Game Thread: Game 46 - Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers(1-25-16): 7:00pm EST

[Cobiemonster]

vs.

Game Time: 7:00pm EST
Channel: CSN-PH
Venue: Wells Fargo Center

First Goal Prediction Standings:
flyersfan4706 - 9
Cobiemonster - 3
Maverick426h - 3
lasgop8 - 2
wbon22 - 2
awaz - 2
dspice07 - 1
banditshcky11 - 1
WOOTPOKER - 1
4thstreet - 1
FlyerFinFan - 1
chy1127 - 1
mall3013 - 0
EVille3 - 0
shrike19 - 0

Links:
Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers - 01/25/2016​

 

[awaz]

gimme Voracek tonight.

edit to fit in: Put Weal in.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Wayne Train

 

[flyersfan4706]

Wayne Simmonds.

Put Jordan Weal in.

 

[EVille3]

Schenn

 

[chy1127]

Ghost

 

[lasgop8]

Raffl

Put Weal in !

 

[WOOTPOKER]

Schenn

 

[4thstreet]

Giroux

 

[4thstreet]

here we go again- 2 PP goals against,and we give up 16 damn shots already

Another hill to climb

 

[4thstreet]

4 straight pp's and 1 goal to show for it.
Come on boys.you can do it!

 

[Maverick426h]

It's absolutely amazing. We've blown a two goal lead, erased a two goal deficit and lost twice in the last two minutes of regulation all in just the last three games. No points to show for it when we should've had at least three, but probably more like five.

Just when we think we've found the consistency we're looking for with 11 points in 6 games, we choke away points in 3 straight. So frustrating to watch.

Now we need to beat the team with the best record in the Nhl on Wednesday or we enter the All-Star break in trouble.

So, the Flyers fail to wish me a Happy Birthday with what probably should've been an OT win at worst.

I'm not going to blame officiating for this loss since both teams had equal power play opportunities, but can we please get a couple of referees that call the game consistently throughout the 60-65 minutes?

Can we also be a little more aggressive on the penalty kill? It's getting embarrassing.

 

[Maverick426h]

Furthermore, our penalty killing strategy of late is essentially to let the other team pass the puck around and bomb away from the point with traffic as much as they desire. There is almost zero puck pressure or shot blocking. Then, when there is a loose puck in front, we fail to clear it and they rinse and repeat while our guys get stuck out there forever. We're not intercepting cross-ice passes through the middle of the box either. Is the lack of Couturier really hurting us in this area that much?

 

[awaz]

Furthermore, our penalty killing strategy of late is essentially to let the other team pass the puck around and bomb away from the point with traffic as much as they desire. There is almost zero puck pressure or shot blocking. Then, when there is a loose puck in front, we fail to clear it and they rinse and repeat while our guys get stuck out there forever. We're not intercepting cross-ice passes through the middle of the box either. Is the lack of Couturier really hurting us in this area that much?

I don't think it's missing Couturier. The Flyers PK has sucked for 18 months now. I loved Lappy as a player, but I was shocked that they kept him on the coaching staff to work with the PK.

I think VDV, Bellemare, and White are getting exposed now. At 5 on 5 and on the PK. They just aren't quality players right now. They spend most shifts bottled up in their own end, they're taking lots of penalties, and their not PK'ing well at all.

 

[awaz]

Also, again confusing usage from Hakstol in the 3rd last night.

TOI in the 3rd period
White - 3:49
VDV - 4:15
Bellemare - 4:37
Laughton - 2:26
Weal - 1:15

Of that group of 5 there are 3 guys you know you're not going to get offense from, period. And they played the most of the 5. I don't get that.

 

[flyersfan4706]

This was a game that Mason would get ripped for.

The whole forward core is a mess. The first line is dormant, second line is shuffled due to injuries, and the bottom 6 (More specifically the 4th line) is a mess. White is living off last year's success, Vandevelde is a Wellwood type, and Bellemare is a pretty bland 4th liner. As awaz points out the usage is really the problem here. If they're bad then at least shelter them

 

[lasgop8]

It's absolutely amazing. We've blown a two goal lead, erased a two goal deficit and lost twice in the last two minutes of regulation all in just the last three games. No points to show for it when we should've had at least three, but probably more like five.

Just when we think we've found the consistency we're looking for with 11 points in 6 games, we choke away points in 3 straight. So frustrating to watch.

Now we need to beat the team with the best record in the Nhl on Wednesday or we enter the All-Star break in trouble.

