Five Flyers Observations : Breath Of Fresh West Coast Air
The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 Tuesday night in Anaheim.
Sean Couturier got the scoring going early in the 1st period on the power-play. The Flyers entered tonight on a 1 for their last 20 streak on the power-play. But, the new look unit did pick-up the goal on the first power-play of the night.
Ivan Provorov scored his first goal of the season on a deflection off a Claude Giroux shot. However, after a late 3rd period power-play goal by the Ducks, the Flyers were save by Nolan Patrick. Patrick scored to give the Flyers the lead with just 1:51 left in the game.
Brian Elliott stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced to earn the victory.
Here are 4 more observations from the Flyers 3-2 victory over the Ducks…
Road Trip Fresh Air
After the Flyers lost their 10th straight last season, they left on a 3-game Western Canada road-trip. They would sweep the road-trip and start one of the best comebacks ever to make the playoffs in NHL history. Could history repeat itself?
Tonight, the Flyers started a 4-game Western United States road-trip. That same fresh-air that jump-started a comeback last year, started again tonight.
The Flyers played their best two periods of the season in the 1st and 2nd. But, a late game tying goal by Ducks Cam Fowler seemed to destroy that air. However, Nolan Patrick scored with 1:51 left to give the Flyers the victory.
The air out West must do something to the Flyers when they are down. We will have to see if it continues on Thursday night in LA.
Power-Play Mix-Up
One big change to the Flyers was their power-play. After going 1 for their last 20 attempts, the Flyers power-play needed something to get it going. That came in the way of new looking units.
The new power-play units looked like this…
Giroux – Couturier – Patrick – Konecny – Gostisbehere
Simmonds – Weal – Voracek – Sanheim – Provorov
It was a pretty big change. Taking the Flyers best power-play point generator, Jake Voracek, and putting him on the second unit. But, it seemed to work.
The Flyers new 1st unit scored on their first power-play opportunity of the night. However, the power-play struggles came back on the next power-play. And, by the 3rd power-play, the Flyers went back to their original units. The change seemed like it worked. But, the Flyers power-play continues to struggle.
Roster Spark?
In need of a boost, the Flyers needed someone to step up. Go out and cause some havoc. That came in the form of Travis Konecny and Wayne Simmonds. Both players are known to get under the skins of opposing teams.
Tonight, both Konecny and Simmonds went after Ryan Getzlaf and Joseph Blandisi. Getzlaf never generated any offense tonight and looked out of sorts all night. Blandisi took two penalties and had a Flyer in his ear all night.
But, the youth infusion and energy brought from Nicolas Aube-Kubel, in his NHL debut, was a huge factor. It seemed from the beginning Aube-Kubel would get the usual Hakstol treatment. Only playing half of the six shifts the 4th line saw in the first period.
However, Hakstol showed some faith in the rookie. Giving him regular shifts in the second before spot shifting him in the 3rd. Aube-Kubel played extremely well in his limited time and showed some potential as a role-playing forward one day.
Result : Flyers 3 – Ducks 2, WIN
Record : 5 – 7 – 0
Next Game : 11/01 LA Kings, Los Angeles CA, NBCSports Philadelphia + 10:30pm