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Game 56: Flyers at Vegas GK, 2/11/18 @ 8


Howie58

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Really though, they should have lost that game. Vegas outplayed them a majority of the time. The Flyers took advantage of relatively few errors, and Neuvirth played like a stud all night.

 

What really struck me was how good Vegas is. I mean, I see the standings and know they're doing very well, but I never watch them aside from vs the Flyers, so it's all just numbers otherwise. Watching them play last night... I have a hard time thinking many teams in the league can face that and win a seven game series.

 

I have tremendous respect for McPhee and Gallant. Both should win their respective honours this year, and it shouldn't be close imo. The team they've assembled and gotten to work together is truly remarkable.

 

I was chatting with a buddy the other day and looking at their roster. It struck me how none of the names on the list include players who would have been considered truly elite prior to this season (aside from possibly Fleury). That isn't to say they don't have above-average players; in fact, they have myriad such players. Virtually every name on the roster is the kind of guy who could play a top six F / top four D role if needed. Add them all together, and it makes for amazing depth.

 

I honestly think that situation makes them very unique. Virtually all truly contending teams over the last 20 years have relied on top superstars to achieve success. It's beyond rare to see a team that doesn't have 1-3 top three picks in a contending conversation. And yet, here they are...

 

Given, the way they assembled this team is unique, but that could just as easily have been an abysmal failure. Again, tremendous respect.

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8 hours ago, Pucked in the head said:

Wish they would play that way every game

 

Really? Are you saying that because of the actual play on the ice or the outcome?

 

Neuvirth was THE reason they were able to win last night. The top line came through with the offense, and Neuvirth was spectacular.

 

I'm happy with how well they took advantage of the few opportunities they got, but if they played like that in a 7-game series, they wouldn't win. It's not that they played poorly - because the Flyers definitely looked like they could hang with Vegas. They definitely made things happen, and were hard on the puck for the most part. Even the 4th line looked decent. 

 

Flyers are 20-8-2 since their 0-5-5 skid. That's a .700 winning percentage. 

 

A few observations from the game:

 

 

1. Only 1 penalty called all game? Man, I wish more games were like this. Penalties are a flow killer. I liked the intensity of the game and the fact that the refs let them play through. 

2. Hakstol really rolled four lines and three pairings consistently, and that probably helped with keeping the players fresh. Plus no special teams to disrupt the lines. Defense TOI ranged from 18:14 (Manning) to 21:48 (Provorov). Forwards TOI ranged from 10:54 (Weise) to 19:18 (Voracek), but if you remove those outliers, the range was from 12:38 to 17:25.

3. Konecny had a really strong game. All over the ice, and he always made things happen. His passing was amazing!

4. Neuvirth saved their bacon when he had to. Let's hope he keeps playing like this!

5. The whole team was strong on the puck and pushed the pace.

 

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, FD19372 said:

This team is on a good roll. We just beat the second best team in the league in their barn. They drive me to drink, but since I have a beer in the other hand, I might as well make it two. Cheers!

 

Yep they have beat the best teams in the league this the Caps, Bolts, Blues, Devils, Sharks, Ducks and Knights.

 

And they have turned around and lost to the worst Yotes, Sens, Sabres and Canucks off the top of y head.

 

So they can be damn good and they can suck ass.

 

I hope we get the good team in last stretch of the season.

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11 hours ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

 

Wow!  He was WAY out of position!!

 

No, that's part of Hakstol's system. Defensemen are supposed to be active and get deep into the attacking zone to help drive offense. Even Gudas charges the net from time to time.

 

Now, whether you believe he's the right player to be doing that is certainly up for debate.

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Weird game.  Definitely happy to get the win, but there were long stretches, particularly in the second, where they were outplayed.  Still, the persevered and their big guns and goalie got them through.  I guess it's hard to want much more in a b2b situation on a western road trip, especially when the second night is against Vegas.

 

Three tough divisional games in a row coming up...

 

Love how well Konecny has been playing.  

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3 hours ago, elmatus said:

Really though, they should have lost that game. Vegas outplayed them a majority of the time.

