Flyers Recap: Season Starts Off With a Bumpy First Two Games

Image credit: SBNation.com

Well, that could have gone better. Although we are all thrilled with the fact that hockey is back, I’m sure that not everyone was pleased with the results of the back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.

The first game of the season was against the infamous rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, at home at the Wells Fargo Center. In the first period, it was clear that the Penguins were the superior team, as they moved better and faster than the Flyers, and dominated puck possession.

Soon enough, the Penguins capitalized on their superior play and scored from a long blast from Paul Martin off a faceoff that was deflected in front of Ilya Bryzgalov by Tyler Kennedy. Pittsburgh’s second goal was similar to their first, but with James Neal finding twine from a face off right at the top of the left circles past Bryzgalov. The next 40 minutes of the game went a lot better for the flyers, as they started to dominate possession themselves and get opportunities.

Early on in the second, Scott Hartnell launched a beautiful saucer pass from the top of the left circle to the right side of the crease, where the captain, Claude Giroux was waiting to tap the puck under Marc-Andre Fleury and into the goal. 2-1 Penguins. The Flyers would continue to play well through the third, but Chris Kunitz scored an empty net goal in the third period, and the Flyers fell 3-1. Full game highlights can be found here.

The second came right after the first, with the Flyers losing a disappointing game in Buffalo, where they seemingly had to play both the Sabres and the refs. Ruslan Fedetenko had scored early on for the Flyers, but the referee waved the goal off due to “goaltender interference,” which would show to be non-existent upon further review, but the call was not overturned. After goals by Sean Couturier and Giroux, the Flyers found themselves up 2-1 until Buffalo scored two goals on Power Plays to reclaim the lead. Then Cody Hodgson scored after a botched clearance by Jakub Voracek led to the puck sitting in the crease. Shortly afterward, the Flyers scored a goal, but it was also waved off because the referee lost sight of the puck, although it clearly went in. Buffalo also scored an empty netter, but the game should have never gotten to that point. It should have been 4-4, not 5-2. Full game highlights can be found here.

Pros/Cons of the weekend:

Pros:

· Hockey is back

· Claude Giroux continues to be Claude Giroux

· The first PP unit looks great

· Scott Laughton looks solid, but I would play it safe and send him back down to the Juniors after his tryout

· Bryzgalov has been playing great, despite letting in 6 goals

· Luke Schenn has shown flashes of potential

Cons:

· Zac Rinaldo is injured for a week, as is Danny Briere

· Brayden Schenn has been playing poorly

· Second PP unit needs to be shuffled

· PK units need to shape up

Other News and Notes:

Tye McGinn has been called up from Adirondack to replace the injured Zac Rinaldo

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Flyers Recap: Season Starts Off With a Bumpy First Two Games

Jovan Alford

Jovan Alford

Jovan Alford