Flyers vs. Bruins tonight!

[Kings Redeem LA]

Are you approximately 2,000 or so Flyer fans on Hockey Forums dot Net--pumped? 

 

Will you be watching? First Flyer pre-season game? 

 

      

[OccamsRazor]

21 minutes ago, thenewestlights said:

First Flyer pre-season game?

 

 

It's not the first one. I have watched parts of the other 3 games.

 

However i am excited to see this one.

 

It has a pretty decent lineup. 

 

Elliot's first appearance in net for the Flyers too.

 

[OccamsRazor]

Tonight's game is being shown on the NHLnetwork.

[Lunatic]

I don't get NHL network. Does anyone have another feed?

 

[OccamsRazor]

 

[AJgoal]

Konecny back on the ice.

[AJgoal]

 

[brelic]

@AJgoal wow. That’s impressive! Love seeing that craftiness in his game. 

[AJgoal]

I only picked up the game midway through the 2nd, but he's been extremely noticeable. 

 

Giroux looks a shade faster than last season.

 

Lindblom is impressing again.

[AJgoal]

I'm not sure these aren't the top three lines to start the year playing tonight.

 

Lindblom - Giroux - Voracek

Raffl - Couturier - Konecny

Weal - Patrick - Simmonds

 

Leier is probably going to find himself on the outside looking in/first callup, if only due to numbers. 

[Poulin20]

The power play still looks atrocious.  Are we sure we really fired Joey Mullen?

 

0/9 as of this post...

[LegionOfDoom]

To add insult to injury. What the hell is McDonald doing in OT. AND then going over to congratulate Augostino on the goal...body bump.

[Off the Pipe]

I would expect if G keeps playing the way he is and Patrick the way he is, I believe Patrick may be the #1 center before year's end.

 

G really did not look good, he looks slow still and is not battling like we are use to seeing.

Jake made quite a few mistakes again with the puck.

I love both these guys, but they really need to pick up their game soon, or it's lotto time again.

[fan4ever]

Here's hoping that @Digityman and @MaineFlyFan will give us their perspectives of the game since they were there!  There's only so much you can glean from the write up on the website.......

 

 

[Digityman]

@fan4ever

 

Warm-ups - They changed it up since last year but Giroux and Jake still end it by sending cross ice passes for one timers.    I've hated the Flyers warm-ups for a while now and even with this change, I still don't think they get their legs moving enough.   I always wondered if the lack of a decent warm-up had something to do with their notorious slow starts.   Morin was doing some pretty good stick work in front of me.  Jake was doing a lot of stretching and moving at half speed.  And he played like he warmed up - halfhearted.  

 

The stadium was about 2/3's to 3/4's full - somewhere in that range. 

 

1st period - It was like they were skating in mud.  So many penalties.   Even the crowd had no idea what some of the penalties were that were called.   Missed passes, slow speed.  Was actually a little boring which is first for me.  Obviously it's preseason and there's a lot of rust to shake off so I should have expected it.   Elliot looked pretty good.   Couple conversations in the crowd about if that was Mason it would have been 3-0 Bruins at the end of the 1st.  

 

2nd period - Got a little better overall.  Some decent chances back and forth but you could still tell it was preseason.  Even the crowd was in preseason mode.   Sanhiem started to assert himself here.  Scored the goal but also had a few good shots/chances.   Was not impressed with Patrick.  Looked and played similar to Matt Read when Read just coasts.  Patrick didn't do anything glaringly wrong but seemed to be just going through the motions.  I get that this is all new to him and he's learning the NHL game.  I have no problem with it.  My only point is that I wouldn't be shocked to see him sent down for the year after his 10 games unless he really picks it up when the season starts.  He did have a nice between the legs touch pass from behind the net.  That redeemed his play a bit. 

 

3rd Period - Sanheim scored the goal but also had a few good shots/chances.   The goal on Lyon was a great shot, lots of traffic.  Found the upper corner.  Lyon might have gone down a little early but I think he was trying to look through the traffic to find the puck.  I don't fault him at all on this.  The shooter wasn't closed down fast enough (can't remember who was up top at the time).   

 

OT - This is where Patrick did not look good at all.  There was a point where he half-assed it and in 3 on 3 you can't do that.  Maybe he was out of gas but it was noticeable to us, it must have been noticeable to Hexy.   Was a great move to beat Lyon.  

 

Overall, was a meh game.  

