Howie58 Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) Greetings: The bookies show no respect for the Flyers (+243) despite the fact that TB is 2-5-3 over their last 10, giving up 3.7 GAA during that stretch: https://sportsbookwire.usatoday.com/article/tampa-bay-lightning-vs-philadelphia-flyers-odds-tips-and-betting-trends-3/ Statistically, faceoff % and the PP are starkly different. We've spit the first two games this year: https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/phi-vs-tbl/2023/03/07/2022021014 I will be curious to see if we give Sandstrom a start at any point and if we keep the 11-7 forward-defense gig? Edited March 7, 2023 by Howie58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GratefulFlyers Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 I read somewhere that Tortorella’s sticking with 11/7 to give Tippett more ice time. i guess we’ll see the same tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howie58 Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 53 minutes ago, GratefulFlyers said: I read somewhere that Tortorella’s sticking with 11/7 to give Tippett more ice time. i guess we’ll see the same tonight. Yes, this will be 11-7. This pre-game sounds like a Tippett love-fest. The audition theme continues. Torts philosophy of player development is self-effacing. It's the players, not the coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GratefulFlyers Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Thanks for the link. Yeah that one reporter must be Tippett’s dad or something….jeez every question. Aside from that it was good to hear the HC speak intelligently about the team. Tortorella has definitely mellowed his approach to the media and maybe (it sounds like) in how he handles his players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Watching the Flyers playing my Bolts here, I've made this observation about the boys playing for Philly (and I am well aware the fanbase still thinks it stinks from the ownership and management perspective): Plus+ --Flyers actually look like they 'care' about what is going out there. Should be no surprise because if a player doesn't care, he isn't playing for Torts. Simple as that. --Carter Hart is still a top level goalie, and COULD BE BETTER, if a certain minus were corrected (I'll get to that in a bit) --While some players, like JVR, look like a 'dead man walking' out there (UFA status guy who thinks he isn't gonna be part of the team moving forward), the younger players, for better or worse, are running with whatever ball they are given. Frost, Farabee, Cates, Tippett...all look like they really are giving it their all and SHOULD be rewarded with more ice time as the season winds down. --Flyers shot blocking is pretty good. Unlike past seasons teams that seem reluctant to drop the body and take one for the team, this particular group seems to have no qualms about it. Again, shouldn't be surprising because that is a hallmark of a Tortorella run team. Also, I am sure Hart appreciates that as it makes his job easier. Minus- --Decision making on defense. I mentioned Hart could be better, and what I mean is, he'd have to make less 'death defying' saves if his defense, overall, made better decisions as to what to do with the puck once they get ahold of it. Still too much outlet passing to no one in particular, still too much 'panic' when they are pressured, still a bit of standing around too long to see what the opposition is doing with the puck IN the zone. Some of that could likely be fixed with coaching, others with replacing certain people on the rosters, and the rest, with experience, particularly with the younger players. --Trying TOO hard to be 'tough guys'. Hey, I get it, Philly wants the old mud stompers back, Torts is a hard nosed coach and wants his players to play that way, but at times, it seems to me, some Philly players go out of their way to try and rough someone up, or blow them up on a hit, completely forgetting that they should be playing hockey first and foremost and that other stuff can come later. Especially when dealing with a team like the Lightning, who, despite their recent struggles, still have the ability to make 'tough guy' teams pay for overdoing it with the macho stuff. Bottom line: Flyers should pick their spots better. Overall, even though the Flyers won't be going to the post season, and even though upper management still sucks, and even though Fletcher is still making decisions from the GM's chair, I would say Torts IS having a positive effect on the team and if allowed to continue, and some more talent can be infused into the lineup to go along with more seasoning on the players that need it, AND some of the 'undesirables' currently clogging roster spots can be removed, there is hope to ice a competitive team, night in, night out, starting as soon as next season. If I am a Flyers fan, I certainly am NOT accepting what I see on the ice as "mission accomplished", and will demand more, but at the very least, the team is showing signs that they are not as unwatchable as perhaps they had been the last two to three seasons. All I've ever wanted from my hockey teams, whether they are contenders or not, is to care, to battle, to do things on the ice that leads me to believe they CAN get better. I believe the Flyers are starting to show this......now whether ownership and Fletcher make moves to build upon that will remain to be seen, and I know THAT is what really sticks in fans' collective craws, but despite some fans' misgivings about Tortorella, I think he is doing what he can with what he has to work with and it is showing on the ice. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howie58 Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 Dear TFG, The Flyers are working hard and trying to be responsible. They don't have the talent to win. Fletcher is probably not the guy to lead them to up the totem pole. Torts has probably given Fletcher another year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Lots of rock'em sock'em stuff going on out there. If it happens naturally during the course of the game, fine, but no one, on either side, should be going out of their way to initiate that. Right now, just looks like very rugged hockey going on out there. I can live with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 By the way, on that last scrum, players getting ahold of other players, Pat Maroon knew he had a Flyer grabbing him, he had the 'serious face' on...when he turned around and saw that is was just Tony DeAngelo holding onto him, he cracked a smile wide as the Atlantic. I thought that was amusing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 I don't know who's idea was it to put Risto in front of the goalie as a giant screen, but it seems effective. Vasilevskiy is struggling a bit to look around him, and the Bolts are getting irritated having to move him out of there. Risto is taking a bit of a beating in that spot, but i think a guy like him can appreciate what the defense is trying to do while he is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howie58 Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 48 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said: I don't know who's idea was it to put Risto in front of the goalie as a giant screen, but it seems effective. Vasilevskiy is struggling a bit to look around him, and the Bolts are getting irritated having to move him out of there. Risto is taking a bit of a beating in that spot, but i think a guy like him can appreciate what the defense is trying to do while he is there. Risto is broadening out his game. Our PP is so bad, any tweak might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GratefulFlyers Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 well it took most of the year but DeAngelo finally reverted to form... classless, dirty cheapshot as you can get. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 1 minute ago, GratefulFlyers said: well it took most of the year but DeAngelo finally reverted to form... classless, dirty cheapshot as you can get. Yea, I realize Perry is a scumbag himself, but spearing him in the coreys isn't the way to go about it. Well deserved 5 and the gate for DeAngelo. He will be hearing from the league as well I am sure. Fine and suspension based on past history for him I would imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howie58 Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 Hart is human. TB is talented. The score is no fluke. Giving up three PP goals is awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Will they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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