 

What I love about that is that for the past however many years, the Flyers have been the team on the other end of that concept.  This team is really starting to do the "finding a way to win" thing instead of the "Finding a way to lose" which had been their MO for a long time.

 

I forgive them the 3 losses in a row because damn... Neuvy is bad when he's sick and Lyon is bad when he's in skates and pads at the NHL level.

 

3 hours ago, elmatus said:

What really struck me was how good Vegas is. I mean, I see the standings and know they're doing very well, but I never watch them aside from vs the Flyers, so it's all just numbers otherwise. Watching them play last night... I have a hard time thinking many teams in the league can face that and win a seven game series.

 

I have tremendous respect for McPhee and Gallant. Both should win their respective honours this year, and it shouldn't be close imo. The team they've assembled and gotten to work together is truly remarkable.

 

I was chatting with a buddy the other day and looking at their roster. It struck me how none of the names on the list include players who would have been considered truly elite prior to this season (aside from possibly Fleury). That isn't to say they don't have above-average players; in fact, they have myriad such players. Virtually every name on the roster is the kind of guy who could play a top six F / top four D role if needed. Add them all together, and it makes for amazing depth.

 

I honestly think that situation makes them very unique. Virtually all truly contending teams over the last 20 years have relied on top superstars to achieve success. It's beyond rare to see a team that doesn't have 1-3 top three picks in a contending conversation. And yet, here they are...

 

Given, the way they assembled this team is unique, but that could just as easily have been an abysmal failure. Again, tremendous respect.

 

I think the thing to keep in mind about Vegas is that they're the first expansion team in the cap era... which means there were a lot of decent quality veterans available to them in the expansion draft whose previous teams were kinda happy to get rid of them.  

 

They were good players, but not stars.  What's dangerous for them is that they're going to likely be losing a number of their key players this summer and they have almost zero RFA contracts.  

 

The flip side of that is that they're going to be going into the off season with something like $31 million in cap space AND a winning season under their belts.  

 

AKA hello to their 2018-2019 captain:  John Tavares and who the hell knows who else!

 

 

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44 minutes ago, King Knut said:

The flip side of that is that they're going to be going into the off season with something like $31 million in cap space AND a winning season under their belts.  

 

AKA hello to their 2018-2019 captain:  John Tavares and who the hell knows who else!

 

That's a very good point. It'll be interesting to see who they choose to keep, and who they manage to pick up from elsewhere. Given the success they've had, I could totally see a number of players taking discounts to either stay there or move there. We see that all the time with perennial contenders. If players feel Vegas' play this year sets them in a category of high desirability, who knows what the next step is.

 

The other part of this equation of course is the fan base. Having such a good year, I imagine they probably managed to grow a decent fan base both in the Vegas area and beyond. Still, we know by now that keeping and growing a fan base in the american south is a daunting prospect. It'll be interesting to see if Vegas manages to buck that trend over the next decade.

 

Like em or hate em, the league management definitely seems to have succeeded in finding a way to make expansion attractive for new cities.

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54 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

this is a bubble playoff team at best, meh.

 

 

They are 20-8-2 over the last 30 games. 

 

And they've done that in large part in spite of two glaring weaknesses - goaltending and penalty killing. Neither are easy to fix, unfortunately.

 

Penalty killing - Flyers are 29th at 74.5%. Easily the worst among currently playoff-position teams.

 

The bad news is the PK is trending downward, believe it or not. We're at 74.4% over the last 16 games, 71% over the last 8.

 

Goaltending - Their team save % of .906 is 20th. Only NJ and Pittsburgh have a worse team save % among playoff-position teams.

 

Both of those are killers come playoff time. 

 

Still, any type of playoff appearance will do wonders for the developing guys on this team, just like sticking with the status quo and forcing them to battle through the losing streak made them believe in themselves and turn things around. 

 

 

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51 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

They are 20-8-2 over the last 30 games. 

 

And they've done that in large part in spite of two glaring weaknesses - goaltending and penalty killing. Neither are easy to fix, unfortunately.

 

Penalty killing - Flyers are 29th at 74.5%. Easily the worst among currently playoff-position teams.

