Photo Credit: Conor Doherty
Just a few days ago, the Flyers played the Bruins where a stacked Bruins team faced the young kids of the Flyers. Philadelphia lost 4-2 and some noticed that the Bruins put out their best players. This happens throughout the course of the preseason, but here are three standouts from the pre-season thus far through five games.
“Special Teams not so powerful”
A big issue from prior seasons was the power play of the Flyers. It was a major reason why their season had ended in the second round of the playoffs in 2019-20. The Flyers were 1-5 with the man advantage against the Boston Bruins this past Monday, and were 0-3 with the man advantage against the New York Islanders last night. Now, this is the pre-season and there have been top players out for the Flyers, but a man down is a man down, goals should be expected. I look for adjustments to be made so that the power play is a huge part of the success. It’s been a big question mark what is wrong with the special team of the Flyers, in recent years, it’s time to correct the issues.
There is no easy way to put this the Flyers have been terrible short-handed this pre-season. They have yielded seven Power Play goals on 17 chances while short-handed for a 41% success rate at killing penalties. Now this is an alarm for concern, regardless of the team’s personnel on the ice. Last year the Flyers penalty killing was subpar, and they cannot allow this to dictate the fate of their season once again. There are no excuses, they just have to improve.
The Pairing of Ivan Provorov and Ryan Ellis
One of the Flyers biggest acquisitions this past all season was none other than Ryan Ellis. What Flyers fans have learned in his short stint with the orange and black is that he is emerged as a leader. Numerous players during press conferences have alluded to Ellis as to being sort of a mentor to them with the likes of Egor Zamula, and Cam York.
Both Provorov and Ellis have played well together as a pair. The Flyers have become tougher to beat with these two on the ice together. For their efforts, Provorov even scored the overtime winner in Monday night’s contest against the Boston Bruins. It appears the have a new found chemistry with one another, and they cycle the puck well together. Finally, since Matt Niskanen’s departure the Flyers have a true number one pairing.
Carter Hart is dialed in
Carter Hart was back in net and saw the most action he has seen thus far in the pre-season. He also looks the best he has been in sometime, completely focused and his confidence is growing. The resurgence of a new blue line and leadership in front of Hart clearly has impacted his game to another level, he can now focus on playing goalie. Carter Hart saved 24 out of 25 shots with a .960% save percentage on Monday against the Boston Bruins.
Hart is confident once again, as he snared a puck out of the air with his glove on Monday. He has a 1.20 GAA, and .960 Save Percentage in two games played this pre-season. Hart is moving laterally from post to post well, and is very good with his rebound control, as well. These are all great signs, and it’s great to see him as a confident goaltender once again.
That’s my story and im sticking to it
