It’s a bitter-sweet “best of both worlds” this week for the Philadelphia Flyers. With the surprise announcement that head coach John Tortorella had been fired Thursday morning the team and their new interim coach Brad Shaw had hours to prepare for their first game against Montreal on Thursday night. The team bounced back well convincingly defeating the Canadiens by a score of 6 to 4.
Without much of a chance to prepare for this situation the Flyers are getting a bit of a chance to spread their wings. The team looks noticeably different. They are playing faster and looser scoring a total of 13 goals over their first two games under Shaw. The schedule is also working in the Flyers favor as they’re hosting a few fellow cellar dwellers during this transition.
During Tortorella’s tenure here in Philly the coach often relied on Shaw to communicate with the players. Brad Shaw is someone who already has an open and active line of communication with his team. As an associate coach Shaw has been a big part of the Flyers penalty kill which has often been referred to as the “power-kill” because of its aggressive offensive approach. Shaw spoke of Tortorella as his good friend and mentor after his debut game behind the bench.
The Flyers get a renewed sense of communication with a coach who is giving them a chance to prove themselves. Meanwhile both the interim coach and the players he’s now responsible for have both been forged by a very competitive, demanding, no nonsense coach in John Tortorella. So a more open approach with a softer delivery laid over top of a solid foundation of hard driven fundamentals? This could prove to be a very interesting combination.
Philly vs Buffalo
The Flyers defeated the Sabres by the score of 7-4 on Saturday afternoon. The Orange and Black are putting pucks in the net. Matvei Michkov notched his second consecutive two goal game. He’s now tied for 1st among all NHL rookies in scoring.
After going 0-35 on the power-play in the month of March the Flyers have scored 3 PPGs in the last two games. And the score sheet is filling up with an assorted cast of characters. It’s not just a couple players doing all the heavy lifting. The Flyers are “scoring by committee”. After the game Brad Shaw said “If you’re a goal scorer you get energized by scoring and so it’s a pretty fun bench right now”.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves please keep in mind the Buffalo Sabers hold a record that is almost identical to the struggling Flyers.
The Dynamic Duo
Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov have been really clicking together as of late. The combination was responsible for the first goal of Saturday’s contest 5:27 into the 1st period. Konecny sent Michkov charging down the right hand side with the puck on a 2-on-1 break. The lone Buffalo defender opted to cover the pass so Michkov took the shot and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen short side to open the scoring.
Just 29 seconds later Jakob Pelletier scored his 1st goal as a Flyer after a highlight reel assist from Owen Tippett. Tippett faked going out but cut inside on the first Buffalo defender and perfectly placed the pass through the second right onto the stick of Pelletier who had a ton of daylight to shoot for.
So many times this season we have seen Tippett make strong plays to enter the zone only to end up unsupported and out of options. Pelletier or any other Flyer who hustles to enter the zone with Tip is going to benefit from doing so. All too often Tippett finds himself entering the zone totally out numbered.
By the middle of the 2nd period Buffalo had scored three unanswered goals to take the lead 3 to 2. Just past the midway point Travis Konecny sprung Matvei into a 1-on-1 situation where he ran out of room after cutting around the defender. Unable to get the puck back to his forehand Michkov put a backhanded quick rising bar-down beauty over the glove to tie the game at three.
With 5:49 left in the 2nd period Foerster found Noah Cates open in front of the net. Cates fired a wrist shot past Luukonon to reclaim the lead 4-3 going into the final period.
The Flyers added three goals in the 3rd period. Owen Tippett with a one timer from the slot. Foerster with a one timer off a pretty between the legs back-pass from Bobby Brink. And Ryan Poehling after receiving a very resourceful pass from Cates in the slot. …Remember a couple years ago when everyone was going off about the death of the slapshot at the NHL level?
Samuel Ersson stopped 17 of 21 shots and looked a little befuddled by all four of the Sabres goals. Matvei Michkov had a team high 5 shots on goal and is still looking for that first NHL hattrick.
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff had the quote of the day post game. “It was like Christmas hockey we handed gifts out for the first three goals”.
The Flyers face another struggling team on Monday night when they host the Nashville Predators before getting the rest of the week off leading up to a trip to Montreal on Saturday night. Like I said the schedule is being very kind to the Flyers during this transition.
Extra Credit: Brad Shaw is no stranger to adversity. During his NHL career as a defenseman after spending a number of seasons with the Hartford Whalers he was sent to be part of the re-established Ottawa Senators for their debut season in 1992. He played 3 seasons on that team which had an absolutely dreadful first three years after returning to the NHL. During that time the Senators played a total of 224 games. Their record was 33-165-18.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
