Dates, awards finalists, opting out, new faces, exhibition schedule and the Ottawa Senators rebrand.
Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify.
Tag: Travis Konecny
-
Flyers overcome three-goal deficit to beat Bruins, 6-5, in shootout
The Philadelphia Flyers overcame a three-goal lead and dismantled the Boston Bruins, 6-5, in a shootout on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Carter Hart (15-11-3 record, 2.61 goals against average, .905 save percentage in 32 games played) made 26 saves on 31 shots against for an .839 SV% in the win.
Bruins goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (10-4-6, 2.46 GAA, .920 SV% in 20 games played) stopped 34 out of 39 shots faced for an .872 SV% in the shootout loss.
Boston fell to 27-8-12 (66 points), but remained in command of the Atlantic Division. Meanwhile, Philadelphia improved to 24-16-6 (54 points) and remained in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division.
The B’s also fell to 12-6-3 on the road this season.
Boston was without the services of Kevan Miller (knee) and Connor Clifton (upper body) on Monday against the Flyers, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Saturday night’s, 3-2, win in overtime against the Islanders in New York.
Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, skated in his 1,000th game with the club– becoming just the 6th player in franchise history to do so, joining Ray Bourque, Johnny Bucyk, Don Sweeney, Wayne Cashman and current teammate, Patrice Bergeron.
Chara has played in 1,530 career NHL games with the Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Bruins.
Par Lindholm, David Backes and Steven Kampfer served as Boston’s healthy scratches in Philadelphia.
Anders Bjork (7) scored his first goal in nine games after sending the puck into the twine on a backhand shot while Hart dove paddle first to try to make a save.
Jake DeBrusk (12) had the only assist on Bjork’s goal at 4:15 of the first period and the Bruins led, 1-0.
Midway through the opening frame, Mark Friedman and Bjork got tangled up after a stoppage at 11:55. Each received minor penalties for roughing and the two side escaped the ensuing 4-on-4 action unharmed.
Late in the period, Michael Raffl tripped Bergeron and presented Boston with their first power play opportunity of the night at 15:30.
Almost 90 seconds into the resulting skater advantage, the Bruins capitalized on the power play after David Krejci (10) redirected a pass from Danton Heinen behind the Flyers goaltender.
Krejci’s goal extended the current franchise record for the most consecutive games with at least one power play goal to 14 and was assisted by Heinen (12) and Charlie Coyle (16) at 16:49.
The B’s led, 2-0, but not for long, however, as Bergeron caught Scott Laughton with a high stick at 18:00 of the first period and drew blood.
Bergeron’s infraction was upgraded to a high sticking double minor penalty and Philadelphia began a four-minute power play as a result.
The Flyers struck fast on the ensuing skater advantage when Kevin Hayes (14) rocked home a one-timer off the bar and in while Boston’s defense was out of position.
Hayes’ goal put Philly on the board and cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1, while Travis Konecny (25) and James van Riemsdyk (12) notched the assists at 18:22.
Entering the first intermission, the Bruins led the Flyers, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 14-12, in shots on goal.
Boston also held the advantage in hits (7-6) and faceoff win percentage (71-29) through 20 minutes of play, while Philadelphia led in blocked shots (4-3), takeaways (3-2) and giveaways (4-1).
Both clubs were 1/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.
Less than a minute into the second period, David Pastrnak (36) drew the puck quickly to his backhand after receiving a break-in pass from Brad Marchand and slipped the rubber biscuit through Hart’s exposed five-hole to give the B’s another two-goal lead, 3-1.
Marchand (43) and Chara (9) had the assists on Pastrnak’s goal 33 seconds into the second period, but once more the Bruins couldn’t get too comfortable.
Less than a minute later, Travis Sanheim (6) sniped a wrist shot past Halak from just outside the high slot with traffic in front of the net to bring Philadelphia back to within one-goal at 1:12 of the second period.
Sean Couturier (25) and Jakub Voracek (27) tallied the assists on Sanheim’s first goal of the night and the Flyers trailed, 3-2, 39 seconds after Pastrnak scored for Boston.
A few minutes later, after Heinen sent a flawless pass to Coyle in the attacking zone, Coyle (9) ripped a shot over Hart’s glove and into the corner of the twine to give the Bruins another two-goal lead.
Heinen (13) and Brandon Carlo (10) had the assists on Coyle’s goal at 4:50 and the B’s led, 4-2.
Less than a few minutes later, Krejci (11) tallied his second goal of the night after Boston worked the puck deep before Bjork ultimately wrapped around the net and tossed a quick pass to the second line center for the one-timer over Hart while the Flyers goaltender dove from one side of the net to the other in desperation.
Bjork (7) and DeBrusk (13) were credited with the assists on Krejci’s goal and Boston led, 5-2, at 7:21.
For just the second time this season, however, the Bruins blew a three-goal lead as the rest of the game did not go as planned for Cassidy’s crew.
First, Chris Wagner was penalized for roughing Konecny after the whistle was blown on a play in the corner whereby Konecny made contact with Charlie McAvoy as both players were nowhere near the puck that some B’s players took offense to and responded accordingly in effort to stand up for their young blue liner.
Wagner was sent to the box at 9:02 and the Bruins killed off the minor infraction, but couldn’t quite escape the momentum that swayed into Philly’s hand.
Couturier (13) slipped a fluke goal through Halak’s five-hole on what became a recurring theme for the Boston netminder Monday night– soft goals.
Voracek (28) and Matt Niskanen (13) had the assists on Couturier’s goal at 13:12 and the Flyers trailed by two-goals once more, 5-3.
About a minute later, Friedman threw a shot towards the net that deflected off of Connor Bunnaman (1) and bounced off a Bruins defender before beating Halak and hitting the twine to bring Philadelphia to within one at 14:46.
Friedman (1) and Robert Hagg (5) had the assists on Bunnaman’s inadvertent first career NHL goal as Boston’s lead was cut to, 5-4.
After two periods of action in Philadelphia, the Bruins led the Flyers, 5-4, on the scoreboard, but trailed in shots on goal, 27-20.
Philly’s stronghold on the second period included a, 15-6, advantage in shots on net in the middle frame alone, as well as the lead in takeaways (5-3) and giveaways (7-5).
Boston, meanwhile, led in blocked shots (7-6) and faceoff win% (60-40) through two periods, while both teams had 19 hits aside.
The Flyers were 1/3 on the power play and the B’s were 1/1 on the skater advantage heading into the second intermission.
Niskanen interfered with Marchand 28 seconds into the third period, but Boston’s power play couldn’t muster the desired outcome of another power play goal.
Midway through the final frame of regulation, Joel Farabee and Torey Krug became entangled and received roughing minors at 12:30.
Just 28 seconds later, the Flyers got what they had wanted as Sanheim (7) scored his second goal of the game while Halak was helpless as his defense lacked in coverage.
Philippe Myers (11) and Couturier (26) tallied the assists on Sanheim’s game-tying goal and the score was even, 5-5, at 12:58 of the third period.
