Photo Courtesy of, Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via Associated Press
After a four-game homestand to begin the season and one road game the Philadelphia Flyers are off to a 3-1-1 start. With the level of opponents, the team had to face off against in these 5 matchups to begin the season this is a solid start for the team. Due to the Flyers having some misfortune concerning injuries to key players throughout this stretch of play such as Kevin Hayes, Rasmus Ristolainen, and the latest Ryan Ellis the Flyers have performed well as a unit for the most part.
This leaves the team with 7 points in 5 games played to start the season which places them at 6th in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers are sitting 1 point behind the Blue Jackets for the last wild card spot and they’re also 2 points back of the third-place Rangers with 2 games in hand. Only a few games have gone by and the season is very young so looking at the standings is likely a bit premature however, every point does count and these games could play a part in the Flyers making or missing the playoffs in a very tough division.
When examining the magnitude of difficulty the Metro Division possesses regarding its competitiveness and the other potential playoff calibre teams, an interesting stat brings forth how difficult it may be to secure a playoff spot within this division. The entire division has played 47 games so far. Through those 47 games, there have cumulatively been 29 wins, 10 regulation losses, and 8 OT losses. Evidently, this exhibits that there are 10 games division-wide so far where a Metro team hasn’t gotten a point. Considering the importance of every single point and game for the Flyers this season in terms of making it to the playoffs, mentioning the standings is noteworthy in that aspect. Putting the Flyers play into perspective they’ve placed themselves in a favourable position heading into the remainder of their western road trip. Although a bad performance on the remainder of the trip could be hard to rebound from further cementing how important it is for the team to ensure they pick up a fair amount of points in the games ahead.
5 on 5 Play
At 5 on 5 so far this season the Flyers have been playing quite well. In their matchups to date, they have controlled play at even strength in periods of all their games. Despite this, there have been certain games in which the team has been pinned in their zone at 5 on 5. This was specifically the case within the second period of last night’s game as the Oilers kept the Flyers hemmed into their defensive zone for the majority of the period. In fact, after a first period where the Flyers controlled the 5-on-5 play and the majority of the controlled entries while exiting their zone fairly easily, the Oilers dumped the puck in 11 straight times within the second period on their zone entries (stat courtesy of Charlie O’Connor, @charlieo_conn).
Luckily Carter Hart was up to the task as he has been at 5-on-5 all season as the young netminder played very well in last evening’s matchup. Altogether, the Flyers team save percentage so far this season has been improved substantially which is a great sign. As a total the team currently has a 933 % save percentage and this is a substantial improvement from last season’s team average 903 % save percentage at 5-on-5 that was one of the worst in the league (stat courtesy of hockey-reference.com). Additionally, the Flyers PDO percentage is currently listed at 1062 (stat courtesy of hockey-reference.com) which indicates the team’s scoring at a high pace at even strength while also receiving great goaltending so far this season (This stat combines a team’s shooting and save percentages at 5-on-5. The shooting percentage represents how often a team scores on one of its shots, while the save percentage is the frequency of saves made by its goalies). Along with this, the Flyers have scored 16 goals at 5 on 5 and allowed 9, exhibiting a sign of strong even strength play due to outscoring their goals allowed (stat courtesy of hockey-reference.com). On the other hand, the Flyers corsi for percentage sits at 46.5 % (stat courtesy of hockey-reference.com) percent demonstrating that at even strength this season the team hasn’t controlled play as often as they would like(this advanced stat includes shots on goal, shots that were blocked by a defender or missed the net. If a team has a lower corsi for differential, hypothetically that team is more likely to be in the defensive zone when they’re on the ice, above 50 % means a team is controlling play within a game). In terms of the team’s corsi for percentage, after two games against teams like the undefeated Panthers and the high scoring Oilers seeing the Flyers corsi percentage at this number for the entire season so far is not entirely surprising. As when playing offensive teams of such calibre defending in your own zone is certainly a commonality. Defensively at 5 on 5 the Flyers have held their own and been able to break out the puck quite effectively while also denying other teams zone entries consistently. One other thing to note is that the team has been playing well in their own end in regards to in zone coverage without one of their top defenseman in Ryan Ellis, exemplifying the team’s commitment to their defensive structure thus far. Ultimately, getting Ellis back should only improve the team’s overall 5 on 5 play going forward as well.
