Flyers Stay Hot In Season Openers

While just about everyone in the Philadelphia area was focused on the Philadelphia Phillies taking down the Atlanta Braves to move on to the NLCS, the Philadelphia Flyers were starting their season off strong. 

I will say I watched most of this game on my phone as I was locked in on the Phillies but I was still able to keep up. The boys came out buzzing, they looked faster then last years team and just looked like they had more energy from the jump. That’s something we aren’t used to seeing as typically the Flyers look sluggish to start games. 

It only took a little over three minutes for the boys to get their first goal of the season. A beautifully executed 2-0 between Sean Couturtier and Joel Farabee. 

The Blue Jackets would respond as defenseman Jake Bean was able to beat Carter Hart on a rebound to tie the game at one. We didn’t have to wait long to see how the Flyers would respond to a little adversity after giving up the tying goal. 

Scott Laughton would find Travis Konecny who would beat Elvis Merzlikins to give the Flyers the 2-1 lead heading to the 2nd period. 

Now, the second period was going on during the start of the Phillies game so I missed the first few minutes before turning the Flyers on my phone. Went back and watched the highlights and not much went on during this period but the Flyers carried the bulk of the play and were winning a lot of the 50/50 battles which you love to see. The second period was a scoreless one so we headed to the third with the Flyers still up 2-1. 

The third period would be a tight checking period as the Flyers were looking to hold on as the Blue Jackets pushed to get the tying goal. Carter Hart looked fantastic all night and especially in the third, coming up with multiple timely saves to keep the Flyers in front. Hart once again proving that he can be that franchise goaltender this team has long wanted. 

The Blue Jackets would pull their goalie with a little over two minutes left and as the Blue Jackets dumped the puck in, Carter Hart would play the puck up the boards and out. It was a race for the puck between former Flyer Ivan Provorov and former Blue Jacket Cam Atkinson…

Cam would win the race and bury the empty net goal in his return to Columbus to extend the Flyers lead to 3-1. 

Of course though the Flyers would have to make it a little uneasy for us as they again pulled the goalie trailing now by two goals. Patrik Laine would find the back of the net to make it a one goal game again with just 43 seconds left. 

But, as the Blue Jackets gave it their last final push to try and tie the game the Flyers wouldn’t budge. Travis Konecny would chase down a loose puck that was cleared and bury it into the empty net as time expired giving the Flyers a 4-2 win. 

An overall impressive performance by the Flyers in game one of the season and they continued their streak of recording at least a point in their last nine opening night games(7-0-2). Obviously, it is only one game and we don’t really know how good or bad this Blue Jackets team is going to be. But, the biggest thing you wanted to see is improvement from last season and building off some of the success they had. I think we saw that last night, the team looked more sound defensively overall and like I stated in the beginning they looked faster. Again, it’s only one game but the fact they they played as well as they did is a very encouraging sign. 

Bobby Brink wasn’t extremely noticeable in last nights game but he did have two shots and was +1 in his 13 minutes of playing time. 

Owen Tippett was firing the puck a lot but struggled to find the net as most of his shots went wide. Just wasn’t his night overall but I loved the fact that he still is showing he is willing to fire the puck at will. 

Scott Laughton had himself a two assist night as he had helpers on both of Travis Konecny goals.  

Carter Hart stopped 27 of 29 shots that he faced and really came up with some timely saves. Whether it was early in the game or during the last minute of the third when the Blue Jackets had their biggest push. Hart looked solid and if he can give the Flyers these type of outings night in and night out this team can be dangerous. 

Penalty killing was one of the things the Flyers stressed the most during the offseason and boy did it pay off last night. The guys they brought in to help the PK really proved they were worth it. The Flyers killed off all four of Columbus powerplays and special teams are going to be a huge part if this team is going to have any success. 

The Flyers now head to Ottawa to take on the Senators on Saturday afternoon. 

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-Walsh

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By Keith Walsh | October 13, 2023