The first week of the regular season is in the books and the Philadelphia Flyers enter the second week with a 1-1-0 record after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets in the opener and then falling flat in Ottawa a couple days later. They are set to welcome the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday and Thursday before heading south to Dallas on Saturday.
It was a bag of mixed tricks with an all-round showing in their first game of the season against Columbus compared to their sluggish affair in Ottawa. At one point in the second period, the Flyers hadn’t recorded a shot on goal in nearly 15 minutes and entered the second intermission with 9 shots in total.
Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson looked good in their first bit of action in 550+ days, Travis Konecny hasn’t missed a beat from his career-season in 2022-23, Bobby Brink had a great season debut, and Travis Sanheim and Cam York have steadily improved. On the flip side, Marc Staal looked lost at times, out of position, and even outmuscled, Carter Hart played well but his rebound control was lacking, and the special teams were not off to the best of starts.
Nevertheless, it was a positive step in the right direction because they still competed from start to finish and never relented. Overall they played a really solid game in Columbus and even though it wasn’t the best outing in Ottawa, they were still in the game through 40 minutes.
The Good:
Sean Couturier recorded his first point since the 18th of December in 2021 – his last game before this season – after his nice give-and-go with Joel Farabee only 3:33 into the first game against Columbus. He played 20:39 TOI, won 11 of his 20 draws, blocked a shot, was plus-3, and he played in all situations.
Against Ottawa, it was more of the same as he played 20:00, won 11 of his 22 draws, had 2 hits, a shot, and an even-rating. Through 2 games he has played 9.3 minutes of power play time and 5.1 minutes while shorthanded. He also has a 2:1 takeaway to giveaway ratio.
Cam Atkinson recorded his first point since March 27th in 2022 when he outraced Ivan Provorov for a loose puck and slammed home the empty-netter, which turned out to be the game-winning goal after Columbus scored shortly afterwards. He skated 16:11 TOI, had 3 shots on goal, and was an even-rating.
In his second game against Ottawa he went without a point, fired 2 shots on goal, and skated 16:57 TOI. Similarly to Couturier, Atkinson played in all situations as he was out there for 5.3 minutes shorthanded and 8.3 minutes while on the man advantage.
Travis Konecny was back to his old tricks, being the most noticeable and impactful forward on the club. With reinforcements returning to the lineup, his ice-time will definitely drop a little from his career-best 20:07 that he received last season – which was 2:30 more per game compared to 2021-22, which was a career-high then as well.
Konecny scored 2 goals in the season opener against Columbus, his first coming on a nifty move in tight after Scott Laughton put on the brakes in the offensive zone to set him up. He then scored the 4th and final goal in the game with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock into the empty net. He was a plus-2, skated 16:56 TOI, had a hit, and fired 5 shots on goal.
The next game he scored a goal and recorded an assist, finished as a minus-1, skated 16:29 TOI, and had 2 shots on goal. He scored the Flyers’ first goal of the game on the power play and then assisted on Cam York’s late 2nd period tally with a great outlet feed. He played in 9.3 minutes on the man advantage but only 1.9 minutes while shorthanded as Couturier and Atkinson have taken their rightful spots back.
The pairing of Travis Sanheim and Cam York had a relatively successful weekend with just a few blips on the road. Sanheim of course will be remembered for his giveaway to Claude Giroux that led to the back-breaking goal with only a few seconds remaining in the second period, but he’s seen the ice a lot and has looked a lot better than his 2022-23 self.
Sanheim saw 26:17 TOI against the Blue Jackets and then 23:58 against the Senators, recording an assist in both contests. He has recorded 6 PIM, has an even-rating, and 3 shots on goal with 3 blocked shots. For York, he saw 22:31 TOI on Thursday and then 21:11 on Saturday, scored a goal off the rush in Ottawa, is also an even rating, and has 6 shots on goal with 2 blocked shots.
Sanheim has seen 7.3 minutes while shorthanded compared to his 5.8 minutes on the man advantage, while York has seen 9.4 minutes on the power play as he quarterbacks the top unit and 2 minutes while shorthanded. With Rasmus Ristolainen on IR to start the season, the duo have done a good job taking on the bulk of the minutes and situations. It’s also a very good sign to see a head coach utilizing Sanheim on the man advantage after years of Ivan Provorov’s miscues at the point.