Power Play
When looking at the Flyers power-play to begin the season there’s been a lot of improvement in this area so far. The team’s power-play percentage is sitting at a 30.8 % conversion rate which is good for 5th in the league at the moment (stat courtesy of NHL.com). Based on the stats alone the Flyers are much improved in relation to the man advantage this season in comparison to last season as their power-play was 18th in the league during the 2020-2021 season. Statistics also do not tell the whole story when delving into the Flyers’ improved power-play so far this season. In comparison to how the Flyers are running their power-play this season versus last, there is an abundance of change that is present. Primarily, the team is much less stationary and the players on both units seem more comfortable in terms of moving around while the power play is taking place to both receive, make passes, and shoot. Most successful power plays in the modern day NHL have this aspect to them and it seems to be something the Flyers have successfully adopted into their scheme this season. Another important factor to this evolved power play is the presence of Keith Yandle on the blue line as the primary facilitator on PP1. Yandle is a very smart passer, who can be deceptive at times with his ability to make plays and pass through tight opening seams on this ice, this is on display often on the Flyers’ power play. With the signing of Yandle, the team seems to have made an adjustment going from more of a shooting power-play that was the trend while Shayne Gostisbehere was running the Flyers point position to a power play that passes low to high more often than across the ice. In addition, the 2nd power play unit now has a lot more depth due to the acquisitions of Cam Atkinson (who last night broke a Flyers record with his 6th goal in his first 5 games with the team) Ryan Ellis and, Rasmus Ristolainen. It appears as though the Power Play is looking to be a strength for the Flyers early in the season so far and the stats speak for themselves in this specific area of the game.
Penalty Kill
After the 2020-2021 season where the Flyers penalty-kill was 2nd worst in the league, this was a part of their game the team was looking to bolster significantly. Through the early season, the penalty-kill is trending in the right direction as compared to its performance last season. Forwards on the PK units are pressuring puck carriers more aggressively as they enter the neutral zone and cross the Flyers blue line. This strategy is being implemented in order to disrupt these zone entries and create a loss of puck possession for their opponents. Head coach Alain Vigneault mentioned that it’s been a focus of assistant and penalty-killing coach Mike Yeo for the team in terms of being aggressive on the penalty-kill and pressuring puck carriers and passers in the zone since the beginning of the pre-season. Adjusting from the passive penalty-kill the Flyers were running last season is already paying dividends as the team is sitting at 20th in the league with an 80 % penalty-killing percentage which is a big bump up from the teams 31st ranked penalty kill in 2020-2021 (stat courtesy of NHL.com). One may think that a 20th ranked penalty-kill still needs improvement however, without Ryan Ellis for 2 games already this season and Rasmus Ristolainen for the season opener the team is doing an adequate job on the penalty-kill. Impressively enough the Flyers have gone a combined 9 for 11 (81 %) on the PK in the last two games against two teams in Florida and Edmonton (EDM has the top PP in the league converting at 42.9 %, stat courtesy of NHL.com) who can strike offensively at will when given the opportunity. Such a penalty-killing performance against two teams with dangerous high skilled players on their power-play establishes the Flyers are taking away elite teams and players’ time and space on these power-play opportunities. This bodes well for how the team may perform against the rest of the league as if they can post the above penalty-killing percentage against offensive powerhouses like Florida and Edmonton it’s likely this facet of the Flyers game will continue to improve as it still is very early in the 2021-2022 season.
Main Takeaway for the Remainder of the Road Trip
What is the status of Ryan Ellis? Earlier last week the newly acquired defenseman was slated as day to day in regards to an undisclosed nagging injury and missed Saturday night’s game against the Florida Panthers. The defenseman did practice on Monday and was expected to play Wednesday evening against the Oilers, according to head coach Vigneault though this did not occur. Ellis was unable to play last night and even though the Flyers did win the matchup there are many variables of the veterans game that would have really helped the Flyers in their past two outings against the Panthers and Oilers. Predominately, the veteran’s ability to break the puck out of his own zone while under forechecking pressure and his active stick in the zone are two things that would have helped their overall game as a team immensely. Justin Braun has done a good job filling in for Ellis on the top pair although Braun is more of a 3rd pairing defenseman at this point in his career. Even though the team has been performing well defensively getting Ellis back is crucial to the Flyers continuing their strong play and stringing along multiple wins in a row on this road trip. Eventually, it can be assumed that Braun may not be able to handle the minutes that come with 1st pairing defense duties and the tough matchups against other teams top players. Hopefully, for the Flyers sake, Ellis being held out of the last 2 games is more precautionary than anything.