Players that looked better than average to me:

Morin, Sanheim, Elliot, Konecny, Couturier, Provorov

Just average:

Giroux, Jake, Simmonds, Raffl, Lindblom, Weal, Gudas, Lyon, Filppula

Below average: 

Patrick, Hagg (he whiffed on the puck trying to pass at least 2 times), AMac, CMac, Leier

 

There were at least 5 times guys were in the slot and didn't shoot.  Instead they choose some stupid pass.  Giroux did this at least twice.  And of course the first real shot he took he rings it off the post in OT.  

 

Power play looks slow and out of sync.  Obviously not having Ghost up top didn't help but Provorov filled in nicely and wasn't any fault of his.  

 

So far to me:

Morin, Lindblom (obvious), Weal - make the team

Sanheim, Hagg - on the fence

Leier - I just don't see it.

 

Sorry for any spelling/grammer errors.  Typing fast....

[Digityman]

8 hours ago, Off the Pipe said:

I would expect if G keeps playing the way he is and Patrick the way he is, I believe Patrick may be the #1 center before year's end.

 

G really did not look good, he looks slow still and is not battling like we are use to seeing.

Jake made quite a few mistakes again with the puck.

I love both these guys, but they really need to pick up their game soon, or it's lotto time again.

 

Not a chance in my mind.  Besides a few blips, Patrick looked as good as a 3rd line center.  I know he's 19 and a rookie so it's going to take some time to get used to it  --- and that's also the reason you won't see Patrick as your #1 center at least for this year and probably a few years.  If you are going to move Giroux, Coots moves to 1st line center.  I don't think they have any other options.  

 

Obviously a lot can happen between now and 10 games into the season, but if Patrick doesn't take a serious step forward, I think you'll see him sent down.   In OT he looked horrible.  Had no hustle and looked out of gas.  When teams start getting up to in-season speed, I fear his rust is going to shine bright. 

[Poulin20]

35 minutes ago, Digityman said:

Warm-ups - They changed it up since last year but Giroux and Jake still end it by sending cross ice passes for one timers.    I've hated the Flyers warm-ups for a while now and even with this change, I still don't think they get their legs moving enough.   I always wondered if the lack of a decent warm-up had something to do with their notorious slow starts.   Morin was doing some pretty good stick work in front of me.  Jake was doing a lot of stretching and moving at half speed.  And he played like he warmed up - halfhearted.  

 

The stadium was about 2/3's to 3/4's full - somewhere in that range. 

 

1st period - It was like they were skating in mud.  So many penalties.   Even the crowd had no idea what some of the penalties were that were called.   Missed passes, slow speed.  Was actually a little boring which is first for me.  Obviously it's preseason and there's a lot of rust to shake off so I should have expected it.   Elliot looked pretty good.   Couple conversations in the crowd about if that was Mason it would have been 3-0 Bruins at the end of the 1st.  

 

2nd period - Got a little better overall.  Some decent chances back and forth but you could still tell it was preseason.  Even the crowd was in preseason mode.   Sanhiem started to assert himself here.  Scored the goal but also had a few good shots/chances.   Was not impressed with Patrick.  Looked and played similar to Matt Read when Read just coasts.  Patrick didn't do anything glaringly wrong but seemed to be just going through the motions.  I get that this is all new to him and he's learning the NHL game.  I have no problem with it.  My only point is that I wouldn't be shocked to see him sent down for the year after his 10 games unless he really picks it up when the season starts.  He did have a nice between the legs touch pass from behind the net.  That redeemed his play a bit. 

 

3rd Period - Sanheim scored the goal but also had a few good shots/chances.   The goal on Lyon was a great shot, lots of traffic.  Found the upper corner.  Lyon might have gone down a little early but I think he was trying to look through the traffic to find the puck.  I don't fault him at all on this.  The shooter wasn't closed down fast enough (can't remember who was up top at the time).   

 

OT - This is where Patrick did not look good at all.  There was a point where he half-assed it and in 3 on 3 you can't do that.  Maybe he was out of gas but it was noticeable to us, it must have been noticeable to Hexy.   Was a great move to beat Lyon.  

 

Overall, was a meh game.  

Players that looked better than average to me:

Morin, Sanheim, Elliot, Konecny, Couturier, Provorov

Just average:

Giroux, Jake, Simmonds, Raffl, Lindblom, Weal, Gudas, Lyon, Filppula

Below average: 

Patrick, Hagg (he whiffed on the puck trying to pass at least 2 times), both AMac, CMac, Leier

 

There were at least 5 times guys were between the circles and didn't shoot.  Instead they choose some stupid pass.  Giroux did this at least twice.  And of course the first real shot he took he rings it off the post in OT.  

