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The Philadelphia Flyers lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers on regular season opening night on Thursday. The defending Stanley Cup champions outplayed the Flyers for long stretches of the game. Nevertheless, Philly got the game to the final stanza tied at 1-1: win a period, win the game. Unfortunately for head coach Rick Tocchet’s team, it wasn’t to be. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the loss in Sunrise.
The Good
- Dan Vladar played very well in his Flyers’ debut. The big Czech goalie was the main reason the game was winnable for his team.
- The Tyson Foerster -Noah Cates – Bobby Brink picked right up where they left off over the latter two-thirds of last season. They were Philly’s most effective overall line on Thursday even apart from Cates netting the lone Flyers’ goal.
- Speaking of the Cates goal, the tally came off a nicely executed set play. Cates won an offensive zone faceoff and went to the net. Foerster found a soft area to shoot the puck. He generated a rebound off Sergei Bobrovsky’s pads. Cates arrived just in time to claim the rebound and stash it in the net.
- Over the latter half of the game, the Flyers generated periodic traffic at the net and some forechecking pressure. It was more sporadic than sustained but it was a step in the right direction.
- The Flyers went 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. Even without Aleksander Barkov or Matthew Tkachuk in the lineup, Florida has dangerous personnel. Vladar was often Philly’s best PKer. However, sometimes that’s what it takes.
- Apart from some early turnovers (none costly), Travis Sanheim was a rock of strength. By the end of the first period, he was on a pace to play north of 30 minutes. Ultimately, he skated 27:15. They were hard minutes, too. That’s not sustainable for an entire season. However, Sanheim provided what the Flyers desperately needed from him in the opener.
- The Flyers were strong on faceoffs, especially Sean Couturier (19-for-28) and Cates.
The Bad
- Philly was guilty of far too many turnovers. Yes, the Panthers have the NHL’s more fearsome forecheck. Nevertheless, 24 “official” turnovers (22 charged giveaways, two clean takeaways credited to Florida) are a glaring sign of inadequate puck protection. It’s normally a recipe for a blowout loss, not a 2-1 outcome.
- Except for about seven or eight total minutes, the Flyers had a rough time getting the puck through the neutral zone or generating more than one-and-done attempts in the attack zone. For the most part, Bobrovsky (20 saves) had an easy night.
- Great orchestration, frustrating outcome: The Flyers had a glorious chance to tie the game (2-2) in the third period. They had two-thirds of a tic-tac-toe off the rush: Trevor Zegras to Owen Tippett to Travis Konecny. With Bobrovsky uncharacteristically way out of position, Konecny had a yawning net. Unfortunately, he missed the target as he went down to the ice.
- Christian Dvorak took two needless minor penalties on opening night.
- Jamie Drysdale played fine overall in his 22:54 of ice time. Nevertheless, the Flyers need him to be an offensive catalyst. He didn’t take any foolish gambles. Meanwhile, he didn’t have many opportunities to jump into the attack. However, he also didn’t create much. The Flyers needed more than two shot attempts (neither one on goal) from him in games such as Thursday.
- Vladar made a good glove save on Brad Marchand off the rush. Unfortunately, later in the same shift, the longtime Flyers nemesis scored the winning goal on a screened shot through traffic. Vladar didn’t see it soon enough to prevent the tally.
The Ugly
- There’s encouraging news with Cam York. The Flyers learned that he may be ready to exit IR for Monday’s home opener against the Panthers. He’s desperately needed. There’s no sugar coating how desperately thin the Flyers blueline is. Thursday’s pairings were as threadbare as it gets. Adam Ginning had to move up from the third pair to play with Drysdale. Nick Seeler had to be promoted to LD1. Tocchet played the third pairing of Egor Zamula and Noah Juulsen sparingly when possible. (Side note: Juulsen made a nice play to break up an outnumbered rush during the second period).
- Philly escaped a horrid turnover by Ginning late in the second period. The Swedish defenseman put the puck directly onto Sam Bennett’s stick inside the defensive blueline. Luckily, the shot sailed over the net.
- Zegras and Nicolas Deslauriers ended up on the ice together at one juncture. They got their communications crossed up. Zegras ended up taking an interference penalty (but at least it prevented a very dangerous counterattack.
Flyers coach Tocchet: “Pockets of good stuff”
Rick Tocchet didn’t deny it. The game easily could have gotten away from the Flyers on Thursday. That was especially true in the first 10 minutes of the middle frame. However, there were also some things from which the team can — and must – build on Saturday in Raleigh.
Ugh. Thanks, Bill. Good write-up. It should’ve been a lot worse. The talent level difference was glaring but it didn’t seem like we were ready for the game. One of our main issues has been players playing “up” in the line-up. We have too many guys playing roles they are not capable of playing.
It’s only the first game, but it wasn’t pretty. The Flyers couldn’t skate through the neutral zone or hold onto the puck long enough to create any offense. Too many None and dones. Vladar played well to keep it close. He should sue for lack of support. Zegras was invisible, except for going to the penalty box. Opening against the reigning champs is always tough. Hopefully things improve next game? Despite the loss, it’s great to watch hockey again.