Farabee’s 4 point night helps Flyers defeat Penguins in season opener

It’s been a long time but Flyers hockey is finally back. The Flyers opened the 2020-21 against their state rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers had a pretty quiet offseason with their only signing being left-handed defenseman Erik Gustafsson. 5:12 into the game the Penguins opened the scoring with their free agency pick up Mark Jankowski. At first, it had seemed that the puck had not crossed the line but after other camera angles the referees ruled it a goal. 10 minutes after the Penguins scored the first goal of the new season the Flyers strike with a powerplay tally scored by James Van Riemsdyk. The point shot from Gustafsson was deflected in front by JVR. That was the first of 2 powerplay goals the Flyers scored as they went an impressive 2/3 on the man advantage. In the dying seconds of the opening period Nolan Patrick scored a goal similar to the first one, shot by Gustafsson deflected by Patrick this time. Nolan Patrick missed the entirety of the 2019-20 with migrain problems.

Almost 4 minutes into the 2nd period Carter Hart left his net to go handle the puck. As he tried to pass it down the ice Sidney Crosby put his hand-eye coordnation on display as he deflects the puck out of the air and tapped it in the Flyer goal to tie the game. Late in the period Joel Farabee picks up his 3rd point of the night as he scores off the pass from Hayes. Going into the 2nd intermission the Flyers lead 3-2.

The Penguins open the period scoring with yet another early goal. This time Brandon Tanev the culprit. Minutes later after Nicolas Aube-Kubel missed a chance in front Scott Laughton found a darting Michael Raffl who puts it home to put the Flyers right back in front. Later in the final frame the Flyers took advantage of Pittsburgh’s sloppy play as Sean Couturier recuperated a puck in the defensive zone and centered it for Oskar Lindblom. Lindblom couldn’t bury it but Travis Konecny capitalized on a puck in the slot and quickly put it passed Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry. Konecny’s goal was later awarded to Lindblom, who scored his first goal after defeating cancer. Just seconds later the Flyers break the game wide open as Hayes scores off the assists of Farabee and captain Claude Giroux.

The Philadelphia Flyers will face the Penguins again Friday at 7PM ET. It will be their second game of the shortened 56 game season that the NHL has put into place. The game will be played at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia.

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Preview of the Flyers 2020-21 season

Last year, the Flyers definitely showed signs of hope for the future. With the shortened regular season, the Flyers managed to hold a record of 41-21-7. With new additions, and breakout seasons for some players last season, the Flyers are set to possibly be a contender this year. But what will it take for the Flyers to truly make a deep playoff run this year?

Well we definitely need to see some more breakout seasons. Last year we saw players like Carter Hart and Joel Farabee showed star-like potential last season, so we should expect the same from a couple guys this year. We should see players like Morgan Frost and Nicolas Aube-Kubel show the hockey world what they got this year. We can also expect to see Carter Hart and Phil Myers grow more over the course of the year. It’s going to be exciting to see the youth of this franchise compete this year.

To be successful we’re also gonna need to see bounce back years from some players. Some players including Claude Giroux, JVR and Shayne Gostisbehere has very disappointing years, especially in the playoffs. We’re going to really need to see those guys step up and play a lot better this season. They need to show leadership as well. Being a coach to some of these young guys will help with future success of this team, so the older players have a big job this year.

The last thing the Flyers need is consistency in management and front office. We need to see AV do the same thing he did last year. He disciplined the players, which kept us out of the penalty box for a good amount of the year. He lit a fire under the players which definitely helped out last year. We also need to have the front office be consistent. We need smart moves, if someone gets called up they should be able to provide something to the team. That was a problem last year. The Phantom players getting called up weren’t providing, so this year we need to be better.

The Flyers have a very exciting season ahead of them. Whenever the start may be, they have to be prepared and ready to start the season hot. If they start out the season hot, who knows what would happen? Maybe the cup could be on the way to Philadelphia soon.

The Flyers take a controlling 3-1 lead against the Canadians

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadians in Game 4 of the first round of the NHL playoffs 2-0. The win gave the Flyers full control of the series, as they move one game within advancing to the next round. Since the embarrassing performance in Game 2, the Flyers have won both games, and Carter Hart has since put up two shutouts. The 22-year-old goalie for the Flyers has been exceptional in the last two games for the Flyers. Hart has helped carry the team to two wins with only three goals to help support him.