 

Power play looks slow and out of sync.  Obviously not having Ghost up top didn't help but Provorov filled in nicely and wasn't any fault of his.  

 

Sorry for any spelling/grammer errors.  Typing fast....

 

Thanks for the writeup and for confirming that it was indeed the snoozefest that I watched on TV - except that I had to listen to Jack(off) Edwards and Andy I would like to hit him with a Brick(ley).  I noticed that a lot of fans came dressed as yellow seats last night...it must have been a promotion or something.

 

The only good thing I heard from those 2 fools on the TV  was that they believe with all of the young talent that the Flyers Stanley Cup window will open up for the foreseeable future starting in 2018-2019.  I have my doubts about that after watching our young talent.  I think it may be a couple more seasons down the road than that....

[brelic]

Wasn't that one of the reports on Patrick, that his skating is just ok? He doesn't really have a top speed - just an average speed. 

 

Couturier redux, lol.

 

In all seriousness, I did see him make smart plays last night. I thought overall he was just ok.

 

The worst player on the ice last night was MacDonald. He looks like the overwhelmed rookie.

 

Best player, hmmm... tough one. Sanheim had a really strong game. Morin also made some really nice defensive plays to separate guys from the puck and dished out some hard hits. Couturier was really solid, and his line showed great passing and chemistry. 

 

 

[MaineFlyFan]

Jeez! How can I follow up that synopsis from the Digity!

 

1st off I was in row 13 down in the Loge just left of goal so I had a pretty good view the whole game, HOWEVER, I brought my 5 year old son to his first NHL game and that was a bit of a distraction, but he had a BLAST!....little slow in the 1st and 2nd but he hung in there!

 

So yeah, the 1st two periods were pretty dull to be honest. Not a lot of "flow" out there but I guess that is to be expected a bit... I do remember making some mental notes to bring back to the forum so here goes:

 

1) I think the thing that stood out to me most was Sanhiem actually! I'd be shocked if this kid does not make the club. And I'm not even talking about his goal but his overall game. I saw him stop/defend a number of "rushes" or zone entries VERY well. I thought his Defense was very good for a "kid" and he even has some offensive upside! I was really impressed with him and Morin. Morin looks a little "lanky" but his reach and size help him a lot out there.

 

2) Patrick was bigger than I thought "in person". He certainly has the frame to be in the NHL this year...and the hands! However, it wasn;t exactly a "dominate" performance by him but I'm not expecting that in 1st week of pre-season but i think this kid deserves a shot at staying up this year. Seemed gassed in OT.  I would like to see him "develop" more in the NHL as opposed to Juniors but that's just me. I think he's ready for the next step and to develop at the "pace" and "energy" of the NHL as opposed to going back to Junior to DOMINATE the "slower/less talented" competition so to speak. Maybe that thinking is flawed but I never claim to be a great hockey mind! Just a fan of the game!

 

3) Koency is fast and always in the play, but MAN did I see him get owned along the boards a few times. I don't see this kid winning too many puck battles along the boards for sure! His size might be an issue down the road and I suspect injuries too....he was taken into the boards a couple times last night that made me "cringe".....LOVE his heart and speed and play-making ability though! Def a talented player with the puck on his stick.

 

4) G/Jake....looked per usual. Jake tried a nifty move to break into the zone in OT but was stripped immediately. I fear for that contract and what we will get out of it moving forward. As Digity said, G needs to SHOOT more often and really step up for this team this year or I might be done with him as our "leader"! I thought he was gonna win it RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME in OT but sure enough....POST.

 

5) I think Elliott looked good and hopefully can simply supply some CONSISTENT play in net this year. Lyons made a HELL of a post to post save late in the 3rd (i think) that I thought for sure was stuffed in! Showed good lateral movement on that play at least. Only had one period and coming in "cold" like that in the 3rd must be a challenge but the game winner (which was at opposite end of ice from me) was apparently not on him. Rask on the other hand should have had that Sanhiem goal....

 

anyway, I think I'll stop there as it's been said already. Slow game. Some promising signs from the young D in my opinion. Jury still out on Patrick though....he needs to have a "break out" game here and wow some folks soon!

