Quick Hits: January 25, 2021
1) After a much-needed off-day to regroup following an ugly 6-1 loss in Boston, the Flyers are back in Voorhees today to practice in preparation for games in Newark against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday and Thursday. The Flyers are lucky to be even 3-2-1 through the first six games of the season. The process within -- breakouts and clearing opportunities, entries and forechecking, special teams -- has not been nearly good enough.
The Flyers have been opportunistic on scoring chances and, in each of their three wins plus the first two periods of last Thursday's shootout loss to Boston, have been bailed out at times by their goaltending. Meanwhile, Carter Hart's uncharacteristic end-of-game reaction to Sunday's loss in Boston -- destroying his stick on flinging aside the remnants -- said more about the state of the team through six games than any words or stats to illustrate what's gone wrong.
The Flyers clearly miss the injured Sean Couturier as well as the injured Phil Myers, but neither player -- both of whom are recovering from respective rib injuries -- is going to be able to return imminently. The offseason loss of Matt Niskanen to early retirement has also really hurt the team not just in terms of two-way, all-situations play and a right-handed shot on the top pairing but also in terms of the calming influence he brought when things got chaotic.
Until Couturier and Myers come back, it's going to be up to the group that is available to play to reel things back in. The wheels fell off in the third period of Sunday's game and both ends of special teams were terrible in that game but there were actually strides made in terms of 5-on-5 defensive play for the first two periods. Faceoffs were better, too, but those second and third puck battles that ensue to start moving the play north and get set up offensively remained subpar.
Too many times already this season, the Flyers haven't been just outworked in puck battles, out-possessed significantly in zone time disparities, and prone to turnovers (both the forced and unforced varities) and lost coverages, they've also been outhit. You can live with a negative hit disparity when you're dominating puck possession but when the opposition has the puck the decided majority of the time and they're also outhitting you, it's a pretty damning combination.
On today's edition of Flyers Daily on the Flyers Broadcast Network, Jason Myrtetus and I go in-depth on what we've seen over the first six games. It's not entirely negative -- the team has scored four or more goals in three of the six games to date and three or more in four of the games, Travis Konecny is off to hot start, Nolan Patrick is healthy, James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek have had some good recent games -- but the areas that need significant improvement outweigh the ones that have gone as hoped so far.
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2) With Shayne Gostisbehere now cleared to return to practice with the team following a stint on the NHL COVID-19 protocol, the veteran offensive defenseman will make a push to return to the starting lineup for the first time this season. "Ghost" is expected to be on the ice in Voorhees this week.
3) The Flyers' next opponent, the New Jersey Devils, are off to a 3-1-1 this season. Jack Hughes, after a tough indoctrination to the NHL as a rookie last season, is off to a red-hot start for the team and Mackenzie Blackwood has been excellent in goal for Lindy Ruff's team in the early going. The Flyers had better come prepared for Tuesday's and Thursday's games because they're going to have to earn the points that are at stake.
4) Flyers 2018 first-round pick Jay O'Brien had a two-point game on Saturday in Boston University's 5-1 win over Maine. He was originally credited with two goals -- power play and empty net -- but the first was changed to a primary assist after replays showed that O'Brien's snap shot from the top of the right circle went in off teammate Wilmer Skoog's shinpad. Through six games, sophomore center O'Brien has six points (three goals, three assists). He's also played with some physicality. BU has been at a shot and shot attempt disadvantage in every one of their
games so far but the team -- through its power play and transition games, mainly -- is off to a 5-1-0 start. One area where O"Brien needs to show improvement is in the faceoff circle.
5) One week after longtime Voorhees policeman and friend to the Flyers Jack Prettyman passed away in Arizona from Covid-related causes, his wife, Carol, has succumbed to Covid at age 73. Sincerest condolences go out to the family.
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