It Was Just A Preseason Game. Flyers vs Devils Recap
Last night while we were all watching the Birds take down the Bucs, the Philadelphia Flyers opened their preseason against the New Jersey Devils.
Thankfully, this game was not on TV and could only be streamed from the Flyers and Devils websites. Let’s try and keep in mind that this was just a preseason game it didn’t count and basically never actually happened. At least as A Flyers guy thats how I am handling this because last night was UGLY.
Keep in mind I really only watched the first maybe ten minutes of this game live and then went back and watch the highlights. But, you didn’t have to watch much of this game to know that it was a complete disaster. The Devils scored FOUR, yes Four goals in the first six minutes of the game. They were absolutely dominating and it looked like the Flyers were barely touching the puck. It was almost like a Division one team going up against a Junior College.
Cal Petersen looked rough in his Flyers debut and did not make a good first impression to win the backup job. Now, if he was going out there trying to show the Flyers brass that he’s the guy they should want in net to tank the season, well then he has that job secured.
The defense of the Flyers struggled mightily and there were really no bright spots. They did settle in a little bit and stopped the complete onslaught after those first six minutes. The Devils would end up scoring two more goals to win the game 6-0.
It was pretty clear from the start the Flyers looked tired and rightfully so. They went from Torts skating test, to then scrimmages in three straight days before Monday’s game. So it makes sense that the boys didn’t really have their legs underneath them but man it was still just a flat out horrible performance.
If there was anything to be happy about it was the fact that Sean Couturier played in his first game in 646 days.
https://x.com/NHL/status/1706457750681567680?s=20
Today is a scheduled and much needed off day for the Flyers as they will be back in action Tomorrow night against the New York Islanders. The important thing to remember is that this was just a preseason game and there were only four regulars in the lineup. Also, Torts training camp is hard and there is a lot of skating and maybe the guys might have been tired. But, this will be something that will help them later in the year as they become more better conditioned.
As long as they don’t have these type of performances consistently everything will be just fine. It’s preseason for a reason and this is the time to get all the rust off and work out the kinks. It’s not the end of the world Flyers fans, even if they aren’t going to be a great team this year I promise it will not be as bad as last night all year.
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-Walsh