought was evidence of an offside play and not-insignificant chance of the goal being disallowed.
The charged-up emotion Hakstol showed on the bench -- clearly still peeved about the back-to-back delayed penalty calls on Dale Weise and MacDonald on the same shift -- did not enter into the challenge decision, according to the coach. The challenge itself was a strategic decision, not an emotional one.
However, the coach admitted that subsequent review of the play showed that the right call had been made on the ice. In other words, the zone entry question stayed on onside. It took a remarkable play at the blueline by Ryan Johansen to wait just long enough for Filip Forsberg to re-touch the line to prevent an offside by the slightest of margins.
7) My own real-time first take of the challenge on such a close-call play has not changed in final-take hindsight: The challenge risk outweighed the reward.
The risk: another significant 5-on-3 kill with still-tired penalty killers followed by a 5-on-4 kill just to attempt to nurse the clock to a carryover 4-on-3 penalty kill to start OT. That's not even considering the goaltending factor on this night, nor the fact that it was the final game of a nine-day road trip because neither issue entered into my initial thinking.
The potential reward: The Flyers would still be ahead 5-4 with the next faceoff in the neutral zone. However, they'd have faced a continued 6-on-3 kill for 36 seconds, followed by 6-on-5 play after MacDonald and Weise exited the penalty box. If the Flyers could have gotten a line change or a non-icing stoppage to get fresh troops on the ice,
Even with Brian Elliott not having a strong night in goal, the odds of the Flyers preserving at least one point from the game seemed higher on a 5-on-4 kill in a tied game for 36 seconds, followed by even strength for the rest of regulation. In that scenario, the teams would have skated at 3-on-3 to start OT, barring any additional penalties. Once in overtime, with a point already in hand, they could have gone all out for the second point.
Conversely, if the Hartnell goal on the near-offside had been the go-ahead rather than tying goal with 1:17 left in the third period, the risk/reward scenario -- even though the play was proven to be onside -- would have been worth the challenge.
Likewise, if the Hartnell goal had been a tying goal but the risk was a 5-on-4 kill for the duration of regulation and 4-on-3 to start OT, I'd have been in favor of the attempt to get the goal taken off the board on on a close onside/offside play review. Given the amount of time left in the game, the manpower scenarios (5-on-3 scenario if unsuccessful vs. a 6-on-3 if successful) were what instantly tipped the scales toward a challenge being a bad risk.
Talk about all of the hockey forces aligning, though! The chances of again hitting all these same factor checkmarks in a challenge or no-challenge scenario are mighty slim. It's a rare circumstance where, late in a game with a one goal lead, conceding a tying goal with an avenue to potentially cancel it out is an unwise decision.
Tuesday's specific set of conditions led to that conclusion. Even if it had all somehow worked out as a regulation win for the Flyers, it was the hardest possible path to take to get there.
8) Ever wondered why ex-Flyer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, now with the Vegas Golden Knights after being selected from Philly in the Expansion Draft, was so well-liked and respected among his teammates? Here's a great example: Scott Laughton revealed yesterday that he received a "good job" text from Bellemare for the work Laughton's line did during the Flyers' season-opening road trip.
Keep in mind that the Flyers protected Laughton in the Expansion Draft, rather than the much older Bellemare. Laughton also directly became Bellemare's replacement in the Flyers' lineup, assigned to the same duties as fourth-line center. Laughton, Taylor Leier and Michael Raffl have thus far been outstanding for Philly.
Bellemare was under no obligation to send congratulations to ex-teammate Laughton for his strong play thus far. He did that strictly of his own volition. That sort of class, friendship and support for even ex-teammates as well as the guys in his current locker room is precisely why Bellemare is held in such high regard as a person to go along with his non-stop hustle on the ice.