Welcome to the Flyers roller coaster, ladies and gents.
Since getting their brains beaten in by a superior Boston Bruins squad last Saturday, the Flyers managed an up and down three game stretch that displayed a myriad of positives as well as a host of opportunities. The Flyers had a pleasant reprieve on Sunday, playing host to a swarm of Flyers fans who came out to show their love and collect autographs from the players at the Flyers Wives Charities Carnival. I managed to meet a slew of Flyers and it was good to see them in jovial spirits given the previous nights game results.
During the course of that afternoon, there were some common themes spoken about from the players during interviews. Mostly they fell along the lines of players staying within their roles, and not overreaching, simply because they were trying to do too much and in effect they would take themselves out of plays. This may have had something to do with the defense jumping up a little too often on the rush, and not really being there for their goalies when the odd man rush against them would develop as a result.
They would get their first test of this refocus on Tuesday evening against the Detroit Red Wings, a depleted version of them anyway. Facing a team without its starting goaltender, top two scorers and their best power forward should have been a cakewalk, but also easily falls into trap game territory as well.
Thankfully the Flyers went with the former, trouncing the visiting Wings by a score of 5-0, with goalie Steve Mason being rewarded with a shut out for his efforts in between the pipes. So far, so good as they say.
With that being a good start to the week, the Flyers began their venture to California for a three game road trip against the league’s top team, the Anaheim Ducks, a team that is currently scuffling in the Los Angeles Kings, and they have yet to face the San Jose Sharks, another Jeckyl & Hyde squad that is among the league’s most dangerous when they’re on.
Thursday night brought forth the Ducks.
Watching this game on replay, it was impressive to notice the Flyers fighting all the way up to the end of the game, despite being outmatched and outscored. It was akin to watching a loser fighter just try to dole out damage to his opponent regardless of his eventual demise. There is no doubt that as of right now, the Ducks are the team to beat in the NHL, with superior goaltending, and scoring from every line, the only way this club gets beaten is if they choose to allow it. The silver lining in this loss was the fact that the Flyers hung three goals on the Ducks, a pleasant show of toughness and lack of quit in the club.
Having gone 1-1 during the week to date, that brings us to yesterday’s afternoon affair with the Kings. The obvious storyline of course was the Flyers facing former franchise faces Mike Richards & Jeff Carter, the two players who were shipped away in separate trades on the same day that helped to shape the current Flyers roster immensely. The duo would go on to win a Stanley Cup with the Kings, and that will always be the bane of Flyers fans, for this is nothing new. We have heard countless times by now the “former Flyer wins the Cup” line, and truthfully it is a dig of sorts, and hurts a bit.
Looking at the team now though, it honestly feels worth it. The club oozes with quality youth, and the haul from the Carter and Richards trades in hindsight was quite good. It even showed when Wayne Simmonds, the “throw in” player in the Richards trade, scored in this game, his 100th career goal. Simmonds was a third line enforcer with the Kings, but since joining the Flyers has been allowed to work on his offensive skills, and he has become a pretty dangerous power play banger for the team. Brayden Schenn was really the reason the Flyers traded in the first place, and has started to realize his own potential, but for now Simmonds has been the valued player in the deal.
Steve Mason continued with his up and down week by landing yet another shut out, and the Flyers held the Kings in check despite being out shot, out hit, and pinned down for long stretches. The Kings continue to struggle even thought statistically they did all the right things, and that seems to be par for the course for L.A. The Flyers can sympathize for that is how the last couple of weeks have been for them, but when it comes to wins and losses, there is no middle ground.
With two games of the road trip down and even if the record is 1-1, the Flyers look promising. There is no debating that watching this club will be mostly witnessing growing pains as the club comes into its own, but a team with two Cups went down a similar path in the Chicago Blackhawks, and that worked out alright for them. They took their key forward lot placed some solid defense behind them, and are a perennial favorite. If the Flyers get that blueline help, they will be travelling in the right direction, even if things don’t look so Cup worthy right now. The most important part for Flyers fans to understand is being patient, for the payoff potential looks tremendous, if only a year or two from now.
*Photos courtesy of NHL.com
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
