Hey all,
For those of you who dont know I am a huge Hockey fan. While my favorite team is The Philadelphia Flyers I am a huge fan of the sport and will watch any game that’s on. Lets breakdown the Flyers less than perfect start to the reduced 2013 season and my opinion on their situation.
We opened up our season and home opener with a horrible period of Hockey against the Penguins, we were out skated, out shot, and down right outplayed. We let up 2 goals, one being a Power Play goal. Despite letting in 2 goals Bryz was the one positive of the period. While the flyers botched passes and gave away the puck Bryz remained solid and kept his ground during the Penguins onslaught and would remain strong for the rest of the game.
The Flyers came out in the ice in the 2nd with a different attitude and opened it up with a bang. Scott Hartnell shot a saucer pass to Claude Giroux who tipped it right under the pad of Fleury, scoring the 1st goal of the season and as the Flyers new found Captain. This Period would continue with a wide variety of chances generated by the Flyers, It was the best hockey the Flyers played that game.
Both of these teams came out in the 3rd ready to play some hockey and they cancelled each other out. 3rd period was a back and forth battle where no team gave a clear advantage to the other. The Penguins being the faster team had an edge on 5v5 but the Flyers had their fair share of chances on the Power Play, But as the clock ran out of time we find the Flyers walking away with a 3-1 loss with the Penguins gaining an empty net goal.
The Flyers had no luck the next day as they marched into Buffalo to take on the Sabers. With 2 goals wrongfully stolen from them by horrible calls the Flyers were unable to rebound, Claude Giroux picks up his 2nd goal of the season in a 5-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabers.
Many will argue that the Buffalo game was stole by the refs and I will be the 1st one to agree with them but did the Flyers deserve to win? Horrible non calls and 2 goals called back defiantly takes a number on a team but the Flyers for both games have in my opinion been playing uninspired hockey. There is a key piece missing from the flyers so far. The team is not playing smart hockey at all. Horrible passing, awful positioning and Dreadful breakouts are killing the Flyers on top of the failing power play.
While there are a lot of negative mojo about the Flyers right now, there are still some positives we can take out of these games and the future of flyers hockey. Claude Giroux has 2 goals in 2 games and is looking as good as he can, If he can continue to play like this it will be a sign of an amazing year for both Giroux and the Flyers. Giroux is not the only stand out player for the Flyers though, Mr. Universe himself is finding a groove early in the season, Bryz has been solid these to games making a couple of amazing saves. This Bryz we are seeing is building a sense of stability in net we have not seen in Philly in a very long time. Is there room for improvement? Always, I would have loved to see him stop that breakaway shot by Vanek but a with the way Bryz is playing we have a shot of winning every game. Another player that greatly impressed me in the Buffalo game was Flyers 1st round pick, 18 year old Scott Laughton. I expect his ice time to continue to grow and the season progresses. He has a couple of plays that really stuck out and made an impression. Scott Laughton has a lot to learn in his 5 game tryout. But a another possible star for the Flyers is in the works.
-Shane Gorson
Shevin 