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Musings and Quick Hits: Flyers-Pens Redux, Line Observations, Warriors |
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Quick Hits: Nov. 15, 2021
1) Following Thursday night's 3-2 overtime loss in Pittsburgh, Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault gave a very positive assessment of the game that just been played.
"I love the way we played," Vigneault said. "That first period, we got plenty of scoring chances. We came out of that trailing by one. We tied the second period. Found a way to win the third. Tied it up late in the third. I thought it was a great game. Both goaltenders made some big saves at the right time. Our power play got us a goal. We're not going to be perfect on the ice but we got some good looks offensively. Carter made some big saves when he had to. Both teams battled hard. They won it in overtime."
I have to be honest: When I listened to AV's comments after the game, I was surprised at how pleased he was with his team's performance. I disagreed with him. I slept on it, got up at 5 a.m. to rewatch the game and I still disagree with the Flyers head coach's take.
What I saw last night was a Flyers team that didn't start the game on time. Even apart from spotting the Penguins a deflection goal on the first shift of the night, I saw a severely undermanned Penguins team -- no Sidney Crosby, no Evgeni Malkin, no Bryan Rust, half the normal starting defense unavailable due to being in COVID protocol -- take the play to the Flyers for the first 12 to 13 minutes of the period. I saw the Flyers get the first power play of the game and fail to generate any meaningful puck movement or pressure.
I did see the Flyers take over the latter portion of the first period and start to dictate the play. That's an area where I do agree with Vigneault: the Flyers generated plenty of quality scoring chances by the end of the first period although they went off to intermission trailing 1-0.
Then what I saw was the Flyers have a second period that was like too many middle frames this season. As with the first period, the Flyers didn't answer the bell at the start of the period. Carter Hart had to come up with multiple very difficult saves and also needed some puck luck with the Penguins missing several open looks with lots of net staring at them.
When the Flyers got their second power play, it started out very much like the first: they could scarcely get set up. Finally they did, and Travis Konecny scored on one heck of a shot from tight quarters. Sometimes it only takes one! The game was tied.
To the Penguins credit, they didn't sag and eventually turned a broken play into a Jake Guentzel goal to re-take a one-goal lead. The Flyers had a couple of good chances in this period -- a 2-on-1 and a James van Riemsdyk breakaway most notably -- but the Penguins outchanced, outbattled and outshot (16-10) Philly overall.
In the third period, the Flyers generated a fairly high quantity of shots but the shot quality was not on par with what they created back in the latter half of the first period or even their sporadic but undeniably A-grade chances that arose here and there in the second period. When the team's third power play generated some pressure but couldn't convert, I was getting worried that a regulation loss was going to be Philly's fate. A 2-on-1 (more or less a 2-on-0 initially with Rasmus Ristolanen caught behind the play) and two vital saves by Hart immediately preceded the power play chance. The door was wide open for Philly and they NEEDED a goal out of that power play but couldn't get one. That's rarely a good omen.
Also during the third period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel got suckered into a penalty by Mark Friedman. I know some Flyers fans were screaming embellishment or that the penalty should have been on Friedman. I didn't see it that way. I saw NAK make himself vulnerable to being called with the ref's eyes right on him. Whether Friedman "sold" it nor not, NAK took that extra pop at the Penguins defenseman. I was not the least bit surprised when the official went up with his arm for a penalty. The Flyers killed it off but it's never ideal to lose two minutes off the clock like that when youre' down a goal in the third period.
Thankfully, with just under three minutes left in the third period, the Penguins had some confusion and then a miscue as a routine dump-in went from a breakout opportunity for Pittsburgh to a turnover behind the net to a goal by Scott Laughton a moment later. That pulled Philly even at 2-2 although they probably didn't deserve to be.
In overtime, both teams had a couple chances apiece. At 1:57, Kris Letang scored a wrap-around goal that barely crossed the goal line after Hart made an initial pad save but his pad and the puck ended up just behind the goal line. Right before that, Ristolainen made a good play in the offensive zone and then Cam Atkinson created room for himself to take the puck to the net. The OT portion could have gone either way -- or they could have ruled the replays of the Letang goal inconclusive, although I think the right call was made.
Entering last night, the Flyers were the NHL's No. 1 team on faceoffs. Against the Penguins, they lost 20 of 30 draws over the first 40 minutes. Philly did bounce back enough to with 16 of 27 faceoffs the rest of the way.
Overall, I've seen the Flyers play worse games against lesser teams than the Penguins (even as shorthanded as they were, the Penguins are a hard-working and highly competitive team than knows how to find ways to win). It was a positive that Hart had another strong game in goal. They play of Laughton and his line was a plus, along with Konecny's slick finish on the second period power play goal. Finding ways to erase a pair of one-goal deficits showed some resiliency in a hang-in-there kind of game.