In Game 4, the Flyers played a much stronger, more complete game, then they have had all series. Yet, they still struggled at times clearing the puck out of their zone, but Carter Hart was able to hold the Flyers through. In addition to Hart being spectacular, the Flyers defense also has stood up to the occasion and held their own against the Canadians. So far in the series, the Flyers haven’t shown the same polish they showed through the first three round-robin games. To some fans, this may seem like a concern, but let’s remember, it doesn’t matter how you win, as long as you win. Of course, I would love for the Flyers to win every game 3-0, but that’s not going to be the case. What’s going to be the case is what’s happening, a series where teams slug it out to see who will work harder to win. If anything comes from the close games in the series so far, it should be used as a testament to the Flyers’ ability to win close games. Winning is a habit, and so far the Flyers have kept that habit no matter how they do it.

I’m not the biggest fan of comparing two sports experiences, especially in the playoffs, but let’s look at the 2017 Eagles. Once Carson Wentz went down, it wasn’t pretty, but the team clinched the number one seed. After that, they faced the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round of the playoffs, and it took till the last play to win. It’s that “Fight until the end” ability, that carries team when there are 5 minutes left in a game. Every championship team has this trait. Look at the 2008 Phillies, they repeatedly showed that they were able to give their all in the closing moments. It wasn’t clearer than in the World Series. After the Phillies fell in game 2 4-2, they responded by winning game 3 by a one-run margin of 5-4. Proving to themselves that they can win close games, gives teams confidence when they are in moments like that in the future. The Eagles demonstrated that in the Falcons game, and had the confidence to make key plays in the final moments of the Superbowl. For the Flyers, they were able to win two very close games after being blown out, the trait was demonstrated.

Winning Game 4 for the Flyers was huge. It doesn’t have to be stated how 3-1, and 2-2 are two completely different ball games. Since the Flyers did win, they can have an opportunity to clinch the series tomorrow at 8 pm est. As of now, the next team the Flyers will face in the playoffs isn’t determined. Right now it seems like the Flyers will be facing the New York Islanders, as they have a 3-0 lead on the Washington Capitals, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are down 3-1 to the Lightning. I’m not going to start to look that much ahead, but no matter who the Flyers end up facing it will be challenging of a fight than the Canadians.

It’s not just because the next challenger will be a higher seed, but also because whatever team the Flyers play will be red-hot. Although, this is exactly why this first-round matchup for the Flyers was perfect. The Canadians, as we have seen, are a hard-working, gritty team. After the wake-up call in Game 2, the Flyers were able to demonstrate they fight back. This is the exact needed to win in the playoffs. The Flyers have responded, and they have responded strongly. They have placed themselves where they needed to be, in a position to advance, and they have shown that they can respond to adversity, which will be key if they expect to make a deep run in the playoffs.

The Flyers prepare to rebound for Game 3 against the Canadians

The Philadelphia Flyers are set to face the Montreal Canadians tonight at 8 pm est, Game 3 of the first round of the NHL playoffs. After a dismal 5-0 lost in Game 2, the Flyers are looking to rebound and take back the lead in the series. It doesn’t have to be stated that this is a crucial game for the Flyers (most playoffs games tend to be). Although, this game has some added pressure considering that the Flyers are looking to make a deep run in the playoffs. The expectations for the Flyers have drastically changed since entering the round-robin. Since then the Flyers have earned the first seed in the Eastern Conference, and improved to one of the best odds to win the Stanley Cup. So, for the Flyers to fall behind the Canadians in the first round is going to be added trouble in an already difficult road to the championship.

Flyers’ goalie Carter Hart, will face the majority of the attention for tonight’s game after being pulled from Game 2. Of course, Hart wasn’t at fault for a terrible Flyers performance but will be expected to carry the team if they do start to fall behind again. Also facing pressure is Flyers’ captain Claude Giroux, who has yet to score in any of the Flyers games since the NHL has started back up. As a matter of fact, the entire first line for the Flyers is scoreless. You can see how quickly a storyline can change from “The Flyers’ Amazing Depth” to “The Flyers’ Lack of Superstars”. Like the majority of playoff runs and eventual championships, teams need players to step-up. Of course, the Flyers have had great performances, such as Carter Hart in Game 1, but the team will need one of its leaders to carry them further than round one.

