Quick Hits: Nov. 7, 2016
1) For a segment of the Philadelphia Flyers fan base, panic seems to have set in about the Flyers' goaltending. Neither Michal Neuvirth nor Steve Mason have played close to their capabilities this season thus far and therefore, neither is a worthy starter, the Flyers need to make a trade or install Anthony Stolarz as a starter to "see what the kid can do", or otherwise act in an irrational way over when there's still roughly 85 percent of the season remaining.
There are a lot of factors at work here. The goalies need to do a better job at coming up with the routine saves and a higher portion of the ones that are not easy but also not unstoppable. At the same time, the rate of coverage breakdowns (which has been somewhat cleaned up the last few games) and dangerous unforced turnovers (which has not) can be minimized. Although Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol has said that the team's high rate of scoring need not be sacrificed to play more consistent team defense, it can also be argued that the means by which the Flyers have been scoring at such a high clip has also contributed to puck decisions backfiring defensively.
Lastly, and this is an underrated factor, the team's very sporadic practice time in recent weeks has made it hard for the goalies to get in the reps they need to make adjustments. They can watch all the video in the world with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh but for many goalies -- Mason definitely being one and Neuvirth being another goalie who likes to put in work every day if possible-- practice time has a significant effect on in-game play.
It's not exactly going out on limb to predict that the Flyers will see an uptick in their goalies' save percentages in the games to come -- especially on the heels on Neuvirth yielding five goals on 17 shots on Saturday night -- but I do think that the slow-down in the schedule (apart from the back-to-back games coming up over the weekend) will benefit the goaltenders in getting their games back on track.
It's been disappointing to see both Mason and Neuvirth have more down nights than strong ones so far, but there's no more sense panicking over that than there would be to declare, for example that Shayne Gostisbehere (who has been putting up points at a healthy clip but has been struggling defensively) played over his head last season and is doomed to always be defensive liability because he's had some issues in the early going this season. The goalies and Gostisbehere both demonstrated solid abilities in a Flyers uniform over a larger sample size and deserve time to work through their early season hiccups this year.
As for whether Neuvirth had played well enough before the Montreal game to deserve four straight starts, including every game of a 3-in-4 when he'd been yielding at least one iffy goal in every game that proceeded it, it's a moot question. Mason had played well the Flyers' first trip to Montreal but there's no guarantee that things would have gone all that much better on Saturday night despite the Flyers holding Montreal to 17 shots. Sometimes those are actually tougher games for goalies than the 35-shot nights. That's not to say Neuvirth could not and should not have stopped at least two of the Montreal goals, but it's unfair to pin the entire blame on him for the 5-4 loss. There were some horrific turnovers in there, too.
2) Congratulations to the Flyers Wives, Flyers Charities VP Linda Mantai and the rest of the team that put together the 40th edition of the Flyers' Wives Carnival. Putting on a second Carnival within the same calendar year, and doing it on the same day as an Eagles-Giants game is a tall order but the event was well-supported by the fans.
Said Flyers' president Paul Holmgren, “It was our 40th carnival and I thought the turnout on a Sunday, going up against the Eagles, was tremendous. The setting , to me, was a little more quaint and a little easier for the fans to get access to their favorite players. In saying that, it was enthusiastic, our coaches and players and management team did a great job of joining in and doing everything they can for a great cause. Over the last 39 years we raised close to $30 million and we are going to add to that total this year through all the help of the great people who work behind the scenes. It’s been a great day.…