After a devastating loss to the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday, the Philadelphia Flyers went up against their cross-state rivals, Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a team that the Flyers can beat. No matter what the record, the Flyers always seem to play off the emotions, capitalize on mistakes and come out with the W.
After a shaky first period the Flyers took advantage of the opportunities. The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their strong hold and underestimated the Flyers, whose record was 1-3-2. And, the Flyers made it anything but an easy game for the Penguins as they battled for the win.
Now 2-3-2, the Flyers desperately need to link together some wins. Throwback to last year October 7, 2013 when the Flyers had the worst start to their season in franchise history, head coach Peter Laviolette was relieved of his coaching duties just 3 games into the season when they were 0-3. I don't think a shake up like that would help the team but it's not completely impossible if they don't turn their season around.
Positive take away from this game was the players that were scoring. It wasn't so much the top line but the rest of the team stepping up to the plate and bringing home the win, which is what was missing during the first few games of the season.
All-in-all, I don't really believe that this game was that "all important game" that will drive them to build off and create a great season. I think that they need to play against every team as if they are the Pittsburgh Penguins because that seems to be the only motivator for them to play close to a 60 min game. On paper the Penguins should have been more than capable of handling the Flyers but the Flyers win game after game against the Pens when the odds are not in their favor.
Where do we go from here? The Flyers have a lot to build from, they have a lot of great aspects to their game but they are still looking to get their first back-to-back win of the season. Their next two games will be challenging and this is where they will show what kind of team they will be this season. On Saturday they will face the Detroit Red Wings followed by the defending Stanley Cup champions on Tuesday. Beat one or both of those teams and that is what I will call "sending a message"
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