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Musings and Quick Hits: April 2, 2021

April 2, 2021, 12:57 PM ET [138 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Quick Hits: April 2, 2021

1) The Flyers held a 12:30 p.m. practice today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. With an off-day yesterday and an idle night on the game schedule tonight, it marks the first time the team has had more than a single night off in between games since Feb. 25 and 26. Practice line combos are as follows:

JVR -Couturier - Farabee
Laughton - Hayes - Patrick
Konecny/Lindblom -Giroux -Voracek
Raffl -Laczynski - NAK

Provorov - Braun
Sanheim -Myers
Morin- Gostisbehere
Hägg- Gustafsson

Hart
Elliott

2) Via a Twitter fan poll with 4,476 participating voters, Flyers fans have selected second-year winger Joel Farabee as the Herr's Foods Fire on Ice Flyer of the month for March. He garnered 51.3 percent of the vote. Claude Giroux (32.2 percent) finished second, with Sean Couturier (16.4 percent) third.

Let's be honest: March was an historically bad month for the Flyers. It feels a little hollow to pick a standout player in a month where the team was lucky to go oven 6-10-1 when it needed three multi-goal comebacks for three of the wins (two against Buffalo) and the team set uwanted single-month franchise records for the most goals allowed and the worst goals against average.

That said, if it were mine to choose, Couturier would have been my pick for the Player of the Month. From an offensive standpoint, he was the only Flyer to average a point-per-game or more during the month. He posted 16 points (5g, 11a) in 16 games and closed out the month with a five-game point streak (4g, 4a). Moreover, he was playing through a hip flexor issue during the month, which caused him to miss one game.

Giroux would have been my second choice. Among the six games the Flyers won in March, the team captain was the biggest catalyst in at least four of the wins. He also led the team in goals ((eight) and switched back and forth as needed between left wing and center. Trying to get the team as a whole to get back to taking short shifts -- an area where the team greatly improved last season, and part of the reason why Philly was a strong third period club a season ago -- Giroux led by example. Lastly, he played with a wide array of different linemates during the month, and many had their individual best game of the month while playing with Giroux.

Farabee's month got off to a strong start; from a statistical standpoint, four goals and seven points in the first seven games. Thereafter, he struggled in proportion with how much of the team was struggling. He was benched in the third period of Monday's comeback 4-3 overtime win in Buffalo, and started the next game on the fourth line although he moved back up as lines were juggled.

3) Alain Vigneault had a pretty rough month in his own right in March, along with the entire team. He pushed the wrong buttons several times with lineup decisions that did not pan out, was unable to cajole or coax 200-foot improvement from the team (apart from an isolated game or two, most notably the 2-1 OT loss to the Islanders), and employed some risky motivational strategies over the past month.

Questioning the struggling Carter Hart's work/practice habits -- a puzzling pronouncement on a player who, if anything, has a reputation for being a borderline workaholic -- struck a particularly odd note and, frankly, seemed rather unfair. Throughout the month, Vigneault himself brought up the severe lack of available practice time as a contributing factor to the team's scuffle to correct course, then called out the goalie for needing "to work harder and work better" in practice. Moreover, that statement contradicting things Vigneault himself had said many times about the young goalie's dedication to self-improvement, both last season and earlier this season.

Vigneault's frustration with the team as a whole was palpable as the month moved along, and there were times where that cracked through his normally affable public demeanor. After the 6-1 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday, Charlie O'Connor of the Athletic asked him about month-long patterns of inconsistency and Vigneault curtly replied, "I'm not going to analyze the whole month of March."

That was an out-of-character reply for Vigneault. He is normally very generous and forthcoming in discussing both recent and longer-term patterns with individual players and the team as a whole. He is also normally pretty darn savvy about knowing when to offer a carrot and when to use the stick in publicly discussing players or the team. This past month, he seemed to make the wrong choice of tactics several times; going a little too harsh at times and, on the flip side, seeming a little too sunny on the optimism/realism scale after some bad losses.

In fairness, though, Vigneault is only human. March was a brutal month for everyone on and around the team. Tension is high, energy ran low at times and the team is now facing a steep hill to get into the top four of the East Division and make the playoffs.

That said, the social media torch-and-pitchfork crowd that is calling for Vigneault to lose his job is simply not going to get its way this season. Entering March 2021, Vigneault had a 52-25-10 record as the Flyers head coach, with a Jack Adams top runner-up finish (the fifth time he's been a finalist) and a trip to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on his resume. The Flyers entered March 2021 with an 11-4-3 record and the top points percentage in the East Division this season.

As with players, coaches build up a "trust bank" from which they make deposits and withdrawals based on their performance. Vigneault had been up a pretty significant trust bank balance with his Flyers track record. This past month, the balance had withdrawals. Nonetheless, no matter what a fiasco the month was, the coach is presently in no danger of losing his job. A couple of assistants could pay the price by next season if specific areas of the team performance do not pick up appreciably in April and May, but Vigneault himself is safe.

The Flyers did not play nearly as well in January and February as their 11-4-3 start to the season would suggest. However, this team also is not nearly as bad as it played in March.
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