At the horn, the two teams were heading to overtime, tied, 5-5, on the scoreboard, despite the Flyers leading the Bruins, 35-28, in shots on goal.
Philadelphia notched the advantage in takeaways (7-3) and giveaways (9-7), while Boston led in blocked shots (15-8), hits (28-24) and faceoff win% (59-41)
As there were no penalties called past regulation, the Flyers finished 1/3 on the skater advantage, while the B’s went 1/2 on the power play.
In overtime, Cassidy elected to start Bergeron, Pastrnak and John Moore, while Philadelhia’s head coach, Alain Vigneault, matched Boston’s starters with Couturier, Voracek and Ivan Provorov on the blue line.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the extra frame, despite the Flyers leading in shots on goal in overtime, 4-3.
At the horn the Flyers finished the evening leading in shots on goal (39-31) and giveaways (10-7), while the Bruins ended the night leading in blocked shots (19-10), hits (31-24) and faceoff win% (59-41).
Before both teams could vacate the ice, however, a shootout was needed to determine the winner of the extra point in the league standings.
Philadelphia chose to shoot first and sent out Hayes, but the veteran forward tried to go low with a forehand shot and was denied by Halak’s leg pad.
Boston retaliated with the NHL’s leading goal scorer in Pastrnak, but No. 88 in black and gold deked and tried to go backhand and was stopped by Hart with a pad save– leaving the first round of the shootout still even at, 0-0.
Next up for the Flyers was none other than Philly’s captain himself, Claude Giroux, as Giroux skated in on Halak– elevating a shot over the Bruins goaltender that rang the post and bounced off of Halak’s back and out.
Cassidy matched Vigneault’s second shooter with Coyle, but Coyle was denied by Hart with a glove save after the third line center sitckhandled and didn’t get enough on his shot to duplicate Giroux’s effort at elevating the puck.
Couturier was the first shooter of the third round and hit the post with a backhand shot that might had deflected off of Halak’s glove before catching the iron and going wide.
DeBrusk was Boston’s third choice in the shootout, but tried to go five-hole (a classic move for the B’s in shootouts this season) and was stoned by Hart with a predictable save.
Farabee had the chance to put the Flyers ahead with the first advantage in the shootout, but couldn’t get enough on a low-blocker side attempt as Halak turned the puck away.
Despite scoring two goals in the game, Krejci’s shootout attempt left more to be desired as the veteran Bruin tried to go short side on Hart with a close range backhand shot that the Philadelphia netminder stopped with his leg pad.
Finally, in the 5th round of the shootout, Konecny connected on a goal with a shot off the post and in behind Halak’s glove.
Boston had to score to continue the shootout or they would lose, so Cassidy sent out Marchand thinking the noted puck handler could get the job done and extended the already extended effort.
Nope.
Marchand skated towards the puck at the center ice dot, barely scrapped the top of the vulcanized rubber with his stick and moved it a few inches from where an official had left it prior to the attempt and had his chance waved off by the refs as an official shot that did not reach the net.
The game ended on an untimely error that Marchand shrugged off in his postgame interview, whereas other players might have been too frustrated with themselves to speak or too embarrassed to show their face to reporters afterwards.
It’s one game. It was one attempt. It went wrong.
Unfortunately for the Bruins and their fans, it cost them the game.
But for the Flyers and the home crowd, Philadelphia had won, 6-5, in the shootout and handed Boston their 7th loss in a shootout this season.
The Flyers improved to 5-5 in shootouts, while the Bruins fell to 0-7 in the one-on-one– skater vs. goaltender mini-games.
Boston is now 3-12 past regulation this season as a result of the loss on Monday.
The Bruins fell to 18-6-8 when scoring the game’s first goal, 16-4-3 when leading after the first period and 14-0-6 when leading after two periods this season.
Boston concludes their three-game road trip (1-0-1) on Tuesday in Columbus before returning home for a home-and-home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and Sunday. After the Bruins swing through Pittsburgh on Jan. 19th, the B’s finish their game action before the All-Star break with a home game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 21st.
-
Flyers fly away with, 3-2, shootout win in Boston
Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny each had a pair of points, while Joel Farabee scored the only shootout goal in the Philadelphia Flyers’, 3-2, shootout victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden Sunday night.
Carter Hart (6-3-1 record, 2.71 goals against average, .893 save percentage in 11 games played) made 26 saves on 28 shots against for a .929 SV% in the shootout win for the Flyers.
Bruins goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (4-1-2, 2.68 GAA, .918 SV% in seven games played) stopped 27 out of 29 shots faced for a .931 SV% in the shootout loss.
The B’s fell to 11-3-3 (25 points) on the season, but remain in control of 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while Philadelphia improved to 10-5-2 (22 points) and rose to 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Bruins are now 7-0-2 at home this season and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
Boston was without Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (lower body) and Brett Ritchie (upper body) on Sunday, but Joakim Nordstrom (infection) and Par Lindholm (upper body) returned to the lineup against Philadelphia.
DeBrusk was ruled out for the upcoming week and not likely to return before next weekend by Bruce Cassidy hours before the game against the Flyers.
Meanwhile, Cassidy inserted Lindholm on the third line, centering Anders Bjork and Zach Senyshyn.
As a result, Peter Cehlarik, was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) and Charlie Coyle was bumped up to the second line right wing with Danton Heinen sliding over to the left of David Krejci.
Nordstrom returned to his usual spot on the left side of Sean Kuraly with Chris Wagner resuming his right wing duties on the fourth line.
Cassidy kept the Bruins defense the same from the last couple of games, leaving Connor Clifton on the first pairing with Zdeno Chara and Boston University alums, Matt Grzelcyk with Charlie McAvoy on the third defensive pairing.
Once more, Steven Kampfer was Boston’s only healthy scratch.
Midway through the opening period, after dominating the game flow, the Flyers finally struck first with a goal by Konecny (8).
Konecny’s goal was assisted by Couturier (7) and Oskar Lindblom (6) at 13:50 of the first period and was marked the first time this season that a visiting team had scored the game’s first goal at TD Garden.
It was also just the 13th shot on net for Philadelphia, while Boston was limited to three shots on goal at the time of Konecny’s goal.
Less than a minute after taking the, 1-0, lead, the Flyers went on the penalty kill thanks to Farabee’s minor infraction for high sticking against Brad Marchand at 14:14.
The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing power play.
Late in the period, Philippe Myers (3) sent a laser past Halak with heavy traffic in front of the net to give Philly a two-goal lead.
Konecny (11) and Travis Sanheim (5) notched the assists on Myers’ goal at 17:56 and the Flyers led, 2-0.
After one period, Philadelphia led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 14-5, in shots on goal. The Flyers also held the advantage in takeaways, 2-1.
Meanwhile, the B’s led in blocked shots (4-3), hits (12-11) and faceoff win percentage (75-25).
Both teams had three giveaways each and Boston was 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the second period.
Early in the middle frame, the Bruins thought they had scored, but the officials on the ice made no clear indication as to what the call was until after video review in Toronto automatically reviewed something they couldn’t review.
