Howie58

All's quiet on Hart Front. I suspect the League and Comcast have imposed a serious gag order to avoid any perceived interference with legal proceedings. 

We've lost to good teams. And we may have been due for a rough patch. But the drop off in intensity and lousy penalties tell me the last week may be contributing. 

They played well the first five or ten minutes. Then Pasta scores and they fold. Not good. 

JVR....third point. Petersen overplayed to boot. 

Heck, I go to fold laundry and we go from 0-1 to 0-4. Yikes. This could be the blowout we need to hit bottom.

6 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

Good bye Scott Laughton.

 

Seems like Briere is gearing up and some moves are about to go down....in the near future Danny is hope removes everyone he can that is in best interest of the team's rebuild and move forward.

 

But at the same time this whole forward group is under contract for next season and well it does not inspire me to watch more...sorry just keepin it real.

 

 

Other than Tippett, this gang doesn't have game changers, and I'm concerned that Coots is wearing out.  Poehling is an upgrade relative to the other bottom six.  You are keeping it real for sure.  

Greetings:

Well, the Flyers Command Staff must have been on a contract binge.  Ryan Poehling signs for a two-year, $3.8 million deal:

https://www.inquirer.com/flyers/ryan-poehling-contract-flyers-extension-20240126.html

I wonder if he is seen as younger, cheaper Scott Laughton?  They both have 5 goals this year, and are excellent penalty killers.  I also wonder if this means the brass aren't that impressed with the 3rd/4th line material down in Lehigh?  The guy skates well and shows some offensive skill.  Length and term against the backdrop of an increasing cap seem OK. 

Greetings:

The Flyers are underdogs (+150) against a Bruins squad that swept all three games last year:

https://oddspedia.com/us/ice-hockey/boston-bruins-philadelphia-flyers-260108

The big statistical difference is the PP, where they are much more effective:

https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/bos-vs-phi/2024/01/27/2023020759

Which Flyers compete level shows up?  Do we get a Petersen start?  Who sits?

They say bear markets end with high volume, huge sell-offs. It may take a big loss to wake the team up. They seem detached, which is strange for this group. Laughton taking two dumb penalties was weird. That's a red flag that makes me think the CH saga is a distraction. I was thinking about it last night. A guy you've been working and socializing with for years is likely to face serious criminal charges. Some may be looking at themselves in the mirror and asking tough questions. I'm glad they will have a week to reset.

Thoughts:

1. They are a different team without Tippett.

2. The CH gig is probably a quiet distraction that will damp down post-arraignment.

3. The team's offense won't work if they aren't working off a transition.  They have looked passive the last two games.

4. They aren't showing resilience.  

The Boston game could get ugly if they aren't competitive from the get-go.  

I wonder if Laughton goes to Chateau Bow Wow and sits out next game?  

A sleepy game. Hard to stay awake.

This is hard to watch. This squad misses Tippett. And I agree with Boosh that Detroit is stopping us mid-ice.

Deslauriers is trying to juice it up, but does it matter?

We look more interested on blocking shots than taking them. We aren't taking the war to them. And seeing Alex Lyon makes me think I'm in a time warp. 

One of the things that has surprised me about coverage/discussion is whether charges (if made) will be strictly related to sexual battery or "other," which might include withholding of evidence, conspiracy to withhold evidence (i.e., they colluded in cover-up), or even intimidation of witnesses?  My read of several pieces says that as is so often the case in rape, this mess centers around the consensual/non-consensual issue, particularly when it became, if I can be polite, multi-partner after it was one-on-one.  Proving those charges may be tough, and God only knows what that puts the alleged victim through.  The other angles might be present, and speak to what must have been a really awful organizational climate.  I might add that from an employment perspective, these kinds of charges might be as bad as battery charges.  

That is one guy's take...and I am not a lawyer, so take what I say with a poop load of salt. 

Howie

2 hours ago, hmc687 said:

Again, my issue is with how much time has passed.  It comes off like a cash-grab, big time.

My understanding is that the delay is attributable to a badly conducted local police investigation that was essentially trashed by the provincial authorities.  Whether justice delayed is justice denied remains to be seen.  

