Bill Meltzer: Wrap: Bruins Beat Flyers in Shootout, 5-4

Bill Meltzer: Wrap: Bruins Beat Flyers in Shootout, 5-4
- bmeltzer

Scott Laughton. Dumbest penalty I’ve seen in awhile. How he got so much OT ice time blows me away. Especially because he did very little with it.

The Power Play looked really good tonight but I’m having a tough time understanding how our PP doesn’t go back to basics. Giroux and Voracek together on each half wall is gonna make things happen. Why they were separate at all, I don’t get. Hayes was incredibly impressive with deflection plays, I don’t know if anyone noticed. Why isn’t he working the slot as a double screen with JvR all the time? Gus has the best point shot among active players. Let the vets run the first unit, give the second to the kids. Credit to Vigneault for making this adjustment late in the third but I think you need these looks on the PP from here on out.

Carter Hart is unbelievable positive but these slow starts are also unbelievable negative. I think the hardest player to watch overall might be Jake. The player he is in the first half of a game versus the player he is in the second half is night and day.

Justin Braun goes from being on my poop list, to becoming my hero. He really saved a goal at the end of the third.

Missing our top center and got a point, not to mention we’re currently in first place despite not exactly having our best game yet, things are not as bad as some would have you think.

Missing our top center and got a point, not to mention we’re currently in first place despite not exactly having our best game yet, things are not as bad as some would have you think.
- Dave21Brown

This.

Agree about Jake. Yes he had a great game on the scoreboard, no denyin', but I also noticed him gliding back on D every time he lost the puck, leaving our D outnumbered. Also, if Jake and Giroux and Hayes all see themselves as passers, we're not going to have too many SOG. Someone's got to finish besides TK and JvR.

Can't believe I don't have anything bad to say about JvR. Seems like a different player than last year.

Agree about Jake. Yes he had a great game on the scoreboard, no denyin', but I also noticed him gliding back on D every time he lost the puck, leaving our D outnumbered. Also, if Jake and Giroux and Hayes all see themselves as passers, we're not going to have too many SOG. Someone's got to finish besides TK and JvR.

Can't believe I don't have anything bad to say about JvR. Seems like a different player than last year.
- therabbi

It was always up to him to get in on the forcheck and being physical by skating hard. No argument. With this said, his season ended last year with a broken leg and than during “return to play”, got punished by being scratched often because he wasn’t skating hard. He was coming off an injury where he broke his leg!

Anyway, JvR looks good and he’s being used properly. It’s only up to JvR to keep it up. I could use the broken leg argument last summer. I’m all out of arguments for him right now.

Wow. Defensemen going down like flies. If Ghost isn’t ready it might be a blessing Morin is on the Taxi squad. Bill, I know they are trying him at LW but do you think it’s more likely they use Morin or call someone else up? It would be awesome if he got this shot and played well.

Not just defenseman going down, we've lost 4 players in 5 games. Who is this, the Eagles?

Not just defenseman going down, we've lost 4 players in 5 games. Who is this, the Eagles?
- backfire

Jesus man don't wish that on the Flyers

Wow. Defensemen going down like flies. If Ghost isn’t ready it might be a blessing Morin is on the Taxi squad. Bill, I know they are trying him at LW but do you think it’s more likely they use Morin or call someone else up? It would be awesome if he got this shot and played well.
- youarewrong

Injuries aside, the Flyers are going to need to upgrade on defense in season. The loss of Niskanen is being felt.

Agree about Jake. Yes he had a great game on the scoreboard, no denyin', but I also noticed him gliding back on D every time he lost the puck, leaving our D outnumbered. Also, if Jake and Giroux and Hayes all see themselves as passers, we're not going to have too many SOG. Someone's got to finish besides TK and JvR.

Can't believe I don't have anything bad to say about JvR. Seems like a different player than last year.
- therabbi

The last two games JVr has been awesome, first few you couldn’t even tell he was on the ice . Need more of what he’s bringing lately

Injuries aside, the Flyers are going to need to upgrade on defense in season. The loss of Niskanen is being felt.
- SuperSchennBros

Agree big time, with Myers being out for who knows how long we are down 2 of our top 4 from last years playoffs. IF Ghost returns to early form then maybe they can get by but we really need another stable player in the top 4. Hard to find, but could be the missing piece for long playoff run

Sorry, they didn't deserve a point tonight, the Flyers are not good right now and I don't know how they get better. They are a slow team that go through long stretches in each game where they chase the puck and have low puck possession, they are not getting many shots and are giving up a ton of shots. What is more disturbing is this is yet another game where the Flyers were not ready to play at the opening puck drop, all EXCEPT Carter Hart of course , who once again has to stand on his head to give the Flyers a chance. I have said for a while this team lacks speed, and gets beaten to pucks regularly. They are sloppy in their own end and frequently cannot execute a simple D-zone clear. Last night the Flyers had twice as many giveaways as the Bruins. These are serious problems that I don't know how they fix with the team they have.

One more point I want to make. These games look very much like the playoff games last year, and not the regular season, and this makes sense. This is a shortened season so the urgency for each team is much higher, so I think there is going to be less open-ice hockey and more tightly checked games. I think this amplifies these Flyers weaknesses, everything happens faster now and the Flyers are not a fast team!

Lets not let the OT usage distract us from the fact that AV used Laughton on GIROUXS line all game.

This is not something you do as a competent coach.

At 5v5...
Giroux with Laughton: 28.57 CF%, 27.55 xGF%
Giroux without Laughton: 60.00 CF%, 88.31 xGF%

You can't continue to sabotage your star players at 5v5 and on the PP and expect to win.