See, the on-ice officials decided there was goaltender interference on the play, which, there had been something that happened in the crease– whether it was caused by Philly bumping a Boston forward into the Flyers goaltender or simply a Bruin colliding under his own volition into Hart– and thus, no goal was the call on the ice and it could not be reviewed.
Or something like that.
The fact of the matter is fans at the rink and casual viewers at home would simply like an explanation of what is believed to have happened (a.k.a. “the call on the ice”) and why or why not there was a review (a.k.a. “further review” or lack thereof).
Regardless, Boston trudged on with better possession in the second period than the first period, but committed the only penalty of the period when David Pastrnak hooked Ivan Provorov at 8:11 of the second period.
Philadelphia didn’t capitalize on their first power play of the night and play resumed even strength with no issue.
Through 40 minutes of play, the Flyers still led, 2-0, and held a, 20-10, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 6-5, advantage in the second period alone.
Philly also led in takeaways (10-4) and hits (21-20), while Boston led in blocked shots (11-8), giveaways (9-7) and faceoff win% (70-30).
Both teams were 0/1 on the power play.
Early in the final frame of regulation, Coyle worked the puck deep into Boston’s attacking zone, then sent a bouncing biscuit to the slot whereby Heinen (4) scooped up the loose puck, spun and wrapped it into the twine from point blank– cutting Philadelphia’s lead in half, 2-1.
Coyle (4) and Chara (4) had the assists on Heinen’s goal at 5:59 of the third period and the Bruins began to surge.
Midway through the third period, Brad Marchand (11) received a pass from Grzelcyk and fired a wrist shot top shelf over Hart’s glove from the faceoff dot to tie the game, 2-2, at 12:22.
Grzelcyk (3) had the only assist on the goal.
Less than a few minutes later, Provorov slashed Pastrnak as the Bruins forward was on a breakaway and yielding a penalty shot to the young Boston winger at 15:04.
Pastrnak was denied by Hart and play resumed as the score remained deadlocked, 2-2.
Almost two minutes later, Lindblom tripped up Marchand and was sent to the penalty box at 16:40.
The B’s did not convert on the resulting skater advantage, despite taking a timeout with 1:36 remaining in regulation to draw up a last ditch effort plan on the advantage.
At the horn, the Bruins and Flyers remained tied, 2-2, and headed for overtime.
Shots on goal were even, 27-27, despite Boston’s, 17-7, advantage in the third period alone. Blocked shots were also tied, 12-12, after regulation.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia held the advantage in takeaways (14-8) and hits (29-26) and Boston led in giveaways (13-9) and faceoff win% (65-35) heading into overtime.
The Flyers were 0/1 on the power play and the B’s were 0/2.
Philadelphia head coach, Alain Vigneault, started Claude Giroux, Lindblom and Provorov in overtime while Cassidy opted for Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy.
The Flyers used their timeout after a stoppage with 1:15 remaining in overtime.
Shortly thereafter, in the final seconds of the extra frame, Boston had too many skaters on the ice and was assessed a bench minor penalty.
Krejci was selected to serve the infraction and Philadelphia didn’t capitalize on the skater advantage as overtime wrapped up.
After 65 minutes of action in Boston, the score remained tied, 2-2, with the Flyers leading in shots on goal, 29-28 (2-1 in overtime alone).
Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (14-13), giveaways (13-9) and faceoff win% (61-39), while Philadelphia finished the action leading in takeaways (16-8).
Both teams had 29 hits aside and went 0/2 on the power play as the shootout commenced.
Boston elected to shoot first in the shootout– leading off with Coyle, who deked backhand, pulled the puck back to his forehand in effort to sneak it around Hart, but was denied by Philadelphia’s netminder with the leg pad.
Farabee shot first for the Flyers and scored on Halak’s glove side while taking it nice and slow into the zone.
Marchand tried to go blocker side to lead off the second round of the shootout, but was stopped with the leg pad as he couldn’t elevate the puck enough.
Giroux shot next for Philly, but was stopped by Halak as the Flyers forward tried to fake a slap shot, then went glove side before catching Halak’s forearm.
Finally, Pastrnak worked his way in on Hart as Boston’s last chance to extend the shootout, but the Philly goaltender broke up the attempt before Pastrnak could complete his shot– winning the game in the process.
Philadelphia improved to 3-2 in shootouts on the season, while Boston fell to 0-2 after overtime this year.
The Flyers also improved to 6-0-0 when leading after the 1st period this season and the Bruins fell to 1-2-2 when trailing after one period, as well as when trailing after two periods thus far.
Boston finished their two-game homestand (0-0-1) Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers before traveling to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Friday (Nov. 15th).
-
DTFR Podcast #170- 2019-20 Season Preview: Atlantic Division
Brayden Point re-signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, a bunch of other RFAs signed extensions, the Boston Pride were sold, Dan Girardi retired and DTFR’s season previews continued with the Atlantic Division.
Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.
-
DTFR Podcast #169- 2019-20 Season Preview: Metropolitan Division
Mitch Marner finally re-signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins announced a couple key extensions, more RFA deals were signed and the NHLPA decided not to re-open the current collective bargaining agreement as DTFR’s season previews continued with the Metropolitan Division.
Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.
-
Philadelphia Flyers 2019-20 Season Preview
Philadelphia Flyers
37-37-8, 82 points, 6th in the Metropolitan Division
Only misses the postseason in odd years (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Additions: F Andy Andreoff, F Kyle Criscuolo, F Kurtis Gabriel, F Kevin Hayes (acquired from WPG), F Tyler Pitlick (acquired from DAL), D Chris Bigras, D Justin Braun (acquired from SJS), D Matt Niskanen (acquired from WSH), D Nate Prosser, D Andy Welinski, D Tyler Wotherspoon, G Jean-Francois Berube
Subtractions: F Justin Bailey (signed with VAN), F Cole Bardreau (signed with NYI), F Greg Carey (signed with Lehigh Valley, AHL), F Byron Froese (signed with CGY), F Tyrell Goulbourne (signed with VGK), F Ryan Hartman (traded to DAL, signed with MIN), F Corban Knight (KHL), F Jori Lehtera (KHL), F Roman Lyubimov (KHL), F Phil Varone (signed with MTL), F Mike Vecchione (signed with STL), D Radko Gudas (traded to WSH), G Mike McKenna (retired), G Michal Neuvirth (signed a PTO with TOR), G Cam Talbot (signed with CGY)
Still Unsigned: F Travis Konecny, D Jacob Graves, D Ivan Provorov
Re-signed: F Nicolas Aube-Kubel, F Scott Laughton
Offseason Analysis: It’s the dawn of a new age for the Philadelphia Flyers. Gone are the days (hopefully) of the revolving door of goaltenders in a Flyers sweater as Carter Hart’s first full season is about to get underway– and with a stable defense in front of him too.
Last season, Philadelphia set an NHL record for the most goaltenders used in a season with seven different netminders.
This season, Philadelphia’s looking to set a record for the most current/former head coaches to be behind the bench at any given time as Alain Vigneault is the new head coach, while Mike Yeo and Michel Therrien are playing supporting roles as assistants.
