Good Morning Flyers fans and welcome to the second week of “Operation Lord Stanley”. It goes without saying that our boys in the orange and black deserve an OORAH for their lights out play through week one. Not only did they best the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 in game 1 and 5-2 in the second contest but they did it in a dominating fashion. Although there were mistakes made and matchups missed, the team rallied around Carter Hart’s lights out net minding. With fantastic performances from Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny, the Philadelphia Flyers cruised through their first meeting in the always important battle for Pennsylvania.
While reviewing the weekly after-action report, one thing that stood out to me was the incredible play by Carter Hart. Registering 31 saves in each contest and .925 save percentage the kid is playing phenomenal. He made bad play while trying to clear the puck during a penalty kill, that led to a Penguin’s goal and was Hart’s only mistake. Undoubtedly he was able to regroup played a near perfect game moving forward. In both games Carter Hart made highlight reel saves that robbed the Penguins of what looked to be surefire goals. The Philadelphia Flyers’ next two matchups are against the Buffalo Sabres and the dangerous pair of Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall,
this could be trouble for the Flyer’s if their defense is not able to contain and disrupt these two goal scoring players.
The Philadelphia Flyers are not at a loss of firepower though, scoring 11 goals from eight different players in their first two games, they are the hottest off the start. Lead by an incredible four point performance by Joel Farabee in game 1 and a career first hat-trick by Travis Konecny, the Flyers are looking to put points on the board. Coming into the season there were questions surrounding center Nolan Patrick and forward Oskar Lindblom and how they would perform after overcoming their health issues of the previous season. Those questions were answered with each scoring a goal in their first game back, in game two Patrick registered an assist while Oskar Lindblom potted his second goal of the season. Having these two young players healthy and in the Flyers’, lineup was the best off-season addition the Philadelphia Flyers could have made. Another player that has seemed to answer the call early in veteran James van Riemsdyk, with one
goal and two assists it looks like JVR could be the point producing Flyer that he is being paid to be. While the Flyers and their fast-paced attack will be hard to contain throughout the season, I expect high scoring games all season and will be hammering the over when the Flyers are play.
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What I would like to see from the Flyers during this week’s play is simple; take fewer penalties and support Carter Hart by taking away more opportunities in front of the net. The Flyers racked up 16 penalty minutes and two power play goals to the Penguins. They are going to have to play a more disciplined game now that Sean Couturier is out with an injury. Losing last season Selke Award winner has dealt a large blow to the Flyers penalty kill and they will have to play a tighter game to ensure they are not giving up a man advantage to Buffalo and Boston this week. The team does look to be playing a more physical game than last season, tallying 56 hits
and playing tough against the Penguins. Ivan Provorov and the Flyers defense look solid and off- season acquisition of Erik Gustafsson looks be a great fit in this defensive core.
With four games next week, I expect the Flyers to go .500, splitting a game between the Sabres and the Bruins. I believe Robert Hägg and Philippe Myers will have a strong week, playing their physical game of blocking shots and issuing out hits to their foes. I excited for the return of Morgan Frost who will be filling in for the injured Sean Couturier and centering the line of Oskar Lindblom and Travis Konecny. Frost has shown to be a gifted player with high hockey IQ, with all the confidence of his teammates, expect Morgan Frost to hit the ground running and make his presence felt on and off the ice. It is not going to be an easy task, but I believe the Flyers will maintain their winning record and dominance over their incredibly stacked division.
Semper FI,
Gunny
GAME PREDICTIONS FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 18- JANUARY 24
JANUARY 18- BUFFALO SABRES @ PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
FLYERS 4-2 (FIRST GOAL SCORED BY OSKAR LINDBLOM)
JANUARY 19- BUFFALO SABRES @ PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
SABRES 2-1 (FIRST GOAL SCORED BY SCOTT LAUGHTON)
JANUARY 21- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS @ BOSTON BRUINS
BRUINS 3-2 (FIRST GOAL SCORED BY MORGAN FROST)
JANUARY 23- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS @ BOSTON BRUINS
FLYERS 4-1 (FIRST GOAL SCORED BY JVR)
