Flyers win by the skin of their teeth against Avs

The Flyers took a commanding 4-goal lead after a 5 minute penalty to the Avalanche late in the 1^st period. Throughout the 1^st and 2^nd period the Flyers kept the Avs chasing a fast paced game, where they dominate, pushed the pace and exhibited outstanding puck control. But, the Flyers left enough space for the Avs to mount an impressive come back during the 3^rd period, forcing the Flyers to bare down and Steve Mason to come up with important saves. The Flyers killed off a huge 6 on 4 power play in the last moments of the game to notch the 4-3 win.

Three Stars of the game: Steve Mason, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds

Steve Mason has come back into the net with refreshed confidence and stands tall as the Flyers starting goaltender. The win tonight largely laid upon his shoulders as managed to keep the puck out of the net during the last seconds of the game to notch the win for the Flyers. Claude Giroux had his first multi-goal game and sniped a beautiful goal in the first period, which earned him a star. This was Wayne Simmonds first game on the top-line and he was a perfect fit, contributing to the win.

The Flyers are approaching the season with different style, which could explain the slow start they got to the season. But now in full swing, they are exhibiting a great power play and penalty kill, areas in which they have struggled in the past.

It was great to see the Flyers come out of the gate strong for 40 minutes tonight but they can’t sit back and stop skating once they grab a lead. The most notorious instigators for the Flyers, Zac Rinaldo, showing restraint and not taking untimely penalties forcing extra work for the specialty teams is a welcomed change. Thankfully, it is still early enough in the season for the Flyers to completely change momentum and make their early season loses a distant memory.

Looking ahead, the Flyers will take a 5 day break and face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.  

Philadelphia Flyers win over LA Kings

The Philadelphia Flyers showed up and showed out last night against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the LA Kings. A few keys to the game last night was Ray Emery’s outstanding performance in goal and the strategic/physical play the Flyers exhibited.

Although the Flyers took some time to get their feet underneath of them this season, they are making smarter plays and fewer of those frustrating/poorly timed penalties.   Compared to last season’s start the Flyers are doing extremely well and assuming that their awkward adjustment period has passed, they have taken to Head Coach Craig Berube’s guidance and the team seems to finally be clicking.  

The fact that Philadelphia finally has a great goaltending tandem deserves a moment of silence. Steve Mason has been great for the Flyers, no doubt will continue to be great and keep his starting goaltender position.  It’s a relief that their backup goaltender is outstanding in goal as well and the Flyers couldn’t ask for a better back-up, who knows his job description and supports the team. Emery only makes Mason stronger.

Last night the Flyers gave us a glimpse of how dangerous they can be when they play a smarter and harder full 60 minute game. Is this the start of something new? I sure hope so, as the Flyers have been progressively getting better. They wrap up this challenging month of October and look to build more momentum.  The Flyers have finally linked together 3 wins and are looking for more, as they take their show on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning this Thursday.

Will the Flyers keep up their fast and stronger style of play, or were they just putting on a show for the LA Kings?

Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, NO SURPRISE!!!

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"

Philadelphia Flyers: Optomistic but still not winning

Not the start to the season that the Flyers had in mind, but they have offered a few glimpses at the type of hockey they hope to play all season. It’s too soon to press the panic buttons just yet, with a long season ahead, but it is feeling slightly reminiscent of last season’s losing streak.

Time and time again one player often shoulders the burden for the Flyers, right now it is Wayne Simmonds with substantial contributions from Claude Giroux, Mark Streit and Jakub Vorack. The individual contributions are great and as soon as they link everyone together in a team effort they could add some confidence with a win.  The Flyers need to harness their energy and control the ice.

The Ducks have a knack for slowing down plays and controlling the pace of the game. The Ducks held that strong hold until the Flyers came back to play hockey during the 2^nd period. There is no time like the present for the Flyers to elevate their game and notch the wins.