Of course, the Flyers shouldn’t be sirening all the alarms because they lost one game out of the five since the return to play. Although, they should be worried about falling back to a Canadians team that has already beaten the odds against the Penguins and one of the league’s top goalies with Carey Price. Flyers’ coach Alain Vigneault, who is one of this year’s contenders for coach of the year, is going to prove he is worthy of such an award with tonight’s game. After being embarrassed by the Canadians, it’s going to be in the hands of Vigneault to make the correct decisions either with line changes or with mental preparedness for the Flyers. This game will be the tone-setter for the rest of this series and the Flyers championship aspiration. Will the Flyers roll over and die, or are they going to fight back and bounce back to reclaim control? For the Flyers Game, 2 could be a (very painful) blessing in disguise. There aren’t many times in the playoffs when a team can be beaten 5-0 and still have the opportunity to look at it as a “teaching moment”.

In conclusion, let’s hope that the Flyers win because if they don’t, then we are stuck with the 76ers and Phillies. Trust me, I’m not prepared to go into another Brett Brown post-season, or forced to witness continuous bullpen explosions without some good news.

We Are the #1 Seed Baby!

I knew this day would come. I’ve been calling it from the start, this year is our year. We have not won the Stanley Cup yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate because WE ARE THE NUMBER 1 SEED BABY!

The Flyers have just beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning, with the score being 4-1. This was a surprising victory for me, but I knew we had what it took.

I will now start explaining to you how we won, period by period.

FIRST PERIOD:

The Flyers started off the first period hot. We came out with all of the energy and took an early 2-0 lead. These two goals came from our right-winger, NAK (Nicolas Aube-Kubel). Kubel was our best performing player for us today while earning the 1st of the three starts, given out at the end of the game. We were deadly from the start!

SECOND PERIOD:

In the second period, the Lightning said they haven’t given up, just what I expected. With 5 minutes into the second period, lightning center, Tyler Johnson came down and scored for the Lightning. This put the Lightning back in the game and stopped the Flyers’ momentum. This wouldn’t be for long. With 6 minutes left in the second period, Joel Farabee scored a beautiful goal, to give us a 3-1 lead. Farabee seems to be a nice replacement for Micheal Raffl, and i hope he can keep this up. This would be all of the scorings in the second period.

THIRD PERIOD:

The third period was pretty simple for the Flyers. We had two jobs, waste time, and don’t allow any goals. We did just this while scoring an additional empty-net goal. This goal was scored by right-winger, Tyler Pitlick with only about 2 minutes left in the game.

With 2 very anxious minutes left in this important game, the buzzer sounded, and my smile began to brighten. The game was finally over and we officially clinched the #1 seed. If you told me to, I could not explain my happiness. After the game, I almost cried tears of joy. I even played the song “We Are the Champions.” I might be overreacting a lot, but our franchise has accomplished a very hard thing to do. We are not champions yet, but the Flyers have showed what I’ve been saying this whole season. We are the BEST team in the NHL!

Next Year is Our Year

“There’s always next year,” a saying people often say when their teams get eliminated from or don’t make the playoffs. This is not the current situation with the Flyers, as I speak, but that doesn’t stop me from talking about why I think the Flyers will win the Stanley Cup next year.

The Flyers will win the Stanley Cup for many reasons. One is the return of forward, Oskar Lindblom. Lindblom was having an all-star caliber year, before finding out that he had cancer. With him back, it will add another point scorer to our team and will make us deadlier and harder to stop. Also, the return of Lindblom will help us in a great way defensively, which will make our opponents have a lesser chance to score on us. Lastly, Lindblom gives a 100% effort while on the ice and is trusted by his teammates to capitalize on his goal-scoring opportunities.

The off-season is another reason for my point. The off-season will have a huge impact on our Stanley Cup chances. The off-season comes with the NHL Draft. In the draft, we could draft a star defenseman that will fill our team needs. This defenseman will make our team much better and eliminate some of our weak spots. Aside from the NHL Draft, there’s also Free Agency. Free Agency will be quite important to us because we could sign multiple players that will support the team. Free Agency will also make our team more powerful.

The final reason is progression. The Flyers have many young, star players with a ton of potential. These players will going to get better and better every year. For example, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Carter Hart, Oskar Lindblom, Nolan Patrick, Scott Laughton, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Travis Sanheim, and Phillippe Myers, are all young players with a bright future. This will help the team by making us have a greater amount of firepower and be more feared.

Next year is our year. You can’t take that away from us!

What Will Winning A Championship During A Pandemic Look Like?

