Flyers Win Season Opener…It’s A Trap!!!
http:/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU
Nope, not gonna happen Flyers you’re not fooling me again. I will not fall for this, I will not fall for this, I will not fall for this. Everyone say it with me now.
Last night the Philadelphia Flyers opened their season with a 5-2 win over division rival the New Jersey Devils. Most of you probably didn’t watch or couldn’t watch because you don’t have ESPN+ which is where the game was broadcasted on. I was in attendance as per my yearly tradition of attending the home opener.
My first observation was that the energy was definitely not the same as it usually is for the start of a season. That was expected as there isn’t much excitement around this season Flyers team. During the player introductions, a wild Ryan Ellis appeared. Yes folks he does indeed exist and he was greeted with boos from some of the Flyers fans. Look I get it the guy has played 4 games for us and we’ve virtually had no idea what’s been going on with him until recently. The guys hurt I’m sure he is frustrated just as much as we are about his situation but he didn’t deserve to be boo’d. It wasn’t the whole stadium but it was enough that I am sure he heard it. I would like to think we all hope at some point Ellis is able to return and plays for the Flyers and if he doesn’t it is what it is.
The game had a great pace to it from start to finish which was nice. The Devils would open the scoring on a goal that Carter Hart would probably like back. Alexander Holtz fired a shot that squeaked through Hart and trickled into the net. It was Holtz first career goal and it came on the power play.
The lead wouldn’t last long for the Devils as just 23 seconds later Provorov would fire a shot on net that would hit Blackwood and Wade Allison would jump on the rebound and bury it.
We would head to the second period which was a problem period for the Flyers all of last season and even during the preseason. However, it would be a different story in this game as just over 10 minutes into the period Travis Konecny would fire a shot past Blackwood to give the Flyers the lead. This was a vintage TK play and he absolutely ripped this shot I mean it was gorgeous. He used the defender as a screen and Blackwood had no chance.
Just 23 seconds later again the Flyers would strike, this time another one of the young guys we are hoping to see take a step forward this year. Morgan Frost would fire home a one timer on an absolutely incredible play from Tanner Laczynski. A beautiful backhand pass right on the tape to Frost again Blackwood stood no chance and the Flyers would lead 3-1 heading into the third period.
The Devils took a late penalty at the end of the second that gave the Flyers some carryover power play time and they would take advantage. It would be Travis Konecny once again this time from the high slot after a nice touch pass from Kevin Hayes. The one timer would beat Blackwood as JVR was setup in front of him to extend the Flyers lead to 4-1.
After that goal, the Devils really took over the period. I mean they fully took control and spent most of the period in the Flyers zone. Damon Severson would get the Devils to within two with about 10 minutes left but that would be as close as the Devils got. The reason for that being Carter Hart.
Carter Hart really bailed out the Flyers late in the third period with some huge saves. Other than the first goal of the night Hart looked just as good as we could’ve hoped. Morgan Frost would add his second of the night on an empty netter to secure the Flyers 5-2 season opening victory.
I’ve got a lot of thoughts on what I saw from this Flyers team last night. I will give them credit, they looked a lot better than I expected them to. Coming into this year, I figured Torts would have the boys ready to go and that he did I mean there were times during this game that they looked really good. Travis Konecny was hands down the Flyers best player all night and he may have once again found his scoring touch. On top of that you could see his effort on every shift, he was extremely noticeable and if he can keep this up all season that will be huge for this team.
Tanner Laczynski also looked really good last night for his role. He earned some extra shifts throughout the night and he took advantage of them including an assist on the first Frost goal.
The Provorov and DeAngelo pairing played very well together tonight. Much better than what we saw from them in the preseason.
Now, onto some of the negatives from the game. Yegor Zamula looked nervous all night, I understand it was his first NHL game but he just did not look comfortable at all. He had some bad turnovers and it almost looked like the game was too fast for him. Hopefully it was just some first game jitters but man he was not impressive at all.
Hayden Hodgson also did not look very comfortable at this level. Just a few sloppy plays and really wasn’t noticeable while he was out there. Again I understand it was his first game and these are some of the growing pains we are going to have to go through.
The Flyers did also suffer another injury, as forward Owen Tippett left the game after throwing a questionable hit on a Devils player in the first period. We got word that he was being evaluated for an upper body injury but, as of me writing this that was the only update we had. Hopefully it isn’t anything serious and hopefully there isn’t any suspension for the hit. You can take a look at the hit at the link below…
https://twitter.com/NathanGraviteh/status/1580699944134266883?s=20&t=Gx-d5p3QksHt5lu20F01RA
Now for as good as this team looked last night, I refuse to fall into this trap just yet. The Devils are a team that really just might suck. I will say this though, if this is the effort we are going to get every night from this team well then my #BringBedardToBroad campaign may be over before it event gets to start.
The Flyers take on the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday as they look to start the season 2-0.
-Walsh