Thursday night was quite a fright… if you were a Blues fan that is! Halloween night I attended my second game of the season and got to watch the Flyers make their moms proud once more! The Flyers would beat the Blues by a score of 2-1 improving to an undefeated 2 games in a row under their mom’s supervision. Last night was game 1 of my group’s 12 game ticket package for the season and it surely did not disappoint! After each game attended I plan to share my thoughts from the crowd as there is truly no better way to see all the little things unless you’re fortunate enough to be there. Most weekday games you’re bound to have lower attendance but trick or treaters added to that heavily, that didn’t stop the crowd from having a great time though.
Going into this game the Flyers were coming off an impressive win against the struggling Boston Bruins, a feat very few saw coming. With a season high 30 blocked shots the Flyers were able to stifle just about anything the Bruins could do while allowing Sam Ersson to do his thing en route to completing the shutout. The storyline coming into this game was that it appeared the Flyers lines were starting to settle in and despite losing Cam York to injury the team looked to be building chemistry. There would be no changes to the line up that was ran against Boston heading into puck drop against St. Louis. The Blue had just recently suffered a few embarrassing losses in a row and were looking to get back on track against Philadelphia.
1st Period- For the Flyers there has been a trend for this team offensively to play very sloppy somewhat forced hockey at times. The forecheck disappears for large parts of the game, while the turnovers pile up. Lots of odd timed ill advised passes followed by a failure to generate an actual shot attempt. For a large part of the season thus far this has been their way. The team has needed to figure out how to simplify their game and do what they can do at a high level. It’s been reassuring to see that at least on the defensive side of the puck, there has been a return to form from last year. The Flyers defense has looked solid despite the absence of Cam York, Nick Seeler just has such a way of calming things down and commanding more from his line mates out there. While we sat and watched the boys try to figure things out, I noticed 1 player parked on the bench. Shortly after a bad turnover from Michkov resulted in a scoring chance for the Blues, head coach John Tortorella sat him down and him ride the bench for awhile. From where we sat I did catch a bit of Torts’ quite animated trying to convey his displeasure. Samuel Errsson would hold things down and play would continue. I later came to find on Twitter that Michkov sat with Rocky Thompson for a bit with the ipad and this would be a learning moment for the kid, he is only 19 after all.
During 2 minutes of sustained pressure from the Blues, 3 different Flyers failed miserably to get the puck out of the zone past the blue line. The ensuing play from the Blues would leave Nick Seeler in the way of a blast that would drop him to the ice for a few seconds. Nick blocked a shot and took a bit to get to the bench, thankfully his teammates were finally able to clear the zone and get a line change. Soon as he got to the bench we could see Nick losing his shit very clearly laying into the team about the missed clears. The man lives to block shots for his team, but this was a bad one that was entirely avoidable if the guys could lift the puck out of the zone. Not long after this gunshot blast hit Seeler, the Flyers would finally break the scoring drought. None other that Ryan Poehling would dance his way in through 3 Blues defenders by himself sliding a pass over to Garnet Hathaway for the easy tap in. Flyers would take a 1 goal lead from that beautiful play and hold onto it for dear life.
2nd Period- Aside from more of the Flyers slow boring stifling play to keep things quiet there really wasn’t too much going on in the second period. More of the ugly failed passes would continue with just as many failed zone entries. It just felt like the offense was trying so hard to force themselves into plays instead of letting the game flow and naturally create chances. The penalty kill would be tested twice in the second period, and they looked just as sharp as ever. The Flyers currently have the 5th ranked penalty kill in the league and it was on point tonight. Blues took 1 penalty in the first and another here in the second period. The Flyers were able to at least get set up after a ton of time playing keep away. There were very few chances as the shoot the puck boo birds would rain down, I took it as a minor positive they were able to at least get set up and attempt some sustained pressure for once. Still, it’s never a good feeling knowing the team is a constant scoring threat while shorthanded but couldn’t buy a goal with a man advantage unless your name is Matvei Michkov. The second period would end with a series of attempts from the Blues in the final seconds. Ersson would stand tall and take his shutout bid into the third, but it looked really close there for the last minute of the period.
