Well that was most certainly quick, wasn’t it?
Peter Laviolette lost his job after a mere three games, the hot seat finally igniting.
After a tired performance in which the ice looked tilted in the Carolina Hurricanes favor for virtually the entire game, the Flyers were sent packing with a 2-1 loss, and a mortifying 0-3 start to the 2013-14 NHL season. The Canes had their way with the puck and controlled the neutral zone for most of the matchup, allowing the Flyers little or no opportunity to develop any offensive pressure, an all too common thread so far this year. The Flyers finally got their first even strength goal this season, so there’s that. Goaltending was once again the highlight for the Flyers, seeing as this game could’ve been 4-1 or worse given the play around Mason.
This club hardly looks like a contender,and because of that head coach Peter Laviolette was dismissed earlier today, to be replaced by Assistant Coach Craig Berube, which can be read about in an article here on TSL by fellow Flyers writer Nick Bramante. This is a team effort, and through the first three games, especially in this one, the only players who seemed to be truly consistent were the two guys who count on the rest of the club to provide some defensive cushion, protect them, and enable them to make the best saves possible against the opposing teams shots. The goalies have had little to no support, and it really was on display in this contest, where Steve Mason managed to stop a slew of pucks hurled at him, only to be let down by defenseman Luke Schenn who made an erroneous, ill fated puck clearing attempt through the middle of the defensive zone right onto the stick of Hurricane Radek Dvorak, who promptly cashed in on his good fortune on an unaware Mason.
When looking at the final stats, and discounting that Schenn gaffe, Mason went on to stop 32 of the other 33 shots he faced, which should have been more than enough to keep a supposedly high powered Flyers offense comfortable and in the game. The misinformed speculation that the Mason/Emery tandem just isn’t that good are incredibly overblown when they have been saddled with 1 goal a game support, and poor defensive play from pretty much every pairing placed in front of them. Kimmo Timonen, who was resigned in his final year for a small mountain of cash that perhaps could’ve been used on a younger defenseman, maybe even two, has looked his age. Luke Schenn is to inconsistent to feel that good about, and Braydon Coburn has been invisible. That is probably how Andrej Meszaros wants to feel, considering he’s easily been the worst defenseman of the bunch. Let us not forget the last remaining big money defender, Nick Grossmann, who doesn’t bring much to the table in the first place outside of the overhyped blocked shot statistic. Together, these five gentlemen consume nearly 22 million dollars in payroll, roughly one third of the team’s cap, and the results have been horrendous. This is a team that should’ve beaten the Canes, a projected cellar dweller club, into submission and early at that.
What Flyers fans witnessed instead were the Canes playing keep-a-way with the puck, leaving the Flyers bewildered and off balanced and sloppy and tense when they managed to get possession of it. This isn’t a new fad, it’s been prevalent in every game the Flyers have played, and my hope is with the new coaching change that simply going back to basics will help this team remember its identity: being responsible defensively, and putting pucks on net.
Fingers crossed that fans will see a more determined effort than the previous three when they host the Panthers on Tuesday night, October 8th.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