Today sports return to Philadelphia (sorry Union). The Philadelphia Phillies are set to play a regular-season MLB game for the first time since September of last year, the Philadelphia 76ers have an exhibition game against the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Flyers are just around the corner. With the start of sports getting back to play, so come the high expectations that are placed on these teams. With the 76ers, they are hoping to turn around a mediocre regular season performance, the Flyers are looking to keep their hot pace going, and of course, the Phillies are expected to make the playoffs with the new 16 team format. 

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Very possibly, Philadelphia could have all four major sports teams play a playoff game in the calendar year. Which is pretty impressive because it’s only happened four times since all four teams have been playing. The latest time was back in 2011 (2009,1981,1978 where the other years for those interested) when the Phillies lost to the Cardinals in the NL Division Series, the 76ers lost to the Heat, the Eagles lost Green Bay, and the Flyers fell to the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup. So if you have a basic understanding of how math works, the more teams in the playoffs mean the likely chance that one of those teams can win the championship. So with that knowledge, it made me ponder what does a championship look like during a pandemic?

A lot of the joy that comes from watching your team winning a championship is celebrating with other fans, and joining together to celebrate. Although, considering that the MLB world series concludes at the end of October, and both the NBA and NHL championships before that, what will that mean for a parade? For fans, the parade is the crown of winning the championship (a close second is being able to brag to your friends that support other teams that they suck). Of course, we have no idea what the coronavirus’s impact could be at that time, but with Philadelphia officials already banning fans from the Eagles stadium for the upcoming season, it feels unlikely that a parade could work. With that out of the picture, how can fans express their joy? One big Zoom call? 

I understand I’m getting ahead of myself, and just as easily as these teams can make the playoffs, all of them could be swept out of the first round. Although, strangely it feels exactly what a Philadelphia sports team would do. The one year when fans can’t attend, they go on and win a championship. 

Continuing the idea of what the fan experience would be, I don’t know how much more changes past not having a parade. Of course, I’m not oblivious to some of the fans that will argue “It’s my American right to stand inches away from strangers, in cold weather, while I only get a glimpse of the team”. Parade or not, I think fans will still have the same communal experience as they can throw it in the faces of the losing team online. I’m sure the championship memorabilia will still come (although delayed because come on it’s a pandemic, cut some slack!) and you can wear it next season when hopefully fans can enter the stadiums once again. 

In terms of the value that the championship will have, shouldn’t change. Now I’m fully prepared to make the opposite argument if the Mets, Yankees, Penguins, or any team from Boston wins. With the setup of the season for baseball, it’s simply just more meaningful games. The NBA and NHL will have slightly different setups but will still have the same elements of a normal post-season. Again, this season will always have an asterisk next to it, but so do dozens of other championships that fans don’t remember. All that matters is that the team that wins, won. 

“Now I’m fully prepared to make the opposite argument if the Mets, Yankees, Penguins, or any team from Boston wins.”

Lastly, if you haven’t been paying attention (which I don’t blame you), please take this last advice, look at Liverpool. Yes, the soccer team from England. Liverpool recently won the Premier League, and this was the club’s first title in 30 years. Just like Philadelphia sports fans, their first instinct when their team won is to celebrate with other fans. Fans were gathering around the Mersey Ferry terminal, which resulted in their mayor Joe Anderson asking fans to go back home. Now, I think you know what happens next. Until that point, the Liverpool area totaled 544 coronavirus deaths, on June 25th that number jumped to 1,677. Since then, of course, fans have stayed home, but the impact was done. I understand just like you, that if one of our teams won a championship it would be very disappointing not to celebrate with all of our other fans to rejoice in victory. Again, this all may mean nothing for Philadelphia fans but someone team will win, and we must understand the importance of keeping people safe. 

Why The Flyers Will Go 2-1 In The East Qualifying Round Robin Games

The Philadelphia Flyers will be playing 3 games against 3 different teams on August 2nd, 6th, and 8th, in order to find out playoff seedings. We will be playing the Boston Bruins on the 2nd, Washington Capitals on the 6th, and Tampa Bay Lightning on the 8th. I believe that the Flyers will go 2-1 in these 3 games. Let me tell you why I think we will win game 1 against the Boston Bruins.

