Tuesday night’s game wasn’t just any game for me. I got the opportunity to cover this game for Flyers Nitty Gritty after months and months of waiting, as things kinda went south when COVID hit. I have made an unbelievable connection with the people who are on this site, from Jamey to Yariv, and everyone else, you guys are a family to me. Got to say thank you to the fans too, without all your support we wouldn’t be able to provide Flyers coverage.
I would not be where I am right now, sitting in my room writing this piece still in awe that I was even one of the select few in attendance tonight. I cannot thank you all enough for tonight. One of the best days of my young life so far, and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.
Alright, now for a few things on last nights tilt:
One thing that I picked up from the start was the atmosphere. An empty building when I walked in with all the media members. I walk by and see a lot of things just moving quickly. The Wells Fargo Center Crew was prepping the ice, and I just got to my seat up in section 111. I had a great view of the game, and couldn’t complain one bit with my seat. Seeing the game in person had a different feel tonight. Probably because I walked in a different entrance, grabbed a media pass with my name on it and went from there. I’m so used to walking in with a jersey on and my Flyers hard hat.
When I got in and was settled down, my nerves calmed, and I started to focus on the game and the next task at hand for myself: Connecting to the internet.
Jeez, that was rough. Took me about 45 mins or so just to get connected. Everything went smooth and I was up and running in no time.
Once the game started, I was able to settle down and enjoy it.
I noticed a few things from the Flyers on Tuesday night. They were very physical for most of the game, there was some bad blood, especially after Buffalo took it to the Flyers the night before and got embarrassed. The Flyers had to set the tone and they did, Carter Hutton and Brian Elliott were making saves left and right, it was a very fast paced game. I thought the Flyers lines carried themselves well, despite losing another center in Morgan Frost and a Top four Defenseman in Philippe Myers. Elliott was fantastic all night, and he looked dialed in, in his first official start of the year.
Walking out of the building, I saw Bill Meltzer. Bill is a guy who I have always appreciated for his work, his knowledge for the game is incredible. He brought up to me how Head Coach Alain Vigneault talked about James van Riemsdyk in the press conference. I thought JvR was good on Tuesday night also, he didn’t get on the score sheet but he battled and looked like he was ready to go. JvR and Claude Giroux are a nice fit, and we may see more of it over the course of the next few days.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Team Store!
Hopefully, these MRI’s come back good for the Flyers, as we learned that Fost and Myers would be getting MRI’s on Wednesday from Vigneault in the postgame presser. They don’t want to be missing three of their starting players going into just their fifth game, to which they are already playing without their number one Center.
The Flyers will hit the road to take on the Boston Bruins for a two game series on Thursday and Saturday, both games start at 7:00pm EST.
