It took just one game for Flyers fans to embrace this young team. Gone are the slow starts, gone are excuses, gone is a team that skates flat-footed. A lot of credit has to be given to Head Coach Alain Vigneault and his experienced coaching staff, as well as, Carter Hart and team defense.
Vigneault preached a five man defensive unit the day he was hired. After last night’s home opener, he made true to that promise. The Flyers played well defensively in the second and third periods of play in particular. Was there sloppy passing, and some gaffes (Carter Hart stick handling a puck that lead to a goal) sure. However, they limited the Penguins to just 20 shots in the second and third periods combined, but the Flyers team defense limited prime scoring chances, as well.
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Kevin Hayes is a penalty killing beast. He blocks shots, forces turnovers, and knows how to shield his body to prevent the shot from getting through, thus leading the rush up the ice the other way. It really is a beautiful sight to see, and he did this a few times last night.
Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom both missed significant time with an illness/injury, and boy did they look good. Patrick was flying, and just looked happy and confident to be out on the ice playing the game he loves. He even tallied a Power Play Goal late in the first period. Playing in his first Regular season game in 652 days, it took Patrick just one game to have an impact on the Power Play. Oskar scored a goal in his first Regular Season game in 402 days. The goal was assisted by Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier, and he scored the goal off his helmet:
“It would’ve been nice, but it is actually Oskar’s goal. So that is better than me getting one. If you watch the highlight, it goes of Oskar’s head and in the net. I would rather him get one tonight. It is well deserved.”– Travis Konecny
There were some gaffes made by Erik Gustafsson, Carter Hart, and the rest of the team, but two things struck me. The Power Play (2-3, 66.7%) was far better to start the year, and that was spear headed by new comer Gustafsson who knows how to get the shot through traffic (31 PP points in 214 games played), “I like the fact that we shot the puck and had some net presence on the power play,” Vigneault said, “That enabled us to get both those goals. Great job by JVR and without a doubt Erik shooting that puck and finding that lane and getting that puck towards the net was the right way of doing things on the power play. I thought that was a good start for our group.”
The overall conditioning of the team was far better than that of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third period, “We go into every game with a game plan,” Kevin Hayes said, “When you stick to a game plan and keep grinding down teams, things usually go your way.” I think all the players in that room tonight stuck to the process and we got rewarded there in the third. The Flyers stifled the Pens, and counter attacked every effort that was made with the Penguins trying to tally a big goal. In the end, the Flyers looked to be the more hungrier team, and credit has to be given to Vigneault.
Vigneault had his team ready to perform, and for the second straight season under his watch the Flyers win the season opener, “When you are battling in camp, that is the best way to prepare yourself for the season,” Joel Farabee said after tallying four points 1g,3a, “We had a lot of good battles, a lot of good practices and a lot of good scrimmages. A lot to like. Like I said, we are excited for the season and tonight was a great win.”
Vigneault Disappointed:
“I would say thought this: my one disappointment in tonight’s game is that Oskar played his first game at Wells Fargo since December 2019 and he did not get a chance to play it in front of Flyers fans giving him the great cheer and love that he deserves after coming back and battling cancer. I thought of that going in. I talked to Oskar a little bit about it after the game. It would have been phenomenal to play this game tonight, Oskar back with this place full of fans and first time he stepped on the ice, he was the starting lineup, I’m sure he would have gotten the cheer that he deserves.”– Alain Vigneault