General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, nabbed Kevin Hayes in June in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets– sending a 2019 5th round pick to the Jets in return.
Shortly after acquiring Hayes, the Flyers “re-signed” him to a seven-year, $50 million contract worth $7.143 million per season. He’s never scored more than 25 goals in a season and just had a career-high 55 points in 71 games with the New York Rangers and Winnipeg last season.
While Hayes certainly isn’t a standout superstar, he does solidify the top-six forward group and provides a long-term foundation for Philadelphia’s core with his seven-year deal.
Claude Giroux is only 31-years-old and signed through 2021-22 at $8.275 million per season and Jakub Voracek, 30, is signed through 2023-24 at $8.250 million per season.
Any contract with a cap hit under $9 million for your best players is considered a steal in today’s NHL, but not all “steals” are good contracts.
Regardless, Philadelphia has a versatile group of forwards and upgraded their defense over the offseason– something that was badly needed to help lessen the load on a high turnover of goaltenders over recent years.
Radko Gudas was traded to the Washington Capitals in a one-for-one deal that sent Matt Niskanen to the Flyers. Though Philadelphia retained 30% of Gudas’ salary ($1.005 million) in the deal, they did not keep any of his future suspensions in the transaction.
While Niskanen alone isn’t the most impressive thing in the world, adding Justin Braun to the mix that includes Niskanen, Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Robert Hagg and Samuel Morin certainly is.
Provorov is still an unsigned restricted free agent with training camp opening later this week.
Braun was acquired by Philadelphia in a trade with the San Jose Sharks in which Fletcher gave up a 2019 2nd round pick and a 2020 3rd round pick to get the top-four defender while the Sharks were looking to unload salary now that they’ve locked up Erik Karlsson to an eight-year, $92 million extension.
The Flyers have made themselves into serious playoff contenders on paper, but the hard part still remains in front of them– actually making it.
Luckily for them, Vigneault has been to the Stanley Cup Final more recently than Philadelphia has as an organization.
Vigneault made it to the Final behind the bench of the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 and New York Rangers in 2014. His team lost in seven games in 2011 and in five games in 2014.
The Flyers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
To win the Cup– sometimes– it takes a couple of hardships first before the sweet taste of victory.
Philadelphia’s in “win now” mode. Future be damned.
They have $13.417 million in cap space with Travis Konecny and Provorov to re-sign, plus Nolan Patrick in the final year of his entry-level contract this season.
Offseason Grade: A-
Sure Hayes is overpaid and Vigneault, Yeo and Therrien are behind the bench, but Fletcher built a legitimate defense, a mix of youth and quality players in their prime, plus he has a dark horse in net.
How far can Philadelphia go? That remains to be seen, especially as some of the younger players don’t have a lot of playoff experience– if any at all. However, the Flyers are playoff contenders nonetheless and as long as you make the postseason, you have a chance of winning the Cup.
-
2019-20 Metropolitan Division Outlook
As the entire hockey world awaits training camp action next month, let’s make some (un)educated guesses about the upcoming season that will totally pan out because everything always goes as expected. (It doesn’t.)
The projected standings below are only a forecast.
They are based on recent indications– as well as the last few seasons of stats– and cannot account for variations in roster construction (a.k.a. trades and free agency moves).
There’s a lot of variables that will turn the tables upside down, including transactions, injuries and otherwise. Anything can happen.
As always, it’s more important to remember 1) the spread and 2) the positioning.
Just how many points separate the projected division winner from the last wild card spot (the spread) and where a team is supposed to finish in the division standings (the position) can imply that things aren’t always what they seem.
A team that’s projected to win it all still has to play an 82-game regular season, qualify for the playoffs and go on to amass 16 wins in the postseason.
Projected Standings After ZERO Months
Metropolitan Division
- y-Washington Capitals, 107 points
- x-Pittsburgh Penguins, 102 points
- x-Columbus Blue Jackets, 93 points
- wc1-New York Islanders, 91 points
- wc2-Philadelphia Flyers, 91 points
- New York Rangers, 89 points
- Carolina Hurricanes, 87 points
- New Jersey Devils, 84 points
Washington Capitals: Pros and Cons
Year after year, Washington finds themselves at the top of the Metropolitan Division with or without any sort of logical explanation.
The last time the Capitals didn’t finish 1st in the division? It was the 2014-15 season when the New York Rangers followed up a 2014 Stanley Cup Final appearance with 113 points and the President’s Trophy.
Once again, the Caps will find a way to turn things on late into the season and manage the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, but they’ll be doing so without a long list of members from their 2018 Stanley Cup championship roster.
After matching his regular season goal scoring total in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Devante Smith-Pelly wasn’t able to get back to form and subsequently reassigned to the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears during the 2018-19 season.
Now, he’s an unrestricted free agent.
Also departing Washington this summer were the likes of Brett Connolly (signed with Florida), Andre Burakovsky (traded to Colorado for Scott Kosmachuk, a 2nd round pick in 2020 and a 3rd round pick in 2020), Nathan Walker (signed with St. Louis), Matt Niskanen (traded to Philadelphia in exchange for Radko Gudas) and Brooks Orpik (retired)
Madison Bowey was traded to Detroit in February. Jakub Jerabek left via free agency last season and is now playing in the KHL. Philipp Grubauer was traded to the Avalanche last June. Jay Beagle signed with the Vancouver Canucks last July. Alex Chiasson joined the Edmonton Oilers last October.
With such a quick turnover in the makeup of their lineup, the Capitals’ championship window may already be closing– and fast.
At least Garnet Hathaway, Richard Panik and Carl Hagelin all signed four-year contracts with cap hits under $3.000 million.
How would the Capitals fail?
Radko Gudas and Tom Wilson end up suspended for the entire season somehow and get the rest of the Capitals in trouble for something.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Pros and Cons
Phil Kessel is signed through 2021-22 at $6.800 million per season. Alex Galchenyuk is signed through 2019-20 with a cap hit of $4.900 million.
Using the money saved from trading Kessel to Arizona and hoping Galchenyuk will suddenly become a 30 or 40 goal scorer simply because he’s now on the same roster as Sidney Crosby, Penguins General Manager, Jim Rutherford, figured it’d be a smart move to lock up Brandon Tanev in free agency with a six-year contract at $3.500 million per season and a modified no-trade clause one offseason removed from signing Jack Johnson.
If there’s any positives for Pittsburgh, it’s that Crosby still exists and Mike Sullivan remains the head coach. Oh and Evgeni Malkin exists too, though some would find it hard to believe, since he wasn’t included in the top-100 players of the last century list.
As long as Matt Murray and Casey DeSmith can weather the storm of an insufficient defense, injuries and inadequacy from last season, then there’s a good chance the current longest active playoff appearance streak remains alive.
If not, well, just look for Rutherford to continue to move chairs around on the Titanic.
This team is starting to spring a leak. If they’re not careful, they’ll sink in the standings.
But since the season really doesn’t start until January anyway for the Pens, they’ll work their way into a playoff berth as they’ve done for the last dozen years or so.
