Flyers Hit Jackpot in Vegas, Crash and Burn in Colorado

NHL hockey and Flyers hockey is back as they opened their 2018-2019 season off in Vegas and Colorado where they split games.

Introduction

This post will focus on the first two games of the Philadelphia Flyers 2018-2019 season. I will give the positives and negatives from the first and second games of the season where the Flyers split 1-1. Then I will give my thoughts on what is to come when the Flyers return home for their home opener on Tuesday, October 9th.

Striking Gold in Vegas

The Philadelphia Flyers seem like they always get stuck opening the season on the road in the West. The Flyers last Thursday night were going into T-Mobile Arena in Sin City to open their season against the Golden Knights who came off their miracle run to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season. So, the Flyers were going into a place that would be rocking and will have a lot of energy to start the season. The Flyers did well being able to contain the pressure and weather the first five minutes of the game, until Andrew McDonald got lost on the ice and let a speedy John Marchessault take the puck into our zone on a busted line change and snap a quick wrist shot into the top right corner past Brian Elliot. After the goal the Flyers settled into the game and controlled the rest of the game by scoring two goals in the first period with Oskar Lindblom opening the scoring for the Flyers and a healthy Wayne Simmonds cashing in on a rebound at the net. The Flyers then tallied on three goals in the second period with goals from Wayne Simmonds, Robert Hagg, and Scott Laughton. The Flyers didn’t score in the third and rounded out their season opener with a 5-2 win against the Stanley Cup runner ups.

Not Flying High in Mile High

The Flyers on Saturday were looking to go 2-0 in their first two games of a season since 2011-2012 season. The Flyers didn’t have a great start to the game and were caught chasing early when Colin Wilson scored 1:35 in. Sean Couturier answered back with his first of the season about 6 minutes later. The Avs were able to score again in the first and take the lead at the first intermission. Two minutes in the second the Flyers Rookie Mikhail Vorobyev got a gift for his first NHL goal after a member of the Avs defense ran into Varlamov and the puck sat right in front of an empty net. After this point the Flyers offense went quiet where they were not able to respond to the pressure of the Avs and ended up losing the game 2-5.

Positives

Brain Elliot looked very good in goal for the Flyers so far this season. He made a lot of big timely saves during both games to keep the Flyers in those games and gave them a chance to win. The Flyers have had an everlasting issue with consistency with goal tending, but if Elliot can play like he has and gets some support from our defense he should be in for a great year. Another positive was the Flyers penalty kill looked strong in the opening two games which is an area the Flyers must improve this year if they want to win games. The PK this season is 6 for 7 which leaves them at an 86% penalty kill ratio heading into their home opener. A healthy Wayne Simmonds is back, and the Wayne Train was rolling in Vegas where he picked up his first and second goals of the season. Another surprise was Mikhail Vorobyev, the rookie made the Flyers this season after having a very productive preseason in terms of scoring and showing his strength and hockey IQ. He was able to pick up his first point of the season with an assist in Vegas and his 1st career goal in Colorado.

Negatives

After the Flyers first two games of the season the glaring negatives on this team are the defensive side, Andrew McDonald looks lost as always and Gudas picked up right where he left off on trying to throw games like he did in last season’s playoffs against the Penguins. In Vegas the Flyers were able to survive all the miscues with these two because of great goal tending and an offensive burst, but in Colorado the defense was the ultimate downfall in Saturday night’s loss to the Avalanche. Radko Gudas turned the puck over too many times in Vegas and Hakstol didn’t like it so he brought up Christian Folin from Lehigh Valley for his first NHL start. Folin had a poor preseason and it showed on Saturday night. Folin turned the puck over numerous times in our own defensive zone and one of those turnovers lead to an Avalanche goal which kills any momentum the Flyers were trying to build. The Flyers over the off-season brought back long time Flyer James Van Riemsdyk who just had a career season in Toronto by scoring goals. His ability to score goals would help the Flyers who lacked scoring depth while even strength last season and seemed like the only production was from the top 2 lines. Well the hope of having him for scoring depth has gone away for 5-6 weeks after JVR was hit in the side of the right knee with a clearing attempt on Saturday night.

Flyers Hockey is Back on Broad Street

The Philadelphia Flyers are coming home to the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night to host the San Jose Sharks who might have the best defenseman pairing in the league with Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. This the Flyers home opener so Wells Fargo is going to be cranked up on Tuesday night by anxious Flyers fans who have waited to see their team play again at home. The Flyers last season had a fairly even record at home and away, so the Flyers will look to make sure they take advantage of the fans and the noise this season to be able to produce more wins at home.

Conclusion

So far through the first two games of the season the Flyers looked decent even though they are 1-1, and they lost 5-2 on Saturday night which the score really doesn’t indicate how close the game really was. If the Flyers can dominate like they did against Vegas and play with an edge they should be good this season. The Flyers need to stay out of the penalty box and play disciplined hockey, fix the blue line miscues and turnovers, and get production from all four of their lines the Flyers should be looking at a decent run in the playoffs this year. My prediction for the Flyers this season will be making it to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2nd place in the Metro and being able to win at least one round. Anything under that I think it will be a disappointment especially when our team last season was able to make the playoffs.