With the Philadelphia Flyers off until Wednesday and 10 games into the season, they have found themselves in a dog race near the top of the Metropolitan Division. With a 6-2-2 record, not only is it one of their best starts in recent memory, but they’re playing a different brand of hockey that is making us forget about the deplorable 2020-21 season.
The Flyers actually had a better record after 10 games last season, but their 7-3-0 record was hiding their despicable underlying numbers. For example, in both seasons after 7 games, Carter Hart was 2-2-1. However in 2020-21, Hart had a 3.80 GAA and a .869 save percentage. This season, he has carried a 2.79 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
It’s no surprise that Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier lead the team each with 12 points in 10 games. Giroux has scored a point in every game except one and Couturier has 4 multi-point efforts. Cam Atkinson had a stretch of 6 goals in 5 games, Joel Farabee started off the season with 3 multi-point efforts in the first 3 games, and Travis Konecny completes the trio with Giroux and Couturier on the top line and has posted 8 points on the season.
Even though the scoring has dried up after their explosive start, the all-around team performance is solid enough to keep racking up wins. The second line broke out of their slump with a big goal by Derick Brassard on Saturday and the third line has played very well all year long without much recognition on the scoresheet. Their 4.6 goals per game average was always going to be unsustainable, they have several injuries to important offensive players, and it’s only the beginning of the season, but their goaltending has been absolutely stout and been propelling them to several victories.
10 games into the season and Carter Hart has posted a 3-2-2 record with a 2.41 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Even better is backup goalie Martin Jones, who is 3-0-0 with a 1.68 GAA and a .950 save percentage. Jones, whose signing was dealt with a lot of criticism, has been extremely calm in goal and has defeated the Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, and Washington Capitals.
The defense was the most problematic part of the Flyers’ lineup last season. When Matt Niskanen retired, the Flyers didn’t have a plan B and it showed. They replaced him with Erik Gustafsson, who could barely crack the lineup. Alongside Gustafsson, the Flyers had off seasons from Robert Hagg, Shayne Gostisbehere, Phil Myers, Nate Prosser, and to a certain extent Ivan Provorov.
With the additions of Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Keith Yandle, the Flyers’ revamped corp has helped mellow things on the ice and given the goaltenders something to play for. Ristolainen has finally found his groove on the second unit with Travis Sanheim and most importantly for the Flyers, Ivan Provorov looks like the stud defensemen everyone was hoping he would become.
Justin Braun was a consistent force last year and it has continued into 2021-22. With Ryan Ellis mending a mysterious injury for half of the season so far, Braun has stepped up in a massive way by partnering up with Provorov on the top unit. Not only is he tasked to play the big minutes, but he also has 7 points on the season.
The penalty kill has been a lot better as they’ve killed 82.7% of their penalties 10 games into the season. Last season the Flyers finished second to last with a 73.1% success rate. The power play was only slightly better as they middled out with a 19.2% success rate. This year, the man advantage have had their moments as they scored 4 out of 11 attempts in their first 4 games. In their last 5, they’ve been struggling as they’ve only converted twice in their last 16.
The leadership and accountability that was brought in during the off-season has made such a big difference on and off the ice that it has to be mentioned. They’re playing like a cohesive group, they have each other’s backs on the ice, and they won’t be pushed around any longer.
The most recent game against the Washington Capitals is a good example of the changes that have occurred over the off-season. With a late one-goal lead, the 2020-21 Flyers would’ve found a way to blow the lead late and then lose in overtime. However the 2021-22 Flyers are able to lock down their games with good defense and even better goaltending.
The division is tough as they currently sit in third place behind the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers, while the Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, and Pittsburgh Penguins are all above hockey .500 and only 3 points apart.
The schedule only gets tougher this month with big games against opponents like Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning twice, and Carolina Hurricanes twice among others. However, we’ve noticed this year, at least compared to last, that the Flyers can go toe to toe with the best in the NHL and come out on top.
The Flyers have really only slipped once this season when they lost to the Calgary Flames 4-0. It was the third game in four nights on their Western Canadian road trip but they looked sluggish, slow, and looking ready to come back home. The other 9 games, they’ve been in it ‘til the bitter end and have come out on top with a 6-1-2 record.
Alain Vigneault and his coaching staff have turned a new leaf with the locker room as it was noted by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that there was a lot of chaos between coaches and players last year. Cohesiveness, leadership, accountability, and regularity were lacking last year but it’s clear that it’s been at the forefront of this year’s success.
If the Flyers keep getting consistent efforts in goal from Carter Hart and Martin Jones, peppered in with strong performances by Ivan Provorov and his defensive corps, the Flyers offense will eventually break out of their funk and propel them even higher in the standings.