The Bad:
Special teams seem to be a consistent problem for the Philadelphia Flyers and it has shown up in droves to start the season. The man advantage is 1-9 to start the year and their penalty kill is 6 for 9.
I would like to give credit where credit it due because for once the Flyers penalty kill is aggressive. It has been years since we’ve seen the penalty killers attack the puck carrier, force passes, and try to jump start offensively. We used to see a lot of sitting back, forming a small box around the goaltender to try and block shots – which always ended up screening the goalies – and letting the star players on the opposition set up with ease and pass-pass-pass before finding the perfect shot.
The Flyers killed off all 4 penalties against Columbus as the aggressiveness worked in their favour. While on the other hand, they went 2-5 against Ottawa, allowing power play goals from Jakob Chychrun, Jake Sanderson, and Brady Tkachuk.
The Flyers failed to clear the puck with 28 seconds remaining, which allowed the Senators to regroup with Chychrun firing a one-timer past Hart – who seemed befuddled by the height of the slap-shot. Sanderson’s tally came early in the man advantage after he finished off a one-timer from the point with Hart screened. On Tkachuk’s second tally, the Flyers sat back on the 4-on-3 and Marc Staal was completely out of position as he left Tkachuk all alone in front of Hart.
These are all issues that can be fixed, but it was somewhat disappointing after such a good start in Columbus.
The power play was back to its old ways as their pass-pass-pass strategy led to very little opportunities, let alone actual shots on goal. They’ve tried a new strategy, at least on the 5-on-3 advantage with 2 players below the goal-line and lots of movement from the back-end. Unfortunately, it seemed a little sloppy and their constant passing not only wasted time off the clock but led to very little opportunities on the scoreboard.
Tyson Foerster seemed a little out of position but considering it was his first game, it’s somewhat understandable. However the Flyers have to stop being so patient and fire shots towards the net. They held off so many times even while on even strength in the Ottawa game, and more times than not, they didn’t even muster a shot on goal.
The “Meh”:
Carter Hart had a fantastic season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets as he stopped 31 of 33 shots thrown his way, including several ten-bell stops early in the first period when the Blue Jackets were storming. His performance against Ottawa was a little bit mixed as he was forced to make stops on dangerous opportunities all game, but his rebound control was all over the map, allowing juicy rebounds right in front of his blue paint to suspecting Ottawa Senators. His rebound control was also an issue in Columbus but not as much as it was in Ottawa on Saturday.
He was screened on a few goals, Chychrun’s blast on the power play beat him over his head, and Tkachuk’s backbreaker with time winding down in the 2nd period caught him off guard. Claude Giroux stripped Travis Sanheim before finding Tkachuk for a one-timer in the slot that beat Hart low-glove side. It was one of those goals where you’d believe Hart should’ve had it, but it was also a seed from Tkachuk that found the back of the net. With a tough slate of games upcoming, the Flyers are going to need their number one goalie to keep them in tight as they have the high-flying Vancouver Canucks, the loaded Edmonton Oilers. and the dangerous Dallas Stars on the docket.
Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett haven’t had the greatest of starts as their performances have been outshined by the likes of Couturier, Atkinson, and Konecny. For the Flyers to succeed this season, especially offensively, they are going to need primary/secondary scoring from the likes of Frost and Tippett.
At times they were invisible and if you told me that neither of them dressed for those particular games, I wouldn’t have doubted you. Frost has averaged 13:58 TOI while Tippett is slightly above at 14:52, and they both have 3 shots on goal and are both minus-1 on the season. Frost has played 4 minutes on the man advantage, while Tippett has seen 5.9 minutes – mostly with the top unit – but they haven’t been aggressive, which might have something to do with a more balanced lineup in front of them.
Last year they probably felt they needed to carry the burden with a lineup bereft of talent but now with new line-mates, different situations, and John Tortorella basing ATOI on players who have shown up so far, it’s not a surprise that Frost and Tippett have had slow starts. If the Flyers are going to try and tackle the Canucks, Oilers, and Stars with Vegas and Minnesota on the horizon, look for both youngsters to step up offensively and bring balance to this lineup.
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