The Philadelphia Flyers just had a West Coast trip end with a win in Arizona last night and are heading back home for a 5 game home stand. The Flyers have been terrible at home but have had winning ways away from the Wells Fargo Center. From this road trip Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom have shown their talent coming into fruition.
Introduction
I’m going to be focusing on the success the Flyers have had on this west coast road trip, My expectations for the team going back home where they desperately need to start winning and giving what Philly fans want to see, the impact from Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom, and the injury prone Flyers goalies.
West Coast Success
So, the Flyers just wrapped up their west coast road trip with 3 wins and a loss in overtime which honestly should’ve been a win, but they have had their problems with being able to close out close games this season. The road trip started out in Anaheim where the Flyers won the game 3-2 with a late bounce back goal from Nolan Patrick 21 seconds after the Ducks tied it on the power play. Claude Giroux had two assists in the game and Patrick started his hot streak with a helper as well. The next game was against the LA Kings on November 1st. Giroux, Patrick, and Lindblom all added to their point streaks. Wayne Simmonds also continued his scoring ways in his old stomping grounds at the Staples Center. The Flyers ended up winning the game convincingly against a struggling Kings team 5-2. The third game in the road trip was played in San Jose where the Flyers had their final meeting with the Sharks this season. The Flyers were looking for revenge after being completely embarrassed in a 8-2 loss in their home opener against the Sharks in early October. The Flyers got off to a quick start with getting a goal in the first minute of the game. They ended up being ahead or tied for majority of the game. The Flyers couldn’t close out a one goal game in the third where the Sharks scored and then only 10 seconds into OT won the game. Flyers drop the game 4-3 and the Flyers favorite moto “at least we got a point” rang true after a game they were in control of. The final game of the trip ended out in the dessert against a red hot Coyotes team who were on a five game win streak. The Flyers won the game 5-2 after a outstanding night by the captain Claude Giroux who tallied 2 goals and an assist. Lindblom and Patrick also continued their point streaks to four games.
Heading Back Home
The Flyers are going back home for a 5 game home stand and have 7 out of 9 at home the rest of November. The team needs to start winning at home and give the fans some entertainment. I think the rest of this month is going to be a big moment for the Flyers and some of the personnel. If the Flyers sink at home coming up then Dave Hakstol should lose his job even though he should’ve lost it a while ago to be honest. The team can’t freeze up and they need to play a full 60 minutes because this season so far at home has been the team falling behind and only waking up and start playing after they dig themselves into a multi goal deficit. My expectations for this team in the rest of November is to win 5 out of the 7 home games and win one of the away games to close out the month of November with a record of 8-3-1 or 8-2-2.
The Young Guns
At the start of this road trip the Flyers were in desperate need of offense. Nolan Patrick, Oscar Lindblom, and Claude Giroux stepped up to the challenge and started producing. Patrick and Lindblom have had one point or multi point games during the west coast road trip. Giroux ended the trip with a bang having 3 points on Monday night in Arizona. Oskar Lindblom tallied up 6 points in the last 4 games. He had two multi point games and had 2 goals and 4 assists. Nolan Patrick found himself on the score sheet with 6 points with 2 multi point games and had 2 goals and 4 assists. So, Patrick and Lindblom produced the same stat line in the last four games and have sparked this teams energy and motivation to play hockey. If this duo can keep hot this will make the Flyers an exciting and interesting bunch after JVR comes back from IR.
More Injured Goalies…
The never ending torture of watching the Flyers carousel of goalies go in and out of the lineup will never end. Monday the team released a statement that Michael Neuvirth was placed on IR again after just coming off it and playing one game which was an awful performance by him. Also on Monday Hextall announced that Brian Elliot would be going back to Philadelphia and be checked out by team doctors after being ran into in practice on Sunday by Travis Konecny and reporting concussion like symptoms. So, the Flyers tandem for the time being is Cal Pickard who picked up a win in Arizona Monday night and Alex Lyon who was called up from the Phantoms. This is a painful time just sitting waiting for Carter Hart to develop who is being sought as the Flyers savior in net, but it’s the right thing to do instead of risking his development when the teams defense has not been great up until the recent games.
Philly Sports Moments 