So, the Flyers fail to wish me a Happy Birthday with what probably should've been an OT win at worst.

I'm not going to blame officiating for this loss since both teams had equal power play opportunities, but can we please get a couple of referees that call the game consistently throughout the 60-65 minutes?

Can we also be a little more aggressive on the penalty kill? It's getting embarrassing.

Happy Birthday! wish we could've gotten a win for you but that's what happens when you have guys like Ryan White playing on the PK not moving his feet and upping his playing time to 13 minutes instead of the usual 10 which he should be playing.

 

[Cobiemonster]

I don't think it's missing Couturier. The Flyers PK has sucked for 18 months now. I loved Lappy as a player, but I was shocked that they kept him on the coaching staff to work with the PK.

I think VDV, Bellemare, and White are getting exposed now. At 5 on 5 and on the PK. They just aren't quality players right now. They spend most shifts bottled up in their own end, they're taking lots of penalties, and their not PK'ing well at all.

This

Said this the last few days and will keep repeating it - bottom six has to be the worst in the league - it is terrible

Special teams breaks this team because they don't have a competent second unit on either side - when the first PP unit can't score it gets magnified because the second unit couldn't score if their life depended on it while the first PK gets overused because they 1) take too many penalties and 2) the second unit can never be counted on - the Flyers were great when they had players like Mike Richards who not only were great at PK'ing but the offensive threat made the PK deadly

One of the things the Flyers really have to address going forward is the bottom six - they need to trade just about every one of those guys or just let them go and go out and sign some guys in FA and bring in some younger guys with more skill to play those positions

Flyers are not a playoff team and anyone who thinks that is a complete fool - there is too much inconsistency with this team and they've played the least amount of games in the league - that's not a good thing because they still have a lot of games left and if they keep playing inconsistent, it could become a disaster if the train comes off the train tracks - also there are too many teams right now that are playing better and are not inconsistent like the Flyers are - you can't win four in a row and then proceed to lose four out of five, you don't deserve to be a playoff team with that type of inconsistent play

 

[Cobiemonster]

This was a game that Mason would get ripped for.

The whole forward core is a mess. The first line is dormant, second line is shuffled due to injuries, and the bottom 6 (More specifically the 4th line) is a mess. White is living off last year's success, Vandevelde is a Wellwood type, and Bellemare is a pretty bland 4th liner. As awaz points out the usage is really the problem here. If they're bad then at least shelter them

If they're bad then they don't need to be in the lineup period - you can only attempt to shelter bad players for so long - eventually they have to be on the ice at a very critical point at one time or another and they will hurt the team

The problem with this team is a lack of a strong third line center - Scott Laughton has had his moments but to me he isn't completely proven yet in that third line center role - maybe at some point he will but when someone like Couts gets hurt, nobody can step in to that role and make a difference

At some point they need to start making trades ahead of time if they can get really good returns - don't sucker yourself into thinking that this is a team that can make a playoff run - doesn't matter how good the goaltending has been - they need to keep stockpiling draft picks and give theirselves more cap space going forward - they're going to need to spend it on some depth up front in free agency eventually - look at a team like the Panthers, a few offseasons ago, they signed guys like Jussi Jokinen, Derek MacKenzie, Shawn Thornton, Dave Bolland(that one hasn't worked out yet but they get a mulligan for sure) to help complement their forward group and that's what the Flyers need to do - they don't have to go and overpay for someone in the top six necessarily(although if they can find a bargain to play up there then good) but they need to stack the third and fourth lines with veteran talent that is reliable and can play PK and provide some offense from time to time

 

[awaz]

I think the players are there to have a quality bottom 6, they're just playing in the top 6 right now. On a good hockey team, Schenn and Read are 3rd line players, Raffl is a 4th line player. And honestly, Simmonds at even strength should be a 2nd line player, if not 3rd line.

if you're bottom 6 is:
Read.Laughton.Schenn
VDV.Raffl.Bellemare

it's not so bad.

Also, Hakstol seems reluctant to put together a line that is pure offense and could get exposed defensively. Which has it's merit, but the Flyers rolled out Briere, Schenn, Hartnell, Leino, Simmonds, in multiple combinations when they were successful. At this point, I don't see the harm in having a 3rd line, or 4th line, depending on how you define it, that's defensively suspect (Gagner, Weal, Read, Raffl, Laughton, in some combination). Just hide them as best you can from offensive lines of the opponent and see what you happens.