3rd Period- Third period begins and the Flyers are back to it, it seemed like they were slowly but surely draining the light from the Blues eyes with each blocked shot or broken up play. Ersson had been stellar up to this point despite not having to face very many shots at all. Halfway through the Third the Flyers found themselves hemmed in their own zone again. Quite a few times in this game they just could not get the puck out, every attempt was knocked down or kept in and the Blues were just relentless. The Blues looked like they were just a juicy rebound away from getting themselves back into this game the whole night, and they would get one here. After a poor attempt of a clear the Blues would get a bank pass through to themselves off the boards and fire a low angled shot, the rebound would kick right out to Nathan Walker with a wide open net to tie the game. Credit where it’s due, the Flyers would not buckle from this and set right back to work. As time was ticking down later in the third their patience would be rewarded. A broken play by the Blues would lead to an ugly turnover springing the Flyers the other way. I nearly couldn’t believe it as I watched Farabee and Brink CONVERT on a 2 on1 odd man rush PERFECTLY to take the lead. I have seen attempt after attempt to do something of this nature so far this season albeit a small sample size to no success. Especially the last few games prior to this one the offense just seemed so out of sync unable to catch up to that last pass needed to score. Bobby Brink would convert perfectly tipping in Farabee’s pass scoring what would become the game winning goal.
In summary of tonight’s game I made some real observations about a few players that I wanted to add. It was extremely bothersome to watch Owen Tippett and Jamie Drysdale during this game. The two of them for very different reasons just couldn’t really put much together at all out there. Tippett continues his struggles of even hitting the net in this game, he had 2 chances to generate some offense and missed the net entirely. At this point it has to be entirely mental for him overly gripping the stick or something, that or the man needs to get new contacts. It’s getting to be really brutal to watch the young star go out there on that new contract and do next to nothing besides skate really fast. In the third period I did see him start leaning into finishing body checks more to at least add something of value to the team.
Jamie often times looked like a lost lamb out there tonight, we saw Seeler and Ersson bail him out a few times on some plays. I have no doubts he will continue to develop and become a real solid top 4 defenseman for us someday, but as of now it’s been rough. I think Jamie will piece it together, but so far he is still very much a work in progress as they de-program the Ducks trash hockey out of him. I’m also really starting to question why he remains on PP1 with the first unit instead of Ristolainen or Sanheim. Aside from his skating ability he seems to lack offensive awareness and doesn’t particularly have a booming shot for the power play.
Speaking of those two, I wanted to highlight just how good a game Ristolainen and Sanheim had out there. With Cam York’s injury it’s been noticeable just how good Risto has been. I had that down on my season preview notes that I felt a healthy Ristolainen under Torts/Shaw was really something prior to his injuries last year. Fully healthy he has been outstanding to watch. He settles things down, jumps up into the play to generate some offense quite a bit these days, while never being afraid to deliver some crushing hits in the defensive zone. Sanheim continues to stay hot, he singlehandedly stifled a few odd rushes from the Blues in this game. Sanheim seems to be playing at the top of his game with such confidence in what he brings each night, it’s been great to see him take yet another step. Lastly, I wanted to add how great Emil Andre was tonight that young man really blew me away. He plays with such energy out there, with a confidence that’s noticeable. I truly believe once Cam York is healthy again Andre will not be coming out of the lineup. I was very impressed with his poise holding the puck in a few dangerous areas before springing a nice pass forward. That spot on PP2 looks great on him, and as he continues to improve it would not surprise me to see Andre take over PP1 as the quarterback.
Give Sam Ersson his flowers once more, the guy is truly a fantastic goalie and it’s been such a relief knowing he is back there. Given the wild circumstances that took place last year, a healthy Ersson not beat into the ground with starts is a beautiful thing to watch. It’s even more promising as the defense works at improving in front of him. Saturday at 1 pm there’s a chance Ersson takes his shutout streak against Boston back on the ice, I wouldn’t be shocked if Kolosov plays though given the short rest.
I will be back on Monday the 11th as the San Jose Sharks come to town against the Flyers. Will Smith and hopefully a healthy Macklin Celebrini will be on the ice against Michkov. I look forward to seeing the young stars in person, always cool to see the up and coming players around the league. Give the teams they’ve been able to beat lately it should be an easier win for the team, but as you know anything can happen any given night. Stay tuned for the next one, game 3/13 for me this season!
Written By Anthony Spotts (@SpottsonGoal)
photo credit: Getty Images
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