2023-24 Flyers: What's new is old again.

[Chris p Bacon]

If that happens I'm glad i have Monday off from work because i will have a huge hangover.

That's why I quit drinking so much lol. That and I have kids.

 

[chy1127]

Like you said i hope Laughton cross checks his head off his body!

Deslauriers and Hathaway are good candidates for that job as well!

 

[Maverick426h]

No puck luck right now. Same with the officiating. Foligno closes his hand on the puck and tosses it ahead, which is a penalty. That isn't called and it directly created a 2 on 1 for Minnesota that they scored the first goal on.

1-1 at the start of the 3rd period.

Of course right as I post this, Hartman gets a lucky bounce of the puck off the skate of Hart right at the post, over his pad and into the top of the net. Not sure how the hell that one went in. 1-2 Wild and we're on the comeback trail again.

 

[Chris p Bacon]

I think we may be earning the title of the "Comeback Kids" this season.

 

[Retroram52]

And we take the win over the Wild. Still in sixth spot in the East with a two-game winning streak going on!! Yep, it fits: The comeback kids of Broad Street!!

 

[eaglesnut]

What a great comeback win that shows how tough this team is.

Offense needs to pick it up though. Hopefully the end of that game can jump start it. Throw the puck at the net with people in front. No cute shit.

 

[Maverick426h]

Feels so good to deny MAF of sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time goalie wins list!! Fuck off, Flower!! LOL

This felt like one of the biggest wins of the season last night because we went down 1-3 on the road with only about 15 minutes remaining. We had the game tied though only about 6 minutes later via snipes by Foerster and Tippett. It's nice to see some of our shooters letting it fly, beating an experienced goalie clean and hitting the back of the net. This should really do something for their confidence. That and Owen Tippett is turning into a star right before our very eyes as of late.

In the overtime, Zamula drifted a puck to the front of the net that Farabee deflected home with only 2 seconds remaining on our power play. This came immediately after Drysdale had a bad giveaway late in his shift that led to a breakaway for Eriksson Ek. Drysdale somehow managed to hustle back and break the shot attempt up via a stick check. Let it also be known that, while he still didn't score a goal, Cam Atkinson made the play to draw the penalty by driving hard to the net and being tripped up as he got there.

When all is said and done, I think it's a small miracle that we even got a point out of this game. Minnesota looked faster and more desperate than us for long periods of play before we eventually got our collective shit together.

Great job by Hart to hang in there and keep us in the game, which we almost take for granted at this point (with both of our goalies). Drysdale has another assist and a +1 rating while essentially playing the role of a top pairing defenseman and not at all looking out of place. As shown in OT, even when he makes a bad mistake, he's smart enough and fast enough to recover.

What else can really be said? Massive team effort and resiliency shown in this one on a night when it just felt like we didn't have our legs at all.

 

[Maverick426h]

Idk how this has happened, but there are four Nhl teams currently with a win streak of 8 or more games. Somehow, three of them are in the same conference even. Well, we face one of them tonight in Winnipeg at 7 pm eastern (I thought that was weird too). The Jets have literally given up more than two goals only once in their last 19 games!! They are 16-1-2 over that stretch!! We played a long game just last night too, obviously. This should be interesting.

I assume Ersson will get the start and I'm not feeling bad about that either. That said, if we don't come to play, we could get steamrolled in this one. Let's see how we approach it, because it really is a massive opportunity to see where we're at.

 

[Retroram52]

Excellent points on the Wild game, Maverick. The Flyers are really developing nicely and I am thoroughly pleased in the sequential growth Torts has achieved with this young team!!

 

[Retroram52]

We did it again!! We shut-out the best team in hockey 2-0. Kicked their asses!!! I love it!!!

 

[Maverick426h]

Incredible. I love this team. Now I realize why we looked a little slow against Minnesota. We were saving it for the Jets the very next night. Minus both Couturier and Drysdale (both minor injuries, I believe), we stroll on into Winnipeg and completely shut down arguably the hottest team in the Nhl (were 16-1-2 in their last 19) on their home ice (where they were 15-5-2).

I realize that the Jets were without Scheifele, Connor and Gustafsson but we were without Couturier, Drysdale and Cates, so no excuses either way.