Nevertheless, the performance I saw from the Flyers in Pittsburgh was not all that inspiring in either viewing it live or upon second viewing. It certainly didn't match the game that Vigneault described. It was not the kind of game where I'd say "I love how we played." I'd characterize is as "Give the Penguins credit. They outcompeted us overall. Our goalie came up huge to keep the game in reach and we found a way to get a point when we easily could come up with nothing."
2) A pattern that has been emerging over the last five games is that the Flyers blueline can no longer hide the absence of Ryan Ellis. Two of the three defense pairs are having trouble moving the puck. With Ellis, the Flyers seemed to have everyone slotted into situations they could handle. Without him, it's patchwork. That's just the truth. On the bright side, Ivan Provorov has been playing very well overall. I prefer Keith Yandle on PP1 but I'm not going to dwell endlessly on it.
I've liked some games that Rasmus Ristolainen has played, not been so happy with others (apart from a few isolated plays). The play of Travis Sanheim has also been pretty uneven so far. Thing is, there's only been one game so far where both halves of the pairing have been "on" for the majority of the night. Justin Braun is doing his usual quietly effective job, but can only play up top with Provorov for so long.
Nick Seeler has filled in admirably on the third pair and competes very hard but the Flyers have been forced to play him too much. Keith Yandle got off to an outstanding start this season but, like Brassard, his turn-back-the-clock mode figured to only last for so long. Nothing wrong with his competitiveness or playmaking but Ellis being out, Seeler being in every game of late and the middle pairing being like roller coaster ride thus far has forced the Flyers to need more from Yandle than he can be fairly expected to deliver on a regular basis anymore.
Up front, all three players on Scott Laughton's line continue to generate a lot of puck possession and tenacious forechecking. Laughton has scored big goals in each of the last two games. Oskar Lindblom is doing all the little things right with no payoff in point production. James van Riemsdyk, who is serially streaky in the goal-scoring department is also finding it very hard to score right now but is contributing positively to the underlying process. I'm not worried about that line, because they've been effective.
The line that worries me right now is the trio of Joel Farabee, Derick Brassard and Cam Atkinson. The collective unit and both Farabee and Brassard individually, have been having a rough time since the latter part of the opening homestand. Possession-wise, they are getting hemmed in constantly. Brassard has sporadically made some nice passes but is not of 2C caliber at this stage of his career. Atkinson has been scoring goals through hustle and his tremendous shot but he's not going to carry a line by himself. Farabee seems to be in a deep funk right now after roaring out of the gates in the first couple games. He did have a few positive shifts last night but not consistently.
The Flyers top line has a lot of weight on its shoulders right now, both at 5-on-5 and as part of the PP1 unit. They are getting the job done overall and often finding ways to step up at crucial moments of the game. They aren't dominating process-wise on an every-game basis but they're holding their own and also producing offensively. Hard to nitpick that too much. I will say, however, that Sean Couturier's passing game was a little bit off in Pittsburgh. He had three potential scoring chances brewing that went by the wayside because of errant passes. That happens. Again, it's hard to complain too much.
I like what Zack MacEwen has been bringing to the Flyers fourth line since he's started to settle in with his new team. Nate Thompson always competes hard; you just have to accept that if he plays, there's a good chance his line will be at a possession deficit and that he has never had a finishing touch when he gets a scoring chance. Aube-Kubel is still rather uneven in what he brings on a given night: Will it be the guy with the good north-south skating who creates forechecking havoc and shows two-way upside? Will it be the one with the brain cramps in going to the wrong spot, making a bad read or taking needless penalties? Or will it be somewhere in the middle?
The Flyers are in Washington on Saturday night. There's a chance that Martin Jones could get the start in net, because tomorrow will be nine days since his win in Vancouver and Hart has started five of the last six games and seven of the nine played so far.
Ellis is not with the team on the current road trip. Come next Wednesday, when the Flyers host Toronto, there's a chance that both Ellis and Kevin Hayes (who is eligible to exit long-term injured reserve after the Washington game) could be in the Flyers' lineup. Assuming both stay healthy -- right now, that's a nebulous thing to rely upon -- we will start to get a better read on where this Flyers team really is.
3) The 2021 USA Hockey Warrior Classic gets underway today at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees and the Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, NJ. All three Flyers Warriors entries -- Tier 1 , Tier 2 and Tier 3 divisions -- are in action.
At 4 p.m. today at the FTC in Voorhees, there will be a "Salute to Service" featuring tournament honorary co-chairmen Paul Holmgren, Mark Howe and John LeClair. At 4:45 in Voorhees, the Flyers Warriors Tier 1 team will take on the Carolina Warriors in their respective tournament opening games. Lauren Hart will sing the national anthem and Lou Nolan will serve as public address announcer.
4) Congratulations go out to Mark Recchi. Last night, Recchs was inducted in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame as part of their class of 2021. It is inevitable that Recchi will be eventually inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame -- he was a finalist this year -- but the Philadelphia Sports Hall is quite a nice honor in its own right.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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