The Flyers returned after a three day hiatus and laid the smack down on the Washington Capitals 3-1. A lot of credit has to be given to Head Coach Alain Vigneault and his experienced coaching staff, as well as, Brian Elliott and the overall team defense.
Vigneault said, “In today’s league if you are going to generate some offense, whether it would be on the rush or whether it be through offensive zone time and possession and cycling the puck, you have to have the involvement of the D’s. If you don’t, your offense is going to be predictable and maybe easier to defend against. That defense jumping up, jumping early and being a part of the attack, being a part of the rush, being a part of the offensive zone play is a must to generate a little more confusion out there. Our guys understand the different times, the right times to do it. They are doing it well at this point.” The Flyers excelled today as they limited the Capitals to just 14 shots in the second and third periods combined, but the Flyers team defense limited prime scoring chances, as well. The Flyers did a great job at handling the stars of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson. This young defense was quite impressive. Elliott played well once again against the Capitals, and he just has the Capitals number. Just look how hockey is fun again in Philly, the Caps were minus John Carlson (Injury), and Lars Eller (Child Birth):
Flyers Scoring:
Laughton (2)- Konecny, Hayes
Sanheim (1)- Hayes, Laughton
Laughton (3)- Hayes, Konecny
Before the game there was a little bit of a shock, as JVR was benched in favor of a rookie in Connor Bunnaman. Vigneault said yesterday that JVR’s play was just “okay” and it sounded like you expected more from him. Bunnaman was an extra Forward at practice yesterday. In the end Bunnaman and Joel Farabee bring the total number of Flyers players making their playoff debuts this season to five.
What more could fans ask for in this tilt. The Flyers and Capitals had to shake off the rust, and get prepared for the grueling playoff run that lies ahead. The fans of Philadelphia and abroad can smell a Cup coming soon, and rightfully so. This Flyers are loaded with depth up and down the lineup. Ivan Provorov and Matt Niskanen played well. Provorov broke up a classic one-on-one in the first by taking out the body, and he looked like a 10-year veteran. He is just so good at transitioning from defense to offense. Niskanen as usual doesn’t make mistakes, and the Travis Sanheim-Philippe Myers pairing continues to be trusted by Vigneault in different types of situations.
Myers and Sanheim were phenomenal again today. They played well defensively, and it lead to great offense. Sanheim answered the bell with a beautiful goal off of beautiful feed from Kevin Hayes. He showed off his shot from the point, and his nasty wrist shot.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel hit everything that moved (5 hits led team), and a great second line in Laughton-Hayes-TK played very well. Hayes had a hat trick for helpers, and he really showed off his amazing play making skills. He has really elevated his game to another level. The line of Laughton-Hayes-TK had an impressive eight point day 3g,5a. All in all, this game proved that the Flyers are ready to rock and roll, and are worthy of being noticed.
Elliott was absolutely astounding today. He was just so calm, and cool between the pipes. Elliott answered the bell once again, and this should give Philly fans a lot of confidence moving forward in terms of their Goaltending.
Lastly, the Flyers Penalty Kill was phenomenal once again. The Capitals finished the game 0-4 on the Power Play, and really couldn’t generate much offensively from the man advantage. Teams are now 0-7 against the Flyers with the man advantage during the Round Robin Tournament. This appeared to give the Flyers life, and some jump in their skates. The Flyers Penalty Killing Unit has now killed off seven straight Power Plays in meaningful hockey games.
Kevin Hayes:
“When you play with TK and Laughts, it makes it easy out there.”
Hayes on keeping Alex Ovechkin off the score sheet.
“He’s one of the best goal scorers ever to play the game. You’ve got to know when he’s on the ice. It’s a major key for our team, it’s on the board every time, know when 8’s on the ice. Everyone kind of plays the right way when they see him up over the boards. He probably gets that from every team. But I feel like the power play, we’re kind of keying on him and making them make other plays. I guess if he hasn’t scored we’re doing it the right way.”-
“UFA was a big thing for me, but once I got traded there I flew down, met with Chuck… I’ve played against these guys pretty much my whole career and they’re not fun to play against. I figured I’d join them, and so far so good. Year 1’s been great. The locker room’s awesome, the coaching staff’s great and everything’s been good so far.”
Brian Elliott:
Elliott on the play of the Defense:
“There was a lot in front of me that they were trying to find seams that guys were taking away with their sticks, with their skates. They’re a team that looks for that extra pass and I thought we did a really good job coming back and getting in the right spots. Sometimes when you have a layoff of even just a week, let alone four or five months, those are the little things that you really have to focus on. I thought we did a really good job of that today.”
Sean Couturier:
“He’s a huge part of our team. He can make the difference in a game. We have different guys throughout the lineup that can make a difference on any given night, so it’s nice to have that depth. Every line just has to play the right way and not be a liability, and someone’s going to step up at the right time. It’s nice to see that line especially these last two games really stepping up and having a huge impact for us.”
“It’s going to be nice kind of getting going more in a rhythm, play every other day, it can help us build some momentum and kind of get our strides going. But at the same time, like I said earlier, we have a lot of depth and different guys can make the difference on any night, so that’s what we’re doing right now, we’re just making sure that every guy’s responsible and someone’s going to step up.”
Alain Vigneault:
“In the third period tonight, I really enjoyed our first ten minutes, what we were trying to establish. We were spending some quality time in the offensive zone and we were getting some good looks. This is only our third game in the restart so I believe we’re on the right track, but we’re not quite there yet.”
Vigneault on net front presence:
“I believe we were trying to play a little bit more on the inside. I think the fact that maybe on certain plays our execution was maybe a little bit off, we weren’t able to capitalize or get the looks we talked about, but I do believe we tried to play on the inside a little bit more, we tried to go to the net, and that’s one of the things that you have to do if you want to generate quality offense in this league. It’s a hard league to get some good looks.”
