Date Published: 11-13-2022
Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
If today’s 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars was a song it would be a very deep album cut. The type of song that nobody has ever dropped the needle on intentionally. We are all familiar with the laundry list of things that could be used to explain away a loss like this one but today’s game seemed to have a running theme all it’s own. The Flyers were habitually hesitant to shoot the puck. They got stuck in that mode early and never snapped out of it. It really was a miserable game so let’s have some fun, mostly at our own expense
As a life-long Flyers fan I know who we are, where we’re from, and what we do. Yelling “shoot” is something we tend to do… a lot. Personally I am not usually in the camp that is yelling shoot. I fit more into the group of people sitting on the edge of their seat hoping someone doesn’t take a really stupid shot just because they don’t want to hear everyone yelling shoot anymore. I am always waiting for that horrible plastic sound that a puck makes when it hits a shin pad dead on. You know the sound I mean, it’s usually immediately followed by an odd–man rush up the other end of the ice with all of our guys stuck in the offensive zone waiting for yet another pass. Trust me I’m hoping for a shot just like everyone else, it’s just that for some reason after passing up multiple golden opportunities somebody usually takes the most ill advised shot possible. At some point today some clever fan shouted something to the effect of “even (Jacub) Voracek would have taken that shot”. I love Jake, but we’re all very familiar with his personal feelings about the popular and unifying chant that traditionally takes place during the power play. The ironic thing is Jake has had some real success tossing the puck at the net just to see what happens. In fact he single handedly saved the 2019 Stadium Series Game against the Penguins by doing exactly that… twice.
The Flyers came out looking good today. They were entering the Dallas zone easily and keeping the pressure on for extended periods of time. The Flyers outshot the Stars 38-31, that total could have been lopsided even further in the Flyers favor if not for their reluctance to shoot the puck. I know that visual perspective can make things very subjective when viewing the game live from a fixed position (your assigned seat). Your vantage point can really shape your opinion of what’s taking place on the ice. Today I was downstairs directly behind the Dallas net for 2 periods so my view of possible shooting lanes was very clear and totally undeniable. The entire game it seemed like the Flyers were looking for an open teammate as their first option with a shot on net being a secondary possibility. To make matters worse, Dallas seemed to have no problem at all throwing the puck at and into the Flyers net.
Eventually the fans lost patience and it was totally understandable that they did. I was surprised that so many stayed in the building till the final horn forgoing the traditional rush to the parking lot. I think a lot of people did not want to miss out on a perfectly good opportunity to boo what turned out to be a truly frustrating experience as time ran out. The Flyers only goal of the game was a beautiful tick-tack-toe play, Tippett-Hayes-Konecny. The only other event that really got a rise out of the crowd today was when the jumbotron zeroed in on some dude in the stands wearing a Dallas Cowboys t-shirt. It has been a rough stretch this week and the schedule has no signs of letting up. The Flyers are right back at it again Tuesday night in Columbus, they are going to need to shake off the events of this past week ASAP.
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Extra Credit: Travis Konecny has always been fast, so far this season he is absolutely flying.