How would the Penguins fail?
Rutherford trades another goal scorer for a “glue guy” and clones Tanev and/or Johnson. Realistically, Murray continues to cool down from his meteoric rise a couple of seasons ago and won’t cost too much as a pending-RFA.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Pros and Cons
All my ex’s live in… everywhere but Columbus.
The Blue Jackets lost Artemi Panarin to the New York Rangers, Sergei Bobrovsky to the Florida Panthers, Matt Duchene to the Nashville Predators and Ryan Dzingel to the Carolina Hurricanes, but they brought in Gustav Nyquist and brought back Marko Dano via free agency.
Yeah, ok, so it wasn’t a great summer for Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen and Blue Jackets fans– even if they knew at least one of their big names (Bobrovsky) was never going to re-sign.
But while a lot of armchair GMs think the Blue Jackets are destined for a rebuild, there’s a glimmer of optimism if Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins can carry the weight of the crease, while younger players like Alexandre Texier, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Anderson continue to emerge.
Making it as far as they did into the Second Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs was vital to the experience gained by Columbus’ core.
Though they’re likely not going to a be a dominant force in 2019-20, they should be in contention for what would be a fifth playoff berth in seven years under Kekalainen’s reign.
And if they turn heads again like they did when they swept the President’s Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the First Round, then there’s sure to be some interest in lacing up the skates for the Blue Jackets in the future.
Then again, it could be tank city until Korpisalo or Merzlikins becomes a legitimate starter and somebody becomes an 80-point scorer again.
It just takes some time… Oh and someone should probably re-sign Zach Werenski while you’re at it.
How would the Blue Jackets fail?
The Union doesn’t lose. Ok, if everybody leaves, then it might.
New York Islanders: Pros and Cons
Having Lou Lamoriello as your General Manager means some players are going to love him (if they’ve already been with him for many years before) and some players are going to be chased out of the city when they are told they are going in a different direction, but then don’t quite land who they think they’re getting, only to leave you once again for… well, Semyon Varlamov isn’t really an upgrade at this point.
But Robin Lehner’s gone after winning the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy with the
RangersIslanders last season after having a remarkable career-year in the face of addiction and other struggles.New York’s only getting older and Anders Lee took a “hometown discount” to stay on Long Island.
Speaking of Long Island, is it too early to start construction on the Belmont Park arena yet?
Something has to distract everyone from the undercutting of several prospect’s development– whether they’ve rightfully had a chance to prove themselves at the NHL level or not.
Barry Trotz is a great head coach, but how much more can he do with a middle of the road team that gives up on prospects too early?
Get them back to the Second Round only to be crushed by a team that’s mixing youth, speed, skill, grit and actually playing 21st century hockey?
It’s almost as though the Islanders learned nothing from 1995-2006.
How would the Islanders fail?
It’s [the] trap!
Philadelphia Flyers: Pros and Cons
Flyers General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, actually hasn’t had that bad of an offseason– at least when it comes to tweaking his roster.
Sure Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun are both 32-years-old, but they’re decent top-4 defenders that should be able to lead from the back end with Shayne Gostisbehere as Travis Sanheim and Ivan Provorov come into their own.
Speaking of Provorov, he’s still an unsigned-RFA and Philadelphia has more than enough money (about $13.400 million in cap space) to get some sort of a deal done right now. Why wait until the last minute? What’s that? Travis Konecny needs a contract right now too? Oh never mind. Let’s make things complicated!
Besides giving Kevin Hayes a seven-year contract worth $7.143 million per season with a no-movement clause, the Flyers should have– a lot of explaining to do when their experiment doesn’t work out.
The Hayes contract is bad, but just how bad can things get with Hayes back on a team that’s coached by… Alain Vigneault!?!
Vigneault’s the real wild card here as the jury is still out on whether or not his style still fits the game or if the Rangers were just that bad in his final year with New York.
All things considered, Philadelphia should be back into playoff contention. Just not Cup contention in 2019-20.
How much more of this can Claude Giroux take?
How would the Flyers fail?
Alain Vigneault, Mike Yeo and Michel Therrien can’t figure out who is actually the head coach on a night-to-night basis even though Vigneault technically owns the job (Yeo and Therrien are assistant coaches for the Flyers, if you haven’t heard). Oh and goaltending if Carter Hart gets injured.
New York Rangers: Pros and Cons
The Rangers landed the biggest prize in free agency, signing Artemi Panarin to a seven-year contract worth $11.643 million per season.
Though they are still in a rebuild, Panarin’s addition to the roster helps make New York more of an attractive destination and speeds things up in the overall plan.
It doesn’t hurt that GM Jeff Gorton had the 2nd overall pick in this year’s draft too. Kaapo Kakko is ready for the limelight in Manhattan as Henrik Lundqvist’s reign is in its twilight days.
Lundqvist is under contract through the 2020-21 season and at 37-years-old– it’d take a miracle for the Rangers to win him a Cup at this point.
The Rangers only have one forward over the age of 30 (Matt Beleskey’s 31) and two defenders 30 or older as well (Brendan Smith, 30, and Marc Staal, 32).
Beleskey is likely to bounce around the organization between New York and Hartford (AHL), while there’s a good chance Smith could be buried as well.
But their “veteran presence” is valuable to time on ice management among the younger skaters that might not be quite as NHL ready as Kakko and friends.
Jacob Trouba is new to the Rangers and destined to anchor their new-age defense from the top pairing, while Kevin Shattenkirk joins the long list of buyouts in recent years by New York.
The Rangers are short almost $5.400 million in dead cap space thanks to Shattenkirk, Dan Girardi and Ryan Spooner’s buyouts around the league (Shattenkirk and Girardi were Rangers buyouts, but Spooner had retained salary and was bought out by the Vancouver Canucks this offseason).
Next year, New York faces almost $7.500 million in cap penalties from the trio of buyouts before Spooner comes off the books entirely and the number dips down to about $2.544 million from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
Also another Harvard product– Adam Fox– is the new Jimmy Vesey experiment, but on the blue line. And Vesey? He was traded to Buffalo.
Panarin and Kakko are worth watching this season, while the rest of the team remains to be seen.
How would the Rangers fail?
Henrik Lundqvist stops looking so good all of a sudden. That man is stunning.
Carolina Hurricanes: Pros and Cons
Though the forecast says otherwise, Carolina should actually be closer to playoff contention than you may think coming off their 2019 Eastern Conference Final appearance.
Hurricanes General Manager, Don Waddell, has weathered the storm this offseason. Actually, his job was made pretty easy when the Montreal Canadiens signed Sebastian Aho to a five-year offer sheet worth $8.454 million per season.
Considering the value Aho brings and the potential that’s still there– that’s a steal.
Though a little more than $21 million in signing bonuses through the first two years is considered a “hefty” price for an owner to pay, let’s remember that we’re talking about professional sports.
If Montreal really wanted to make things difficult for Canes owner, Tom Dundon, then they should’ve offered something with a larger cap hit, but that would’ve meant a steeper price to pay in compensation had Carolina not matched the deal. #AdvantageCarolina
Aho will be 27 by the time his new contract runs out, which means he’ll be a pending-UFA in 2024, but there’s plenty of time to worry about the next contract when the time comes.
