Photo Credit: Frankie Steskal
The Battle of Pennsylvania starts in Pittsburgh, where the Flyers have had great success since the opening of the new arena. It’s crazy to think that the Penguins came into the game without their coach, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and a few more players. The Flyers could absolutely have made it a statement victory against their rival, but that wasn’t the case. Let’s dive into the important takeaways from the 3-2 overtime loss that the Flyers were handed.
Carter Hart back to form
One thing we can say, this loss does not fall on the hands of Carter Hart. Saving 33 shots out of 36 that he faced, and a majority of them were key saves. The Penguins came out firing on all cylinders, and really had some quality chances. A much better Flyers team allowed 36 shots and Carter Hart played a top tier game. Some people out there still believe that he is not the franchise goalie. I think it’s time for them to move on from that, as Carter Hart continued his stellar play this season.
“A game of hitting”
Typically in rival games such as this one, both teams come out and are ready to throw the body around. That certainly was the case in tonight’s game where we saw the Flyers and Penguins combine for almost 59 hits. Sadly, the Penguins landed 39 of them, to the Flyers 20. A physical game at that, but the Flyers were being pushed around throughout this game and it showed. When playing these tough games, you want to show up and be physical, not saying the Flyers were not, but the Pens overpowered a pretty tough Flyers team.
A new look on the Power Play, a bad look in Overtime
For the second game in a row, we saw Cam Atkinson on the top unit for the power play, and I just am not a fan. You saw Claude Giroux and Ivan Provorov at the point, Travis Konecny in front of the net, Sean Couturier in the slot at times, and Atkinson covering the left circle. The power play just looked lost. Now they did score with a great goal by Konecny, assisted by Provorov and Giroux, but I don’t understand the move at all by Alain Vigneault. Keep Atkinson playing where he was, believe it or not he was playing well. I believe some of the coaches’ decisions may have cost them this game. Even in the overtime, you saw Rasmus Ristolainen playing out there, why would you have a guy of size and strength playing a 3-on-3? You needed speed and finesse, someone who is going to be able to move the puck quick. I think Vigneault was a big part of this loss.
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That’s my story and I’m sticking to it