I think we will beat the Boston Bruins, with the score being 4-3 while ending in an overtime goal. I think we will win this because the Flyers always have good and close games against the Bruins and we’ve beaten this team in the regular season before. Also, the Flyers and the Bruins have a great rivalry so I believe that the Flyers will give it all they got to win this game. Another reason is that Tuukka Rask is known for choking in the playoffs so I believe we will be able to get some goals past him and stick in this game. Lastly, the Flyers are a hot and contending team going into the playoffs, so I think they will be motivated to win this game. Now, I will move onto why we will beat the Washington Capitals.

I feel like we will easily beat the Capitals, with the score being 5-1. I feel this because in the regular season we’ve blown out the Capitals twice, with the scores being 7-2 and 5-2. I think we will also blow them out in this game because we have their number and I think we could easily intimidate them. Another reason is that Braeden Holtby is starting to lose some of his talents so I believe that we can easily get some early goals on him. Lastly, we always do good against the Capitals and don’t seem to have any weaknesses, while playing against them. I will now tell you why we will lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In my opinion, I feel that we will lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning with the score being 3-2. I think this will be a very close game and go down to the wire, but I think the Lighting will pull away with this game. I think this because the Lightning has had our number for years now and always find a way to intimidate us and take the game away from us. Also, the lightning having better players than us in almost every position and have multiple players who are/were the best at their position. Additionally, the Lightning really wants the Stanley Cup bad, since they’ve gotten upset the last couple times they have made the playoffs. Lastly, I think the Flyers have a way better chance to beat the Bruins than the Lighting.

As you can see, this is why I think the Flyers will go 2-1 in the “East qualifying round robin,” games. I hope you enjoyed!

What’s going on around the Flyers training camp?

As we now know, hockey is back! To kick off the start of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Flyers will play the Boston Bruins on August 2nd to begin the round robin. But before we get to the round robin, all teams participating will start their training camps. The Flyers started their camp only about a week ago and there’s a lot to report. So without further ado, here’s what’s going on around the camp.

Who’s doing well?

A couple names can make the list of who’s doing well and some are a little surprising. To start it off, rookie Joel Farabee is reported to be having a pretty good camp as of late. He’s on a line playing left wing with other forwards, Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny. It would be awesome to see him perform well as this is his first ever playoff appearance. Another more surprising name on the success list is defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. Assistant coach Mike Yeo is quoted saying, “He looks really good to me right now. His competitive level is very, very high.” Ghost is on a pairing with recently extended D-man Mark Friedman who was extended for another two years in the Flyers organization. These players would be exciting to see succeed and we hope we can add more guys to the success list in the future.

Other buzz

Some other news around camp is about forward Jake Voracek. Recently Voracek was deemed “unable to participate” which could mean a lot of things. Thankfully he was cleared to practice and was seen in scrimmages lately. In other unrelated Voracek news, players such as Carter Hart and Nicolas Aube-Kubel are looking forward to their first playoff appearances. Hart went on record saying “I’ve been waiting for this for my whole life,” in regards to the playoffs.

This year’s playoffs will certainly be one to remember as the format is a little crazy. But it will be fun to watch and exciting to see what this group can do and how they will succeed in the future. It all starts with this training camp though and hopefully this is only the start to a Stanley Cup playoff run for the Flyers.

What does a 24 team playoff mean for the Flyers?

The NHLPA approved the NHL’s plan for a 24 team playoff yesterday, May 22nd. This means we have hockey coming! And this also means that the top four teams from each conference would get a bye in the first round and play the winner from the series of the five through twelve seed winners. Not much would change here for they are one of the four teams that would get a first round bye. But what about the new playoff format could affect the Flyers journey for the cup?

Well as stated before, not much changes. If the current standings are in place for the playoffs then they would play the winner of a Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins 5 game series. Before the 24 team playoff format, the Flyers would have played the Penguins in the first round anyway. Obviously, the Canadiens are an underdog in the series but it would be interesting to see if they really want to stick around in the playoffs. Not to mention the Penguins have been really shaky right before the season stopped. This could also be a good thing for the Flyers because a first round bye could help them game plan and practice better and bring their A game for the second round. A first round bye may be just what the Flyers need to get back into the same groove they were in before the stoppage.

The Flyers were very hot when the season stopped, which is unfortunate because they were looking like they could make a deep run in the playoffs. But now with the season said to continue, a first round bye could go a long way for the Flyers and success in the playoffs. With the 24 team playoffs apparently becoming a thing, it could be exactly what the Flyers needed in order to bring the cup back to Philly.