 

The bad news is the PK is trending downward, believe it or not. We're at 74.4% over the last 16 games, 71% over the last 8.

 

Goaltending - Their team save % of .906 is 20th. Only NJ and Pittsburgh have a worse team save % among playoff-position teams.

 

Both of those are killers come playoff time. 

 

Still, any type of playoff appearance will do wonders for the developing guys on this team, just like sticking with the status quo and forcing them to battle through the losing streak made them believe in themselves and turn things around. 

 

 

 

That save percentage number is misleading.

 

5 on 5, the Flyers rank 6th with a 0.9315 sv%. In all even strength situations, they are 4th at 0.9252.

Man up, they're second worst at 0.8269, 0.8364 in all PP situations.

On the PK, they're at 0.8040.

 

Elliott and Neuvirth are both around 93-94% at 5 on 5, and 80-81% on the PK. Remember, Steve Mason was one of the top 5 on 5 goalies for years, with bad PK numbers. Now we have three different goalies seeing the same results, year after year.

 

Goaltending is actually not an issue. It's the abysmal PK that's making it look like an issue.

 

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1 hour ago, brelic said:

 

And they've done that in large part in spite of two glaring weaknesses - goaltending and penalty killing.

 

 

Their PP during that stretch has struggled too if we are being honest.

 

And yes to have all those issues and be sitting 3rd in the metro hard to be that upset with them.

 

They have clawed and fought and i think they will till the end. Where they end up guess we'll see.

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1 hour ago, AJgoal said:

 

That save percentage number is misleading.

 

5 on 5, the Flyers rank 6th with a 0.9315 sv%. In all even strength situations, they are 4th at 0.9252.

Man up, they're second worst at 0.8269, 0.8364 in all PP situations.

On the PK, they're at 0.8040.

 

Elliott and Neuvirth are both around 93-94% at 5 on 5, and 80-81% on the PK. Remember, Steve Mason was one of the top 5 on 5 goalies for years, with bad PK numbers. Now we have three different goalies seeing the same results, year after year.

 

Goaltending is actually not an issue. It's the abysmal PK that's making it look like an issue.

 

 

Yes, good point. 

 

That PP save% is downright scary. 

 

I think your numbers reinforce the idea that solving the PK gives this team the biggest boost. It's probably a case of bad PK coaching, green players, and goaltending that doesn;t bail them out as much as a top tier goaltender would. Growing pains.

 

 

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@brelic

 

I should have included the ninja...

I watch this team and think they can beat anyone.  

They struggle with the Rangers and for some reason the Bruins, there are other tough match-ups. By and large though they're pretty good...they don't quit, they have some skill. They have some flaws but there aren't any juggernauts in the league.  I wonder why so many feel as though they need to temper their expectations.

 

The eye test of late says these guys are pretty good, and seem to be getting better at least to my eye.

There are shaky periods and tough stretches where they get pinned in the d-zone, but that happens in the NHL.

 I think they can win playoff rounds if they get the right matchups, now.  Soon I think this could be one of the better teams in the league. 

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

@brelic

 

I should have included the ninja...

I watch this team and think they can beat anyone.  

They struggle with the Rangers and for some reason the Bruins, there are other tough match-ups. By and large though they're pretty good...they don't quit, they have some skill. They have some flaws but there aren't any juggernauts in the league.  I wonder why so many feel as though they need to temper their expectations.

 

The eye test of late says these guys are pretty good, and seem to be getting better at least to my eye.

There are shaky periods and tough stretches where they get pinned in the d-zone, but that happens in the NHL.

 I think they can win playoff rounds if they get the right matchups, now.  Soon I think this could be one of the better teams in the league. 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely. They have beaten several top teams, and seem to be getting better. Patrick isn’t putting up lots of points yet, but he is improving and his line is generating chances. And he’s come through in the clutch a few times lately. 

 

TK is a speed demon out there! And Provorov is +11 since being paired with Ghost, who is +10 over the same stretch. 

 

Weal is showing off great puck possession skills. Raffl just keeps doing what he does best - I’d love for him to win a Cup with Philly. Such a likeable guy.

 

Still lots of kinks to be worked out, but overall, definite progress from last year. 

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