Saturday, October 25, 2014

What Does Shayne Gostisbehere’s Callup Mean for the Flyers



Late Friday Shayne Gostisbehere, the strongest defensive candidate in the Flyers organization for some time, was called up from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms due to injuries to Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald leaving the Flyers with just five healthy defensemen.
Ron Hextall’s plan to give Gostisbehere a full year down on the farm was a bit rushed due to injuries, but Flyers poor play in their own end forced his hand as well.
The Philadelphia Flyers have suffered from a difficulty in getting the puck out of their own end and into the offensive zone. 
A fairly immobile defensive corps with the most adept defensemen being over 35 years old did not help matters at all.
The call to Gostisbehere over more seasoned defensemen like Mark Alt, Brandon Manning, or Robert Hagg was due to the Flyers need to push the puck up ice. 
The lack of mobility on the blueline has caused consternation for the team and fans who realize that without mobile defensemen to help out on the rush or in the offensive zone the forwards are doing far too much of the heavy lifting in the offensive zone.
Look for a faster pace tonight with Shayne Gostisbehere and Michael Del Zotto leading the charge and the rush for the Philadelphia Flyers.


Notes

Back-to-back games are often difficult for players in terms of conserving energy.  The seemingly poor performance in Chicago was overshadowed by a stellar performance against Pittsburgh the next night.
It is easy to quickly criticize a poor effort on one end of a back-to-back but one has to understand that in the NHL the travel schedule and conserving energy is just as much a part of the game as the play on the ice.
Players will often conserve energy for the back half if the opponent is a bigger rival or of greater importance in the standings as was the case this week.
They players chose to conserve their energy and come out blazing against their divisional rival the Pittsburgh Penguins picking up a much needed victory in the process.
Going into tonight it will be important to continue with the positive momentum as the Flyers right he ship and fight through injuries.

Can the Lehigh Valley Phantoms please launch their website?  Thank you.



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