Greetings:

Detroit is favored (-135) in a matchup between two teams with fairly similar records:

https://statsalt.com/games/nhl/1-25-2024/philadelphia-flyers-vs-detroit-red-wings-prediction-1052/

The teams have split the first two games (a goalie showcase and a shoot-em-up).  This boils down to one defensively challenged team versus an offensively challenged one:

https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/det-vs-phi/2024/01/25/2023020747

This series is historically home-based:

https://www.flyershistory.com/cgi-bin/opponent.cgi?Detroit_Red_Wings

Do we break the losing streak?

I wasn't able to watch. But after reading the posts and seeing Torts' whopping 49 second post-gamer, I got the drift. We haven't matched up against this team for ages. Taking dumb penalties--and Torts called out Atkinson and Walker--won't help. We play them again twice. Benchmark games.

Meanwhile, the off-ice news with CH is something the players must feel. He is the starting goalie. 

OK, now another question arises...who is back up?  Sandstrom and Petersen have similar numbers...and neither is setting the world on fire.  From a cap standpoint, bringing Cal up costs money.  On the other hand, do you give him a cup of coffee for visibility?  I am unsure how Cart's leave impacts the cap.  

5 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Not sure what is going on here.

 

Carter Hart has requested indefinite leave from the Philadelphia Flyers and the NHL.

https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/carter-hart-leaves-the-philadelphia-flyers

I am wondering if this relates to the sexual assault charges?  This article suggests it is "other."  The terse announcement suggests it is either health or personal behavior related--they are not commenting further speaks volumes...it is serious.   

Sam is in goal, per Torts' pre-game gig.  It is another 11-7 gig too.  Tippett is day-to-day, which sounds like he is out.  

By the way, on the 11-7 format, Torts said the following.  He understood that it might give Brad Shaw some fits.  But from the forward perspective, it gave him the opportunity to give more ice time to the hot hand, and he complimented Jon Cooper on his ability to use that lineup to TB's advantage.  From my vantage, this is another restatement of the reality that our fourth line isn't effective.

Greetings:

TB enters as a mild favorite (-125), despite the fact that Philly is likely to outshoot TB:

https://accuscore.com/hockey/nhl-picks/1-23-2024/tampa-bay-lightning-philadelphia-flyers-732

On paper, this is TB's offense and PP versus our defense and penalty kill:

https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/phi-vs-tbl/2024/01/23/2023020732

This is the first of three matchups this year.  This has been a historically tough team for us (under .500).  Heck, our last goalie to shut them out was Roman Cechmanek in 2001!

https://flyershistory.com/cgi-bin/opponent.cgi?Tampa_Bay

Numbers aside, you have to believe Torts will want us to right the ship after this weekend.  

Tippett is a spark plug.  His absence hurts. Torts bemoaned the fact that we didn't build on our leads.  I'm not sure why you keep Brink out but keep ND in for five minutes and change.  

Remember, Torts told us to hold off on judging the team until the end of this month.

Every team has a bad stretch or two during a season. This weekemd's duo was bad play, but the lack of distributed scoring shows as well. Going with the 11-7 gig probably makes that worse.  You need scoring from the MacEwen's of the world to consistently win. I'm glad Atkinson is bouncing back. But it seems like half the forwards are almost invisible on offense. 

We did not deserve to win. Very sloppy with poor puck management.

We look discombobulated.  It is not pretty to watch. JJ and Boosh note their bottom six is working. Then G scores. It's strange, we were favorites. But we're being outshot and outhustled.

Farabee looks good. Jacques Martin looks emotionless, almost like the walking dead. But we take a stupid penalty to give Ottawa a chance when we should be breaking it open!

Greetings:

I'm seeing the Flyers as favorites (-133) as the betting line opens:

https://www.sportsline.com/nhl/game-forecast/NHL_20240121_OTT@PHI/

Statistically, Ottawa scores a bunch but surrenders a lot too:

https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/ott-vs-phi/2024/01/21/2023020718

Their PP is almost as anemic as ours.  

Historically, this has been a "home" series.  However, we are on a three-game losing streak including a 5-2 loss way back in October.

On the one hand, we are facing a back-to-back.  On the other, they want to get the COL loss out of the system.  I tried to find stats on our matinee game history.  My gut says this isn't a good slot for us.