Agree about Jake. Yes he had a great game on the scoreboard, no denyin', but I also noticed him gliding back on D every time he lost the puck, leaving our D outnumbered. Also, if Jake and Giroux and Hayes all see themselves as passers, we're not going to have too many SOG. Someone's got to finish besides TK and JvR.

Can't believe I don't have anything bad to say about JvR. Seems like a different player than last year.
- therabbi

Well, you hit One of the nails on the head regarding this Flyers team, they lack top end talent. They have a team with a lot of 200 foot players, but they lack elite offensive talent. What's worse is they are paying Giroux, Jake and JVR 24M, which is 30% of their cap! At least Giroux's contract is up soon and they can resign him for much less money, but then they will give his current money to Couturier who surely deserves it. However with a flat cap for the next few years, no one is taking Jake, JVR and Ghost off our hands, and that will make it very hard to sign or trade for elite offensive talent.

Missing our top center and got a point, not to mention we’re currently in first place despite not exactly having our best game yet, things are not as bad as some would have you think.
- Dave21Brown

Yes for now, but its going to catch up to us, this team cannot keep playing like this and expect to even get a point in these games. The Bruins hadn't scored a 5 on 5 goal before this game, and they score 3 on the Flyers tonight. This is embarrassing.

Agree big time, with Myers being out for who knows how long we are down 2 of our top 4 from last years playoffs. IF Ghost returns to early form then maybe they can get by but we really need another stable player in the top 4. Hard to find, but could be the missing piece for long playoff run
- 3flyerkids

If only "Ifs and buts were candy and nuts ...". I don't know how we can expect Ghost to save the day given his last few seasons.

The bruins first 2 games were rough but game 3 and now 4 they buzzed at even strength. Good goaltending more than poor play kept them off the scoresheet. Their offense taking huge steps back is greatly exaggerated.

I keep looking around and pointing at David Savard as the type of answer we need. And the cost within reason doesn't scare me. He could replace a huge hole niskanen left for a suddenly giant poop show in Columbus.

Honestly I'm most disappointed by our center play. Our defense did ok for the most part. Our centers regularly blew defensive assignments. Forwards didn't help with outlets. And the performance in the face-off circle was lazy. Thats a big problem.

So 7 forwards to protect. The locks.
G hayes (nmc) tk lindblom Patrick coots
Who is your 7th ? Jake jvr laughton among candidates.

The bruins first 2 games were rough but game 3 and now 4 they buzzed at even strength. Good goaltending more than poor play kept them off the scoresheet. Their offense taking huge steps back is greatly exaggerated.

I keep looking around and pointing at David Savard as the type of answer we need. And the cost within reason doesn't scare me. He could replace a huge hole niskanen left for a suddenly giant poop show in Columbus.

Honestly I'm most disappointed by our center play. Our defense did ok for the most part. Our centers regularly blew defensive assignments. Forwards didn't help with outlets. And the performance in the face-off circle was lazy. Thats a big problem.

So 7 forwards to protect. The locks.
G hayes (nmc) tk lindblom Patrick coots
Who is your 7th ? Jake jvr laughton among candidates.
- Tfaehner

It has to be Laughton. I would think you expose JVR and Jake because their contracts will pretty much protect them. Thus the Flyers will lose either NAK or Haag, not the end of the world.

Voracek was great
Giroux was great
Patrick and TK were good
JVR was good
Sanheim was good

Pretty much everyone else was somewhere between mediocre and horrible.

Hagg, Braun, and Gus are not NHL players.
Fletcher has been absolute dogpoop overall but signing all three of them this offseason to new contracts is enough to deserve getting fired by itself. And AV continues to be AV.

It has to be Laughton. I would think you expose JVR and Jake because their contracts will pretty much protect them. Thus the Flyers will lose either NAK or Haag, not the end of the world.
- jd250

Laughton is a free agent.

Wow. Defensemen going down like flies. If Ghost isn’t ready it might be a blessing Morin is on the Taxi squad. Bill, I know they are trying him at LW but do you think it’s more likely they use Morin or call someone else up? It would be awesome if he got this shot and played well.
- youarewrong

Pouliot has already been promoted to the taxi squad.

Sorry, they didn't deserve a point tonight, the Flyers are not good right now and I don't know how they get better. They are a slow team that go through long stretches in each game where they chase the puck and have low puck possession, they are not getting many shots and are giving up a ton of shots. What is more disturbing is this is yet another game where the Flyers were not ready to play at the opening puck drop, all EXCEPT Carter Hart of course , who once again has to stand on his head to give the Flyers a chance. I have said for a while this team lacks speed, and gets beaten to pucks regularly. They are sloppy in their own end and frequently cannot execute a simple D-zone clear. Last night the Flyers had twice as many giveaways as the Bruins. These are serious problems that I don't know how they fix with the team they have.

One more point I want to make. These games look very much like the playoff games last year, and not the regular season, and this makes sense. This is a shortened season so the urgency for each team is much higher, so I think there is going to be less open-ice hockey and more tightly checked games. I think this amplifies these Flyers weaknesses, everything happens faster now and the Flyers are not a fast team!
- jd250

Team speed is not the issue for this team.

Lets not let the OT usage distract us from the fact that AV used Laughton on GIROUXS line all game.

This is not something you do as a competent coach.

At 5v5...
Giroux with Laughton: 28.57 CF%, 27.55 xGF%
Giroux without Laughton: 60.00 CF%, 88.31 xGF%

You can't continue to sabotage your star players at 5v5 and on the PP and expect to win.
- Striiker

Are you familiar with sample size and the role it plays in the numbers you've used?

Ridiculous.