The first game at the Wells Fargo Center this year began with a rematch between the Vancouver Canucks and your Philadelphia Flyers. I was lucky enough to continue my annual tradition of attending the home opener again this year, though with not so great results to show for it. A game that began with such promise (and for the first time not at 10 pm) ended before we knew it in dismal failure. The Flyer would fall to the Canucks 3-0 getting shut out at home despite another solid effort from goaltender Samuel Ersson. I was so overwhelmingly excited to get to watch Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchanko play their first games in person. Regardless of the outcome, I’m glad I was there to watch their debut as those two are the future of this team.
I had great seats this year with a great view of not a whole lot speaking honestly. At times it felt the most entertaining part of the game was the event staffer who busted it down to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean on the jumbotron. The best thing to come from this team tonight was the short tribute held in Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau’s honor which should not get lost in the misery that was tonight’s game.
1st Period: The game started off with a little bit of odd line assortments for the first home game. With Nick Seeler out, Eric Johnson stayed in the lineup as he continues to be relied on heavily for some veteran defensive training, more on that later. In his 800th career NHL game, Flyers Captain Sean Couturier was playing left-wing on the fourth line. Sean hasn’t looked particularly good to start the season. I wouldn’t be shocked if fourth line left wing was more of an appeasement in recognition of a milestone game for him and the home opener that your captain should play in.
While the team wasn’t exactly dominating in terms of puck possession, they did have more than a few chances in that period. Every one of them chose to pass way too many times completely negating any scoring chance. For a rush based team, it was oddly uncharacteristic to see them trying to be fancy with so many passes instead of getting pucks on the net. Sitting in the stands hearing the national pastime of shoot the effing puck from Flyers fans is no different from any game you would go to, but this first period was plagued with odd choices. Garnet Hathaway gets clipped towards the end of the first with a stick for a four minute double minor that should’ve been a power-play, but gets a tripping penalty called against him. The Flyers would get a power-play out of it and you guessed it! Do absolutely nothing with it. 
The Flyers were sloppy with several turnovers, looked to be unable to win a single face off, and left goaltender Sam Emerson out to dry. The Canucks would score on a defensive breakdown and take a 1-0 lead into the 2nd. Despite mistakes, Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway at least looked like they were trying to play hockey.
2nd Period: The start of the second we saw an attempt to shake things up as many of the lines started to change, and the Flyers seemed to come out with a little bit of energy. As I suspected it wouldn’t be long until Captain Sean Couturier got moved back to center during some line shuffles. in an attempt to spark any energy for the team Garnet Hathaway continued to push some buttons and find his way to the penalty box. Vancouver would start the second period with a PowerPlay for a roughing penalty called at the end of the first. Any momentum and energy the flyers started to have with the line changes was completely dashed in a matter of minutes as Vancouver would score a second goal during another bad coverage breakdown.
One crucial story of this game and the Flyers entire season last year would bite them in the ass immediately after that goal. The Flyers lose a defensive zone face off draw and Vancouver fires are laser right off the face off that beats Ersson giving Vancouver a three goal lead and a two minute span. For whatever reason, this team has struggled MIGHTILY in the faceoff circle in the Post Giroux era something i’ve spoken about at length. For those curious, they Flyers would end up evening out the faceoff circle winning 29/57 at the end of it all. Jett Luchanko who saw minimal ice time, was 3/5 in the dot. Just sayin.
Third Period: There isn’t much else to say for the third that wasn’t already mentioned of the first two. The crowd grew more and more annoyed as the game went on, and the boo-birds were out in full force. when a team plays from behind, they in theory should naturally start to steadily to maintain puck possession and attempt to get something together. Throughout the first half of the third period there were several almost chances but nothing concrete. anytime they seem to get close things would get sloppy or they just wouldn’t have someone in position to capitalize on a pass or rebound. By the final five minutes 90% of the crowd had already gone to begin the traffic mob and the boos were relentless. The Canucks played a shutdown game entirely, though it did not take them much effort to achieve this at all.
In the end, Kevin Lankinen earned himself a 26-save shutout for the Canucks while they wait for their two primary goalies to come off the injured reserve. Tuesday the Flyers are back at it again against the Washington Capitals, who are off to a pretty hot start. In two days time I don’t expect there to be any magical answers to be found. This team is just still not where they need to be and it shows.
Despite attending one of the worst home games to date of my 28 years of fandom, I don’t want to go all doom and gloom. For whatever reason the Flyers just did not seem like themselves during this game and I know they’re capable of better than that. I keep coming back to how uncharacteristic their play was. They seemed to be allergic to hitting anyone?? They were trying to overcomplicate and fancify their game. This team is at its best when it has a strong forecheck and outworks the opposing team, especially teams that are better than they are on paper. Tonight we saw none of that and hopefully we don’t see a game like this again for quite some time.
I’ll be back for my next post game summary after attending the Halloween game against Brayden Schenn and the St. Louis Blues. Until next time, stay classy Philly.
Written by: Anthony Spotts
photo credit: Getty Images
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