The Flyers have several opportunities to build off of in order to begin playing the season the way that they want to: Their top-line is contributing, they notched quality shots on goal and they have a good power play.

Meanwhile, the Flyers are 0-2-2 and are up against a tough line up for the remainder of October. As they continue to struggle with their shoot out skills, it appears that no amount of practice can help that area of their game. But, the team remains positive and chases after the full 60 minute effort.

If you could offer one coaching tip to the team what would it be?

Who came out on top in the Scott Hartnell trade?

As we continue to digest yesterday’s news from the Philadelphia Flyers on the trade of Scott Hartnell for R.J Umberger of the Columbus Blue Jackets, more clues are coming out on the thought process behind this trade. Ron Hextall, who had been groomed all season to take over as G.M finally assumed his role and is making an impact, with the goal of producing a Stanley Cup team just like he created in L.A. With Hextall at the reigns it seems odd that the Hartnell trade feels very Paul Holmgren reminiscent.

Claude Giroux was shocked Monday morning when he found out that Scott Hartnell was one of his former teammates. A move out of left field for the Flyers team, shocking even the captain. The trade was for R.J Umberger, a player with some similarities to Hartnell, those similarities include age, goals last season, cap hit and experience they could bring to a team. Where Hartnell excels above other players is his commitment to the community in which he plays, he is more active in the community than any other individual player, he has been a fan favorite and a face for the Flyers.

The Columbus Blue Jackets undoubtedly are very lucky to have such a great trade on their hands and they did not have to sacrifice much. R.J Umberger doesn’t draw as much fan base but he brings an element of speed and versatility that Hextall is looking for in a player. Umberger, a former Flyer, had asked the Blue Jackets for a trade because he had been a healthy scratch down the stretch 2014-14. All signs show that Umberger is actually skating the best of his career and we can look to Craig Breube playing his in several different positions this season.

With R.J Umberger also comes a 4^th round pick in the 2015 draft which is expected to be deeper than the draft happening this weekend. Hextall’s plan seems to be focused towards the long term. He is going to clean up the team, put them in a great position for a few years from now and then win the Cup. He has the vision to take the team where it needs to go and he wants to create the cap flexibility to be able to do so.

My feelings about the trade: Thinking of it from a player stand point for a minute, both teams seemingly did not want the player that they had. On an individual basis this is great for them.  Hartnell is a great guy and his soul focus is on winning the Stanley Cup before his retires and the Blue Jackets are very motivated to do that, so I think this season we are going to see great things from Hartnell. The Blue Jackets have Hartnell in their winning plan and that is a perfect place for him to be. A player that is motivated by winning is the kind that you want on your team. On the other hand, Umberger was a healthy scratch for the stretch last season (2013-14) there is a reason behind that and GM Jarmo Kekalainen of the Columbus Blue Jackets might have given a hint to that when he said:

“We had a player who didn't want to play here and had asked to be moved, so that was money on the sidelines for us. Now we've got a real good player (Hartnell) and we have clarity to the situation. We know what we look like heading into these next two weeks, which makes it easier to proceed."

So was he referring to Umberger. If so, all we can hope is that the move re-energizes Umberger to want to win with the Flyers. He is seemingly in the best shape of his career so hopefully he makes that kind of impact with the team.

From a Flyers stand point this is such a bad trade. They had one of their top guys, who is a face of the team, great attitude/motivated to win, respected and looked up to by his teammates, fully committed to the Flyers and Philadelphia and they just downgraded to Umberger. That’s the business side of the game but it’s just such a sad move on their part.  Hartnell was such an integral part of the team, they will not be able to find someone that can fill his skates on and off the ice. Hopefully the gamble on the 4^th round pick in 2015 works out.

The Columbus Blue Jacket should be over the moon. I don’t think I am at all the bias when I make that statement. Hartnell has made the most of this situation and he is with a very motivated team.  He is bringing them valuable experience and leadership. He’s motivated and wants to win a cup before he retires and when Hartnell is motivated he gets things done. The Blue Jackets came out on top in this trade.