 

(P.S. please don't hammer me with arguments and/or "negative" criticism of my thoughts on the game/players etc. Again, I'm not a hockey expert. Just trying to relay what my eyes were seeing....in-between trips to the concession stand for the boy!)

 

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, Digityman said:

So many penalties. 

 

 

I can't see them calling all this stuff come the real season...just can't it will slow the game down a lot.

 

1 hour ago, Digityman said:

 Couple conversations in the crowd about if that was Mason it would have been 3-0 Bruins at the end of the 1st

 

Not to pick on Mase but i agree.

 

Sure it was only 2 period of Elliot in a preseason game but man he is really quick and sound from what i have saw.

 

Quick laterally across the crease. I just guess i didn't expect him to be so sharp this soon. 

 

From what i saw he will take the starter's spot for sure. I hope he stays healthy. Lyon will benefit from another year in the AHL.

[off_the_post]

From my couch G looked to be skating better than I've seen him skate in a bit.

 

I was disappointed to see the Flyers set up on the half wall again on the PP.  If they stick with this then I wish Jake would take Schenn's old spot and put another lefty in his old slot like Provorov. 

 

I was very happy to see Elliott play well.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the Flyers keep 8 D to start the season with Manning and AMac being the 7th and 8th dman respectively.  The better the other Flyers D men get the worse AMac looks. 

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, Digityman said:

Was not impressed with Patrick.  Looked and played similar to Matt Read when Read just coasts.  Patrick didn't do anything glaringly wrong but seemed to be just going through the motions.  I get that this is all new to him and he's learning the NHL game.  I have no problem with it.  My only point is that I wouldn't be shocked to see him sent down for the year after his 10 games unless he really picks it up when the season starts

 

I agree (should of put this is my other post) he gets sent back. No biggie he'll be better next year. I would save the 9 games in case they need him for the playoffs (if they make it)....Hexy doesn't really do the 9 games thing before the season.

 

I thought Hagg played pretty sound (however i didn't see every minute) he kept it simple and used his body well to knock guys around and off the puck very physical in his end. He will be a welcome to the blueline.

 

Morin was a welcome sight too.

 

Hagg and Morin will make this defense better overall. Ivan, Ghost and Gudas can use the help minutes wise.

 

I pray Mcdud is a scratch if not even sent down (can't be that lucky).

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

I saw Andrew MacDonald was in midseason form with regards to making the same mistakes. Errant passes, inopportune opportunities to pinch in on offense, generally our of position and his teammates continually bailing him out. What is it going to take for Hextall and Hakstol to realize that MacDonald sucks and is a constant liability out there. He needs to be banished to the AHL for the remainder of his contract.

[OccamsRazor]

4 hours ago, brelic said:

Best player, hmmm... tough one.

 

 

I have to give that to Elliot....man he was on and so quick....he looked like he was ready for a real game.

 

Great to see for me.

 

They need some steady/calming affect in net for them with the schedule they have in front of them out the gate...if he plays his best he can then he will give them a chance to get going against the gauntlet of teams they must face to start out west.

 

An in regard to Mcdud maybe we get lucky and they send him back to juniors!!!

 

 

[vis]

Saw a good chunk of the second and on.  Have to echo most of what was said above (excellent analysis - thanks @Digityman and  @MaineFlyFan), but I am not as high on Sanheim defensively as others seem to be.  The offense is definitely there.  Thought Haag was fine defensively, but didn't show much else.  Morin was fine as well.  Neither are hurting their chances at making the club.  Man, did MacDonald look bad.  I do think Sanheim has a good chance at taking his spot.   

 

Thought Voracek looked bad.  G was OK.  Courturier, eh...

 

Patrick and Simmonds seemed to have some chemistry developing, but I agree that Patrick has not shown much.  His skating pales in comparison to other NHL players.  I said in the other thread that I thought he'd definitely get at least the 10 game tryout and potentially stay for the season, but I am starting to wonder about that if he doesn't pick up the play.  Again, I am sure the injuries are a major factor.  But I am starting to wonder whether the Flyers will just take the point of view that this isn't his year and have him come to camp 100% healthy and confident next year.  Shout out to @OccamsRazor and the conversation we were having in the other thread.  Still, it's early in the preseason.  Perhaps best not to wonder too much about this stuff at this point.

 

Good to hear Elliott looked strong.  I ragged on the signing, but hope he looks more like last year's second-half Elliott than the first-half Elliott.