Ersson (technically our backup goalie) outdueled Hellebuyck, who is statistically one of the 2-3 best goalies in the Nhl right now. In my opinion, the entire team to a man stepped up to help him get that 2-0 shutout too. He definitely dazzled when necessary, but this was very much a team win. Furthermore, the Jets were supposed to be the team with more rest entering this one. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the 3rd period and our guys withstood every bit of it.

It's amazing how streaky goal scoring can be. Cam Atkinson hadn't scored a goal since November 11th (26 games without a single goal) and he nearly had a hat trick in this one just 5 or 6 minutes into the 2nd period. He had to settle for deflecting just two past Hellebuyck and into the empty cage behind him. One of those was late in the 1st and the other early in the 2nd on the power play. It goes without saying how enormous it is to get this guy back scoring goals.

This brings me to another unlikely streak. We've had one of the worst power plays in the Nhl for the entire season and suddenly we have scored a power play goal in 5 straight games. The boys were snapping that puck around nicely with the man advantage, even without a couple of key contributors.

It's fucking amazing what a little confidence can do.

ELE baby!! Everybody love everybody!! These players love each other and they back each other up again and again to prove it too!!

 

[Retroram52]

And now we know why Briere took Ersson in the draft when we had three net minders already. With the tandem of Hart and Ersson, we can let one of them rest while other takes over and we don't lose a thing in any category with either one. Brilliant!!

 

[Maverick426h]

And now we know why Briere took Ersson in the draft when we had three net minders already. With the tandem of Hart and Ersson, we can let one of them rest while other takes over and we don't lose a thing in any category with either one. Brilliant!!

Amazingly, if I had to pick one, I'm not even sure who it would be right now. They are both very good behind what has been a pretty solid team defense too. Hart has a slight edge in save percentage (.911 to .910), but Ersson sees fewer shots and gives up fewer goals (2.33 gaa vs. 2.70 gaa). Hart has more experience and has proven he can do this in multiple seasons, including playoffs. They are about the same size and age. It's again a small sample size, but Ersson has been far better in shootouts.

They both have 11 wins on the season, but Ersson has played in 5 fewer games.

For whatever reason, we arguably play better defense in front of Ersson. This is based on his better record, slightly lower save percentage and the fact that he faces fewer shots, therefore giving up fewer goals per game.

Idk, the slightly younger (about 14 months) and much cheaper goalie could end up being the better of the two. I think it's too early to tell that, but with Hart needing a new contract moving forward, there are goaltending decisions to be made. We have Ersson on the cheap ($1.45M) for two more seasons and Hart is still under team control as a soon to be RFA, but might want big money.

I suppose this is a fabulous problem to have. It's certainly a win/win right now, because we can ride them both (and afford them both) and nobody gets tired.

 

[Maverick426h]

And now we know why Briere took Ersson in the draft when we had three net minders already. With the tandem of Hart and Ersson, we can let one of them rest while other takes over and we don't lose a thing in any category with either one. Brilliant!!

Btw, I skipped over this, but Ersson was drafted in 2018 by Ron Hextall, then signed by Fletcher. Briere did extend him two years last summer though...Lol

 

[Maverick426h]

I think we're officially a problem for rivals like the Isles, Devs, Pens and Caps. If we manage to somehow hold our position (or better) and make the playoffs, at least two of these teams are fucked and potentially even all four of them. That would be pretty fucking wild though if none of them made the postseason...Lol Call it intriguing, but highly unlikely.

 

[eaglesnut]

What a filthy goal from Tippett.

 

[eaglesnut]

I guess I had the Blues feed. After the game their talking heads were quite impressed with Tippett.

Flyers took it to the Blues for stretches. Playing great right now.

 

[Retroram52]

Btw, I skipped over this, but Ersson was drafted in 2018 by Ron Hextall, then signed by Fletcher. Briere did extend him two years last summer though...Lol

Sorry dude. I was thinking about football when I wrote that. Some days... ...lol!

 

[awaz]

Really playing well these days. 19-7-5 since Nov. 10th, second best in hockey.

 

[eaglesnut]

Really playing well these days. 19-7-5 since Nov. 10th, second best in hockey.

Can we just start the playoffs now please?