Photo Credit: Ricky Brown
The 2021-2022 Philadelphia Flyers home opener was nothing short of spectacular. Even though the Flyers didn’t get the win, it was quite the eventful game seeing the Flyers fall in a shootout 5-4. The building was packed and the fans were electric.
Of course, the first goal of the season belongs to Joel Farabee AKA Goal Farabee after a nice slap shot from the right side bounces off Vancouver Canucks defender Tucker Poolman. It wasn’t long before things took a turn for the worst after a shot from Elias Pettersson bounces off the boards near the side of the net and squeaks by Carter Hart, nothing he could do but perhaps track the puck a little bit better. A lot went wrong for Hart in first game of the year, between pucks bouncing off the boards and going in, to shots from almost impossible angles leaking in the net.
Although, most fans expected better from the young goaltender, most realistically cannot place all of the blame on Carter Hart, nor the team for that matter. The Flyers played very well, right off the bat. They started with an energized 1st period which saw the Flyers strike first, to which they generated many chances and created many nice plays.
Do not panic yet Flyers fans. Just because the Flyers lost or just because Hart allowed a few bad goals. There were still positives to take away. Hart played well in the first, third, and came up huge in overtime. However, the second period was anything but blissful. The new additions looked well for the most part (Asides from a few bad coverages from Keith Yandle), and look determined.
Speaking of the new additions to the roster, Rasmus Ristolainen was not present in Friday’s home opener, as he is still dealing with an upper body injury (UBI) that Head Coach Alain Vigneault describes as “bumps and bruises”. He should be playing Monday against the Seattle Kraken. Ryan Ellis, Cam Atkinson, and Keith Yandle, all new additions to the Flyers roster recorded their first points as members of the orange and black on Friday.
Flyers fans should be pumped for this season regardless of Friday’s loss. Why you ask? The team put on a great show, and fought hard till the end like they should. The Captain came in clutch with a beautiful goal to complete the comeback, Hart shut the door in overtime, and the players took accountability for any mistakes, such as Cam Atkinson for the penalty killing unit being dreadful. These are somethings Flyers fans did not see much of last year.
We should not judge the teams’ success this year based off one game. The Flyers looked sharp, fast, and came out of the gate ready to battle in the first period, to which most wanted to see after a season or two of horrendous first periods of hockey. That’s the biggest positive to take away from Friday’s game.
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The team is ready to battle all season long, so let’s hope they make a serious push for the Stanley Cup. You can see it in the players, their attitudes on and off the ice. Moreover, you can tell they are hungry for some real success, and General Manager Chuck Fletcher absolutely set this team up to do just that. Expectations are high this year between both the head office and fans. They both expect this team to make some noise this year and do some damage. To end things off, I think Flyers fans are in for a treat this year and should absolutely be excited for the 2021-2022 season, with the first game in the books.
Just one game and preseason but look like the same old Flyers to me. Mediocre, not a serious cup contender. Gave up youth and draft picks for older high-character, strong leadership-type, players but essentially the same results. Puzzling
Loaded with way too many mediocre slow as molasses dime a dozen muckers. Bottom 6 is worthless I’d rather see frost center Forrester and laughton than the over the hill gang of never have beens. Thompson brown brassard laughton bottom heavy bums.
A.v is lazy as hell the power play is the same stagnant junk
No cup this year