Right now, the Hurricanes have added some much needed top-six/top-nine forward depth in Erik Haula (acquired from Vegas) and Ryan Dzingel (signed via free agency), while adding a 1st round pick in 2020 (or 2021 if Toronto’s 2020 1st rounder is a top-10 overall selection) and swapping Calvin de Haan with the Chicago Blackhawks for Gustav Forsling (there were other pieces involved, like Anton Forsberg going to Carolina too).
The average age of Carolina’s skaters? 25.
Considering how far the core went in 2018-19, that’s beyond impressive and it’s a testament to head coach, Rod Brind’Amour.
In July, Petr Mrazek re-signed with the Hurricanes on a two-year deal and James Reimer was acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers as Curtis McElhinney signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Though Alex Nedeljkovic might be another year out from competing for the starting job, the crease is Mrazek’s to lose once again with Reimer looking to rebound from a dismal time in Florida.
Carolina is poised for another deep run, but how soon will it be given the fact that their emergence as a contender means that every other team wants to beat them that much more from night-to-night?
How would the Hurricanes fail?
The Canes have a strong analytics department, so the only thing that could naturally disrupt their plans? Regression (and no WiFi).
New Jersey Devils: Pros and Cons
The Devils won the draft lottery and procured Jack Hughes with the 1st overall pick in June.
New Jersey was third-to-last in overall standings last season.
Though they added P.K. Subban in a trade with the Nashville Predators in June, drafted Hughes and have Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier and Will Butcher on their roster, the Devils still need a lot of pieces to improve.
Hall’s a pending-UFA at season’s end. His next deal– whether it’s with New Jersey or not– determines the fate of this team.
Cory Schneider’s still under contract through 2021-22 and Mackenzie Blackwood is only 22-years-old.
Goaltenders are rarely superstars when they’re that young, so while Blackwood may be the starter heading into the season and goalie of the future for the organization– it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some ups and downs before the dust settles.
Now for the good news.
Nikita Gusev was acquired in a trade with the Golden Knights and Ray Shero doesn’t have a lot of no-trade clauses to deal with if the Devils look to sell at the trade deadline.
How would the Devils fail?
If they somehow lose the Taylor Hall trade a few years after winning it.
-
Couturier nets hat trick against Bruins, Flyers win, 4-3
Sean Couturier recorded his first career hat trick in the Philadelphia Flyers’, 4-3, victory Wednesday night over the Boston Bruins on home ice.
Oscar Lindblom had the only other goal for the Flyers, while David Pastrnak and Peter Cehlarik (two goals) did the scoring for Boston.
Carter Hart (5-5-1 record, 2.72 goals against average, .915 save percentage in 11 games played) made 39 saves on 42 shots against for a .929 SV% in the win for Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, Bruins netminder, Jaroslav Halak (13-8-2, 2.46 GAA, .920 SV% in 25 GP) turned aside just 15 out of 19 shots faced for a .789 SV% in the loss and allowed four or more goals in his fourth straight appearance.
With his goal in the first period, Pastrnak surpassed Barry Pederson for the most goals in Bruins franchise history by a player prior to his 23rd birthday.
Pastrnak has 121 career goals, while Pederson notched 120 before turning 23 (3rd-5th, Bobby Orr, 113 goals, Joe Thornton, 101 and Tom Fergus, 98).
As a result of the loss, Boston is now 16-4-3 when scoring first this season.
The B’s fell to 26-15-5 (57 points) on the season and remained 3rd in the Atlantic Division, while the Flyers improved to 18-23-6 (42 points) and now trail the New Jersey Devils by one point for 7th in the Metropolitan Division. In other words, Philadelphia is still last in the Metro.
After Colby Cave was claimed off waivers by the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, the Bruins brass called up 23-year-old, Peter Cehlarik, from the Providence Bruins (AHL).
Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, assured reporters prior to Wednesday night’s battle that Cehlarik would be inserted on the second line, sliding in to the left of David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, with David Backes as the odd forward out of the lineup.
Backes joined John Moore and Steven Kampfer as the healthy scratches out of the lineup against Philadelphia, while Joakim Nordstrom remains sidelined with a non-displaced fibula fracture.
Cassidy made no other changes to his lineup.
Cehlarik riled up the Wells Fargo Center crowd when he boarded Travis Konecny at 1:25 into the first period– even more so when the Flyers weren’t able to score on the ensuing skater advantage.
A few minutes later, Jori Lehtera took a skate to the sin bin for tripping Boston defender, Brandon Carlo, at 4:14.
It only took 15 seconds on the power play for the Bruins to crack the code on Hart as Torey Krug sent a cross-ice pass to Pastrnak (27) for the one-timer from one knee near the side of the goal to give Boston the lead, 1-0.
Pastrnak’s 13th power play goal leads the NHL in that stat category and was assisted by Krug (26) and Brad Marchand (33) at 4:39 of the first period.
Moments later, Cehlarik (1) followed up with his first goal of the season in his 2018-19 debut as Boston entered the zone on a rush led by DeBrusk that began with a pass from Krejci through the neutral zone.
Similar to Pastrnak’s goal, Cehlarik received a pass on the open weak side for the one-timer, but from the opposite side of the ice from where Pastrnak scored his goal from.
DeBrusk (4) and Krejci (27) were credited with the assists on Cehlarik’s first goal of the night and the Bruins led, 2-0, at 9:12.
A few minutes later, Philadelphia answered back on the scoreboard with a similar rush going the opposite way resulting in Lindblom (5) firing a shot past Halak’s blocker side on the short side to cut the lead in half, 2-1.
Claude Giroux (37) and Ivan Provorov (12) had the assists on Lindblom’s goal for the Flyers at 12:44.
Entering the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 12-7, in shots on goal.
Boston also held onto the advantage in blocked shots (6-5) and hits (12-6), while Philly led in takeaways (4-3) and giveaways (7-2). Both teams were 50-50 in face-off win percentage, while the Flyers were 0/1 on the power play and the B’s were 1/1 on the skater advantage through one period.
Early in the second period, with momentum going their way, the Flyers pounced early on a shot by Jakub Voracek that was tipped in by Couturier (17) to tie the game, 2-2, at 5:32 of the middle frame.
Voracek (27) and Travis Sanheim (11) notched the assists on the goal and less than a minute later, Philadelphia had a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of the scoreboard on the power play after Patrice Bergeron tripped up Couturier at 6:10.
Just 37 seconds into the ensuing skater advantage for the Flyers, after Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner failed to convert on a shorthanded bid and were caught up ice, Philadelphia raced back the other way– catching the Bruins lagging behind the play.
With the B’s severely outnumbered, Couturier (18) rocketed home a one-timer goal past Halak to give the Flyers their first lead of the night, 3-2, at 6:47 of the second period.
Wayne Simmonds (8) and Giroux (38) had the assists on Philadelphia’s power play goal and first lead of the night.
