Date Published: 10-14-2022
Photo Credit: Rebecca McCormick
That was the way to start the season! Ok, we are not going to spend this morning worrying about the next 81 games, today we are going to enjoy taking a look at a few of the things that made last night’s game a great season opener.
This year, training camp and the pre-season were focused on conditioning. The Flyers did not start working on Tortorella’s new system until the break. A week is surely not enough time to address every issue and install a new system, but they sure looked a lot different. We were all hoping there would be a visible difference between the pre-season team that was struggling to get on the score sheet and the opening night lineup, even with many key players still out due to injury. The difference was more than visible, it was really exciting, and the night ended with a 5-2 Flyers victory over the visiting New Jersey Devils.
The Flyers came out with a spark, nice breakouts, nice entries, and they did a solid job keeping the Devils from getting quality chances throughout the first period. Jersey got on the board with an innocent looking shot that beat Carter Hart glove side. There was some tentative play, soft passes, jittery stuff but no major breakdowns. The team didn’t crumble after giving up the first goal, nor did they lose focus defensively right after Wade Allison opened up the scoring for the Flyers. Those little things should not be an issue, but they sure were last year.
We have been conditioned to dread the 2nd period, this one started with a Flyers power play that looked very familiar, that is not a compliment. Then, boom! The offense exploded for 2 goals within the span of 23 seconds. Both Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost ended the night with two goals apiece. The Flyers were out shot in the 2nd but Hart stood up to the challenge and made several huge saves to keep the Devils at bay. Konecny was a ball of energy all night, a ball of focused energy. TK has a ton of speed and can sometimes seem to be moving faster than the pace of the game, at times moving on before the play does. Kevin Hayes, on the other hand, plays a style that settles the game and slows it down a bit when he has control of the puck, the combination of Hayes and Konecny together really worked out well.
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About half way through the 3rd period Jersey really stepped it up and made a run at it, Carter Hart and the Flyers held their ground and kept the door shut. Jersey pulled their goalie with 4 minutes left and kept the pressure on. The Flyers stayed diligent, stayed sharp, and put a final insurance goal into the empty net. It was good to see the team clamp down and protect a lead. Before the game Coach Tortorella told his team to focus on the little things and the wins will come.
There were a lot of bright spots last night. Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo were solid on D and contributed offensively as well, both notching 2 assists. Provy’s assist on TK’s 2nd goal was a thing of beauty. The Flyers scored a power play goal, …a really nice power play goal after prolonged pressure in the Devils’ zone. Some of these things should not be notable. After last year these little things can really put a smile on a Flyers Fan’s face. It was great to see everyone on their feet as time ran out on a really solid effort. There will be harder teams to play against than the Jersey Devils, not every night is going to go this smooth. But let’s not worry about all that stuff right now. The Flyers dominated in their season opener, enjoy it.
Absolutely a fun games to watch, TK looked like his old self! The crowd appreciated all the hard work the guys displayed.