The Flyers start the Round Robin Tournament tomorrow, against the Boston Bruins. According to the NHL, the round-robin will be played with regular-season overtime and shootout rules.
Carter Hart had success in the shootout in 2019-20, as he stopped 73.7% of shots faced. In other words, he faced 19 shootout attempts and stopped 14, only letting in five goals. Brian Elliott’s percentage is close to Hart’s with 72.2%. Elliott faced 18 shootout attempts, stopped 13, and also let in five goals.
Elliott had a terrific camp, and Hart is doing well too after a small incident with back spasms. The Flyers weren’t worried about him, and he’s been back at training camp practicing before they go to the bubble. Things are looking good for the Goaltenders.
Something else of note is that the Flyers are 1st overall in the league for faceoffs at 54.6%. So it’s going to be a lot of relying on their centers to win those faceoff battles for the team. Sean Couturier finished the season with the best faceoff percentage at 59.6%, and Claude Giroux finished the season with the fourth best faceoff percentage at 59.0%.
Over the course of the 2019-2020 season, the Flyers were 2-1 over the Bruins, however, the two wins the Flyers garnered went to a shootout. Hart faced the Bruins for all three games this season, and the Bruins starting goaltender, Tuukka Rask, fractured his finger earlier in the break, but it is said that he will be ready for playoffs and the round-robin tournament.
Tuukka Rask’s GAA for the season is 2.12 and his save % is .929, whereas his backup, Jaroslav Halak’s GAA is 2.39 and his save % is .919. To put this in perspective, Hart’s GAA is 2.42 and his save % is .914. Elliott’s GAA is 2.87 while his save % is .899. Not too shabby for the netminders from Philly.
The Bruins have a big, talented team. They have David Pastrnak who lead his team in points this past season with 95 points in just 70 games played. However, Pastrnak hasn’t appeared at any of the 20 training camp practices the Bruins have held. Neither has Ondrej Kase, another skilled forward. Their head coach, Bruce Cassidy said he believes Pastrnak will travel with the Bruins, but is unsure about Kase. This is huge news considering Pastrnak is one of their top forwards, if not their top forward. This will change things for the Bruins’ offense, and in turn, change how the Flyers defense reacts to them.
Of course, the Bruins have Brad Marchand, who earlier in the season against the Flyers blew the shootout by whiffing the puck at center ice. However, Marchand is still a good player that the Flyers will need to keep an eye on. He’s small, especially in relation to the rest of his team, but he’s fast. And he’s skilled when he has the puck on his stick.
As far as Bruins defense goes, Charlie McAvoy, who was recently named one of the NHL’s top 20 defensemen, is someone to watch. He had trouble getting on the scoreboard this season, but that isn’t to diminish his defensive play this season.
While the Bruins are a good team, the Flyers have players who can go head to head with the aforementioned Bruins. Ivan Provorov has been playoff-ready for a while, now, and it’ll be good for Flyers fans to see him back. The rest of the defense has to be strong, though, and ready to go as soon as puck drops for this round-robin match up.
Travis Konecny is reminiscent of Marchand in a way, they both are smaller, skilled players who are also pests on the ice. Konecny also had a career-high of a season and it’s going to be exciting to see what he can do on the ice now that hockey’s back. Another player to watch throughout both the Bruins match up and the rest of the playoffs is Sean Couturier. He is such a skilled forward and someone the Bruins need to watch for. His ability to knock others off the puck and make plays is the reason he’s a Selke finalist this season.
It won’t be an easy battle. None of these round-robin match up’s will be. The Flyers will be put to the test right off the bat playing their fellow top teams in the East. That being said, the Flyers have had a positive training camp.
Next up, the Flyers will face the Washington Capitals. These two teams met four times in the regular season, and the Flyers were 3-0-1 in the season series. Only one of their games went to a shootout and it’s one of the games the Capitals won.
The obvious name here is Alex Ovechkin. He’s the team leader in goals with 38 in 68 games. He’s fast and a great playmaker, so the Flyers defense will need to control him, especially in ‘his office’, early on in their matchup. The Flyers leader in goals in Konecny, with 24 goals in 66 games. It’s not low overall, but it’s low in comparison to Ovechkin.
John Carlson is an unmatched defender for the Capitals. He leads their team in assists with 60 in 69 games played, but his defensive abilities are just as high as his points. He’s someone who can defend the best of them, so the Flyers offense will have to be strong in order to not struggle with offensive zone entries.
As far as goaltending goes for the Washington Capitals, their backup Ilya Samsonov had an injury before camps started and will be unable to travel to Toronto with the team to continue treatment. But their starter, Braden Holtby, is going to be as ready to go as anyone else. Holtby has had his issues in the past but overall is a solid goaltender. Holtby’s GAA is 3.11 and his save % is .897. Not the best, but obviously not the worst.
And finally, in the round-robin, the Flyers will face the Tampa Bay Lightning on August 8th. In the 2019-2020 season, the Flyers have faced the Lightning two times this season, and are 0-2 against them.
Nikita Kucherov is a star for the Lightning. He has 85 points in 68 games for the Lightning this past season. He’s a strong forward and he’s someone the Flyers really need to be on high alert for during this matchup.
Steven Stamkos is injured, but it’s not sure whether he will be traveling with the team to Toronto. As far as defenders go, Norris finalist Victor Hedman is one to watch. The Flyers had zone entry problems in the middle of their season, and Hedman can make those happen again. So the Flyers need to be careful and strong when Hedman’s on the ice.
Andrei Vasilevsky is the starting goaltender for the Bolts, and he’s is big and talented. He’s younger as far as goaltenders go, at just 26-years-old. His GAA is 2.56 and his save % is .917. His save % is pretty close to Hart’s .919, so it’ll be a fun goaltending matchup to watch.
The Flyers are coming into this round-robin as the fourth seed. Some people don’t think the Flyers even deserve to be in the round-robin. This is their opportunity to take and prove people wrong, to advance higher in the standings, and show the other teams they are just as much in it these playoffs. It’s their chance to take and do what they can with it, which means they could stay in the fourth overall position, which would be disappointing. However, fourth overall in the East is still a good place to be going into the playoffs.
It’s going to be tough coming off a break for all teams, but the Flyers had a positive training camp. So let’s see what they can do.
