The first
week of the 2014-15 NHL season started out on a difficult note for the Philadelphia Flyers. They opened the season with a 2-1 loss to the
Boston Bruins where they played quite well against a team that is expected to
contend for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
The next night
saw the Flyers drop a 6-4 game to the New Jersey Devils where they fell behind
early, came back, but were not able to pull out a victory.
The third
game of the week saw the Flyers fall to the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-3
shootout loss which saw the Flyers collapse in the 3rd period after jumping out
to a 3-0 lead.
Last night
saw the Flyers fall behind early to the Anaheim Ducks, in what has become
commonplace over the last few years, rally to tie the game before falling once
again in the shootout.
I will take a
quick look at the first two games and skip the third for the most part, since I
chose to watch the Phantoms opener against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Penguins. A game that the Phantoms won
convincingly 5-2.
Starting with
the game against the Boston Bruins the Flyers played a solid game. The fourth line of Zac Rinaldo, Jason Akeson, and Pierre-Edouard
Bellemare were the most impressive.
They used their plus skating ability to move the puck up ice and disrupt
the Bruins offense with the exception being Zac Rinaldo penalty early on which
led to a goal.
With the role
of the slow, physical enforcer on the decline fourth lines across the league
will be looked at to provide energy and grit without resorting to dropping the
gloves and the fourth line did just that.
The effort
was solid for the entire game and despite falling short the game gave fans hope
coming into the season opener.
The second
game saw the Flyers start slow falling behind 3-0 before clawing back to tie
the game at 3 before ultimately falling 6-4.
Much has been
made of the play from the line of Luke Schenn and Michael Del Zotto,
who were a minus five and minus four respectively, but not enough talk has been
focused on the play of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, and Michael Raffl who
were all minus four each.
Through the
first four games the top line has not been effective enough. The Brayden Schenn
experiment was ended quite fast and they seem to be out of position at times.
On Saturday
night, I missed most of the Montreal Canadiens game, choosing to catch the season
opener for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as they took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Penguins.
The Phantoms
won the game easily 5-2 with a number of players filling the score sheet. They looked like the sharper team from the
drop of the puck and easily handled a Penguins team that appeared out of sync.
Of particular
note Mark Alt and Robert
Hagg were by far the best two players on the ice and the top defensive
pairing. Chris Vandevelde is an
early favorite to be called up if GM Ron Hextall deems it necessary to call up
a forward.
Highly touted
defenseman Shayne
Gostisbehere played a good game, but he showed why he needs a year of
seasoning at the AHL level. Standing at
only 5' 11" and 170 pounds Shayne Gostisbehere needs to adjust to a faster
pace, playing against guys weighing 50 pounds heavier than him, and the mental
aspects required to succeed at this level.
There is one
small area that needs adjusting; playing until the end of his shift. On one occasion Gostisbehere skated from end
to end with the puck dumping it in deep to a forward. Instead of taking a hard stride and turning
around the face the play, he took three small strides with his back to the
play. If his deep forward lost the puck Gostisbehere
would have his back to the play, giving the defense the chance to skate or push
the puck past him for a break.
Notes:
A quick
observation from watching the first two games is that the Flyers need to play
less like a team on the ice and become more selfish. Over the years when the team is not scoring they
have a penchant for making that extra pass.
The Flyers
need to stop taking that extra pass and look to shoot more. While they are getting a more than acceptable
amount of shots the quality could be much better. When the shot totals are tallied post-game
how many quality chances do you remember?
In terms of
Braydon Schenn, it appears as though the LW experiment on the top line opposite
Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek has come to a strange end during the New Jersey
Devils game.
While it is
odd that the experiment would be cut short so fast his replacement, Michael
Raffl, was a disaster logging a -4 in only 8:28 of even strength ice time.
While it may
appear that they are playing well; an elite player in Claude Giroux centering
the top line they should be doing much more.
In short, the line should be dominating opponents. Instead, when they are on the ice and they
appear to be just playing acceptable hockey.
In terms of
overall play the Flyers going into Tuesday night's game, the Flyers are the
second least penalized team in the NHL. An
emphasis on discipline is shown with a faster skating team that continues to
play physical yet understands the lines drawn on the ice.
Zac Rinaldo,
in particular, is playing a more restrained game using his natural plus skating
talent to provide energy to the fourth
line.
In fact the
fourth line has been the best line this season without scoring many goals. They are skating, hitting, and playing with
discipline while not putting themselves in the penalty box proving that the
Flyers do not need a pugilistic line to be effective.
Wayne
Simmonds is the best player on the Flyers right now. His hot start is making a strong case for him
to be inserted alongside Claude Giroux instead of Jakub Voracek.
Mark Streit,
on the other hand is clearly showing his age early on this season, moving slower,
but still able to handle the responsibilities on the top defensive pairing.
Steve Mason
appears to be reverting back to Columbus form.
He has let in a number of goals that should have been stopped. A low start or mean reversion is
disconcerting after last year’s breakout.
I think it
would be for the best if the following changes were made to the lines.
1. Michael Del Zotto needs a better partner than
Luke Schenn on defense. His speed is
sorely needed on the back line and a better partner would strengthen the
overall defense.
2. The pairing of Jakub Voracek and Claude
Giroux should be broken up with Voracek pushed down off the top line. Last night’s lack of effort from Voracek in
the shootout when compared with the effort shown by Claude Girous is
disconcerting. Wayne Simmonds right now
appears to be the best partner for Claude Giroux.
The Flyers
need a better goal song, again.