Late in the second period, Lehtera hit Ryan Donato from behind and drove Donato’s face into the boards right where the glass meets the dasher, leaving Donato bloodied and headed for the dressing room as per concussion protocol.
Lehtera was given a five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct at 16:48, resulting in a power play for Boston that would carry into the third period.
The B’s failed to convert on their longest– guaranteed– extra skater advantage of the night.
After 40 minutes of play, Philadelphia held onto the lead, 3-2, despite being outshot by Boston, 29-14 (17-7 in the second period alone for the Bruins).
The Flyers dominated blocked shots (18-7), takeaways (9-7) and giveaways (10-5) through two periods as the Bruins entered the second intermission leading in hits (17-13) and face-off win% (58-42).
Both teams were 1/2 on the power play entering the third period.
Early in the final frame, Philadelphia was caught up in a poor line change, resulting in an automatic bench minor penalty for too many men on the ice.
Flyers head coach, Scott Gordon, sent Konecny to serve the minor penalty at 3:39 and Philadelphia killed off the ensuing shorthanded bid.
Scott Laughton hooked Pastrnak at 12:00 of the third period, but the Bruins did not score on the resulting power play opportunity.
Having killed off Laughton’s minor infraction, the Flyers went for the jugular in the vulnerable minute after a power play.
From the face-off dot to the right of Halak, Couturier (19) unloaded a wrist shot that Halak got a chunk of– but not enough of– as the puck twirled past the Boston goaltender and into the twine for Couturier’s first career hat trick at 13:53 of the third period.
Philadelphia led, 4-2, thanks to Couturier’s three goals and Lindblom (9) and Provorov (13) recorded the assists on his third goal Wednesday night.
With under two minutes to go in regulation, Cassidy pulled Halak for the extra attacker.
Boston was able to bring the game back to within one-goal as Marchand threw the puck towards net from almost the goal line for Cehlarik (2) to redirect for his second goal of the night at 18:54.
Marchand (34) and Krug (27) tallied the assists as the Bruins trailed, 4-3.
While attempting to disrupt an otherwise surefire empty net goal for the Flyers, Krejci interfered with Couturier at 19:44 and was surprisingly handed a two-minute minor penalty instead of automatically awarding Couturier with his fourth goal of the night.
The Bruins finished the game shorthanded as the final horn sounded on Philadelphia’s, 4-3, victory.
Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal (42-19), hits (18-17) and face-off win% (57-43), while the Flyers led in blocked shots (30-8) and giveaways (13-10).
The B’s went 1/4 on the power play Wednesday night, while Philly was 1/3.
For the first time since March 3-8, 1999, a player (Couturier) registered a hat trick in the National Hockey League in six consecutive days.
Of note, Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara tied Teemu Selanne for the 3rd most regular season games played by a European born player in league history, reaching his 1,451st career game on Wednesday.
Boston heads back home to take on the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and finish up three games in four nights with a matchup on Saturday against the New York Rangers at TD Garden.
Saturday’s game is also the last game before the All-Star break for the Bruins. Pastrnak is the lone representative for the B’s that will be heading to SAP Center in San Jose, California for the weekend of festivities.
-
Halak records 2nd shutout this season in Bruins 3-0 win
Zdeno Chara kicked off Thursday night’s scoring for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers on home ice and Chara ended scoring too. Jake DeBrusk added a power play goal in between Chara’s goals as Jaroslav Halak and the Bruins shutout the Flyers, 3-0, at TD Garden.
Boston improved to 6-2-2 (14 points) on the season with the win– good enough for 2nd in the Atlantic Division, despite being tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 1st on points (Toronto has one more regulation-plus-overtime win than the Bruins, yielding the tiebreaker).
Philadelphia fell to 4-6-0 (8 points) through their first 10 games, currently sitting 6th in the Metropolitan Division.
Halak (3-0-2, .945 save percentage, 1.43 goals against average in 6 games played) made 26 saves on 26 shots faced for a 1.000 SV% and his 2nd shutout of the season in the win, while Flyers netminder, Brian Elliott (2-5-0, .912 SV%, 3.38 GAA in 8 GP), stopped 22 out of 24 shots faced for a .917 SV% in the loss.
After ending a three-game losing streak in Ottawa, the Bruins now have back-to-back wins with a chance of extending their current winning streak to three games against their arch-rival– the Montreal Canadiens– Saturday night on home ice.
Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, didn’t make any changes to his lineup, save for the National Hockey League debut of Bruins defender, Jeremy Lauzon, out of necessity. Lauzon laced up on the third defensive pair alongside Steven Kampfer in place of the most-recently injured Bruins blue liner, Urho Vaakanainen (concussion).
David Backes (upper body), Torey Krug (lower body), Charlie McAvoy (upper body) and Kevan Miller (hand) also remained out of the lineup Thursday night, though Krug has begun practicing and should return to action next week.
Meanwhile, Lauzon became the first Bruin to wear No. 79 in a regular season game since current defender in the Colorado Avalanche organization (and Marshfield, Massachusetts native), David Warsofsky, did so in the 2014-15 season.
David Pastrnak and Gritty’s favorite Flyer, Claude Giroux, were given matching minor penalties 7:11 into the first period as the opening frame featured largely dull action.
Robert Hagg was guilty of slashing Brad Marchand at 11:27 of the first period and the Bruins went on their first power play of the night, but they failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.
Late in the first period, Chara sent the puck over the glass and received a delay of game minor. The timing of the penalty came at 18:05 of the first period, so the ensuing Flyers power play would carryover into the first five seconds of the second period (unless Philadelphia scored before the end of the period).
After 20 minutes of play, the score remained tied, 0-0, with both teams amassing seven shots on goal. Boston had the advantage in takeaways (7-4), giveaways (2-1) and hits (6-5) entering the first intermission, while both teams were 0/1 on the power play.
The pace of play picked up in the second period, as both Elliott and Halak found themselves locked into a goaltending battle– in which the Bruins netminder made several impressive saves on 2-on-1 opportunities for the Flyers.
Halak’s strong performance (and eventual shutout) serves as a reminder that while there is no goalie controversy in the Hub (Tuukka Rask is the long-term starter), Cassidy’s decision making in determining which goaltender to play any given night (for now) continues to get tougher. It’s generally advisable to go with the hotter hand until one can’t any longer.
That said, Cassidy remained firm on his plans to start Rask Saturday night against the Canadiens after Thursday’s win.
Time (and stats) will tell after that. A little competition is a healthy thing– especially if the team is still able to put up “W’s” in the “win” column.
A little past midway in the second period, Danton Heinen worked the puck back to the point to Chara. The Bruins captain fired a slap shot– from just about the blue line in Boston’s attacking zone– high glove side past Elliott to give the B’s a 1-0 lead while David Krejci tried to screen the Philadelphia goalie from the slot.
The goal was Chara’s 2nd of the season and assisted by Heinen (3) at 13:00 of the second period.
Shortly thereafter, Philadelphia’s bench bungled a line change and was handed a two-minute minor penalty for too many men at 15:32. Travis Konecny served the penalty.
