It appears the Flyers losing trend will continue, despite a coaching change and a more responsible defensive scheme.
After securing their first win of the season after three consecutive losses to open it, the Flyers luck took a turn for the worse in multiple ways during a 2-1 loss to the visiting Phoenix Coyotes. Goalie Thomas Greiss, filling in for starting goalie Mike Smith, made a slew of impressive saves, echoing how Leafs tender Jonathan Bernier played against them in the season opener. Steve Mason held his own in Philly’s net, proving critics wrong once more, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the myriad of boneheaded penalties the Flyers committed, and one of those mistakes was the difference in this matchup. The culprit this time around was hothead forward Zac Rinaldo, who experienced the highest and the lowest of moments all in one contest. After a sweet pressure play that led to linemate Max Talbot’s game tying goal. he committed the penalty that helped the Yotes re-establish the lead.
The Rinaldo giveth, and the Rinaldo taketh away.
Some other familiar faces were present when it boiled to the bad play, Luke Schenn was again in Mason’s way during the second Phoenix goal, and Andrej Meszaros….where does anyone begin with this guy’s thought process. Unless the answer is “How can I possibly not justify the crazy amount of money Paul Holmgren threw at me?”, then I can’t tell you what goes on in Mez’s brain. Even more bizarre is the fact that the Flyers paid big money on puck mover Mark Streit, yet he finds himself paired with this goof, instead of aged, not aging, Kimmo Timonen, whose salary is mind blowing considering how badly he has played in turn. Streit should be on the first pairing with Luke Schenn, and that is that.
The injury bug also struck early with one third of the Flyers top six forward unit leaving the game, and creating a void they never overcame. To make matters worse, both players, Scott Hartnell and Vincent Lecavalier, will miss at least a week. Read that correctly. At least a week. This doesn’t mean that when seven days are over, both will be magically healed and ready to rumble. It’s a bummer to see Vincent out since he was one of the few players with points on the season, and was most definitely asserting himself as a leader on and off the ice with this young crew. Paul Holmgren was forced to call up two promising young forwards in Michael Raffl and Tye McGinn today. I’m excited about McGinn’s return, he plays with fire, goes to the front of the net, and works tirelessly. Raffl provides interesting options, both with how he fits in the NHL, and if he’ll generate trade value.
I don’t believe the issue is with scoring, but rather the puck bouncing in the right direction for the Flyers. There were a bunch of opportunities, and they keep increasing with each game, the puck just hasn’t gone in as hoped. This will change, it usually does, and no one in their right mind should forecast an 82 game slump. The complaint is over judging the talent among the forwards, but they’re still young. The problem is a combination of horrific defense and plain old bad luck. I would suggest to Holmgren to get on the horn, use the Raffl and McGinn call ups to use as a public evaluation, and trade for a big time defender. This club needs an all around dman badly, not a big body, or just a puck mover. They need a Shea Weber, or a Drew Doughty, a true presence this club has missed since the loss of, well, you know who.
Paul Holmgren would serve himself well to fix his blue line issues, or sooner than later Snider will leave that task up to Assistant G.M. Ron Hextall.
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