This trade rests on the shoulders of Ron Hextall. Everyone had been wondering if Hartnell had requested this move and that was just not the case at all. Hartnell loves Philly and even in being asked to move on he is still doing what is best for the Philadelphia Flyers. I am dreading the Hextall regime already and hoping for some kind of saving grace soon like resigning Ray Emery as back- up goaltender.

Surprise performance from the Flyers leads the series to Game 7

Much like their late start to the regular season, third period come backs and their last minute playoff push, the Philadelphia Flyers second wind has finally arrived. It is not too late and the momentum is welcomed in a series that will now be decided during Game 7.  The New York Rangers will take home ice in a game everyone has to win but only one team will be moving on tonight. Will we finally see some over time from this series?

 Last night, on home ice facing an elimination, the Flyers surprised everyone as they held as much as a 4 goal lead going into the third period. The Rangers started off the game dominating but by the end of 40 minutes looked disjointed and unorganized, they looked tired and were not playing as a team.  The difference of play between Game 5 and Game 6 was like night and day for both teams. After a very disappointing Game 5 that showed little promise for the Flyers, the comeback kids have risen and will take this series to Game 7.

 The Flyers have slowly regained their goal scorers. Claude Giroux netted his first goal during Game 5 and Wayne Simmonds made huge contributions in Game 6 with 3 goals. I think that when the top players are scoring for the Flyers it adds to their confidence, instead of building the frustration they get when they cannot find the back of the net. With Steve Mason's huge sprawling saves in goal the team is set to win Game 7 and move on. But, before we think about that let’s talk about what they have to do in Game 7: Keep it simple. Play the game. Exploit the Rangers weaknesses. Up until now the Rangers have been a solid competitor. Last night we saw a different side of the Rangers and with their confidence deflated the Flyers need to go into Madison Square Garden and dominate.

 Fingers crossed.

Game 4: The return of Steve Mason in time to tie the series at 2

The man, myth and legend returned to his rightful place in net tonight for Game 4 in Philadelphia.  Steve Mason had been out for two weeks, seemingly not missing a beat last night as he returned to block 37 shots and help tie the series.  Veteran Ray Emery had been holding it down and kept the Flyers alive in this series, while Mason was recovering.  Having their number one man back in goal gave the Flyers the added confidence that could now serve as their launching pad to win the series. The way that Mason defenses the net is outstanding, he has been able to reclaim his career probably largely in part to the veteran that has been backing him up all season.  Emery is largely important to the team as well but when it comes to incredible saves Mason is the guy that has shocked and awed us and has gotten the job done.

Looking forward to Game 5 in New York, the Flyers need to continue to build on the play that they exhibited during Game 4. During the playoffs they need to play better and better each game if they have their eye on advancing. I look forward to a line shuffle by Chief, his changes usually result in opportunities for their top guys to score goals. Speaking of their top scorers ,there has not been too much action from their top guys and all eyes are on Captain Claude Giroux waiting for a goal.  I think that Game 5 is when Giroux will notch a goal.

The Flyers have to keep it simple and stay patient on Sunday if they want to claim a win on the road. Mason has been a huge part of the teams wins all season and now that he is back in net he will be the reason that the Flyers are successful but they cannot only rest on him. All the elements need to be in place to make it past Round 1. In past games the Flyers seemed to try to spot correct some of their weaknesses instead of playing and even keeled game. The Flyers need to have everything working at once: good defense, puck control, great goaltending and keeping it simple for 60 minutes. They have yet to play a 60 minute game which is something they struggled with all season.

With Grossman’s future unclear, as he was taken out of the game with a lower body injury, there could be some additional changes coming to the line-up for Sunday. The big question is who should they put in for Grossman, I think that Hal Gill would be a great choice. Right now the Flyers have the momentum and if they play their game, they should be successful. Regardless of what is to come, the Flyers have a top of the line ace in goal for them and if they give him the space and the defense they could take it all the way.