Late into the ensuing power play, the Bruins extended their lead on the scoreboard as Krejci threw a saucer pass to Jake DeBrusk (3) for the redirection from point blank and a 2-0 lead.
Krejci (7) and Kampfer (1) were credited with the assists on DeBrusk’s goal at 17:28. Kampfer’s assist was his first point for Boston since being re-acquired by the Bruins in September and his first point in a black-and-gold sweater in over six years (he had two assists in 10 games for the Bruins in the 2011-12 season prior to being traded).
Through two periods, Boston led Philadelphia, 2-0. Shots on goal were even, 18-18, while the Flyers led in blocked shots (12-9) and face-off win percentage (65-35). The Bruins held onto the advantage in takeaways (11-8) and hits (12-9) after 40 minutes of play.
Both teams had five giveaways each entering the second intermission, while the Flyers were 0/1 on the power play and the Bruins were 1/2.
Early in the third period, tempers started to flare as they usually do when the Big Bad Bruins square off with the Broad Street Bullies as Steven Kampfer and Scott Laughton got into a kerfuffle. Wayne Simmonds even jumped in as a third-man in and penalties soon followed.
Despite clearly attempting to fight with his gloves off, Kampfer was handed a four-minute double minor penalty for roughing, while Laughton received a two-minute roughing penalty.
Simmonds also received a roughing minor at 6:38 of the third period, resulting in a power play for the Flyers, thanks to Kampfer’s four-minute double minor.
Ryan Donato served one of Kampfer’s penalties in the box.
Late in the penalty kill for Boston, Chara tripped up Konecny and was sent to the box on a minor penalty for tripping (of course) at 8:34. The Flyers would have four seconds on a two-skater advantage before resuming play under a normal 5-on-4 power play scenario.
Philadelphia did not convert on either power play opportunity.
At 14:30 of the third period, Konecny himself was summoned to the sin bin for tripping Bruins forward, David Pastrnak.
Just under two minutes later, while on the power play, DeBrusk got into a shoving match with Flyers defender, Andrew MacDonald.
DeBrusk was going to be penalized for interference, while MacDonald received a slashing minor after a quick conference held by the refs once things settled down after the whistle.
Why did it take so long in comparison to the other penalties? Well, a scrum ensued and a slew of penalties followed in the same stoppage as the original DeBrusk retaliation call based on MacDonald’s infraction.
Laughton received another roughing minor– this time against DeBrusk– and was sent to the locker room early on a ten-minute misconduct. This additional two-minute penalty against the Flyers resulted in an abbreviated 5-on-3 power play for Boston for about 27 seconds, while Oskar Lindblom served Laughton’s penalty at 16:03 of the third period.
As time expired on Lindblom’s time in the box, the door opened and the puck rolled right by as a Bruins player was chasing it down.
Lindblom tried to play the puck while still in the penalty box. His feet had not set foot on the ice, thereby resulting in an automatic interference penalty and Boston went back on the power play at 18:06.
With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Flyers head coach, Dave Hakstol pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker. Things didn’t go as planned.
Halak sent the puck from the trapezoid to his captain along the boards behind the goal line, where Chara (3) then flung the puck through the air and into the empty net at the other end of the ice for the empty net power play goal at 19:37.
That’s right, Chara scored from the endboards in his own zone for what’s undoubtedly the longest empty net power play goal in NHL history. For all intents and purposes, he could’ve been having a cannoli at Mike’s Pastry in the North End and hit the net.
Halak (1) picked up his first point as a Bruin in the form of an assist on Chara’s goal and Boston secured the 3-0 victory at the final horn.
The Bruins finished the night ahead on the scoreboard, but trailed the Flyers in shots on goal (26-25), blocked shots (14-13), giveaways (9-7), hits (17-16), penalty minutes (26-12) and face-off win% (60-40). Philadelphia went 0/3 on the power play, while the B’s went 2/5 on Thursday.
Among other stats…
Chara (41 years, 221 days) became the third defender in the NHL to score multiple goals in a game at 41 years of age or older, joining Tim Horton (41 years, 277 days) and Nicklas Lidstrom (41 years, 191 days).
Despite winning, 3-0, no Bruins skater was more than a plus-one in plus/minus Thursday night. Heinen, Krejci, DeBrusk, Chara and John Moore were all plus-one, while Chara led the way for Boston in shots on goal with five.
Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak and DeBrusk were the next highest with three shots on net.
Noel Acciari led the B’s in the physical department with three hits and Brandon Carlo led his team in blocked shots with four.
Nolan Patrick, Laughton, Jakub Voracek, MacDonald and Shayne Gostisbehere were all minus-ones for the Flyers, while Claude Giroux led his teammates with five shots on goal. Travis Sanheim was the next closest with four.
Gostisbehere, Hadd and Corban Knight each recorded two hits for Philadelphia and Gostisbehere led his teammates in blocked shots with four.
The Bruins take on the Canadiens Saturday night on home ice for their next matchup before venturing out on the road to visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 30th and the Nashville Predators on Nov. 3rd as part of a quick, two-game, road trip.
-
2018 Offseason Preview: Philadelphia Flyers
Our offseason previews for all 31 National Hockey League teams continues with the Philadelphia Flyers and their outlook for the summer.
The 2017-18 Philadelphia Flyers pulled themselves into 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division with a late season surge ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils by one point.
Philadelphia’s 42-46-14 record lauded them 98 points on the season under the guidance of head coach, Dave Hakstol, and in a First Round matchup with their intrastate rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Despite a breakout performance in the postseason by Sean Couturier and back-and-forth offense all series long (in games that weren’t lopsided), the Flyers succumbed to Pittsburgh in six games on home ice in their first playoff appearance since 2016 and first postseason meeting with the Penguins since the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
As usual, goaltending was an issue with Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth sustaining injuries late in the season, leading General Manager Ron Hextall to acquire Petr Mrazek as an insurance policy down the stretch from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a conditional 2018 third round pick and a conditional 2019 fourth round pick.
2018 NHL Entry Draft
Hextall has two first round picks at his disposal with the 14th overall selection via the St. Louis Blues (thanks to last June’s Brayden Schenn deal for Jori Lehtera, a 2017 first round pick (Morgan Frost) and a conditional 2018 first round pick) and their own 19th overall selection in the 2018 Draft.
With two mid-round picks in the first round, Hextall can lay claim to two of the best available picks or go off the board in accordance with however his scouting department values talent– I’m not the expert here. Then again, he could flip one or both first round picks for assets.
But if you’re a Flyers fan, you likely could see Ty Smith, Bode Wilde, Barrett Hayton, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joseph Veleno, Jack McBain, Grigori Denisenko, Serron Noel, Jared McIsaac or Ryan Merkley walking up the draft stage in Dallas in less than a week grabbing a hold of Philadelphia’s classic orange-and-black sweater.
Pending free agents
Philly has about $17.200 million to spend on free agents this summer and only a handful of pending UFAs and RFAs.
Matt Read, 32, and Valtteri Filppula, 34, are the club’s only current NHL roster pending-UFAs.
Read only appeared in 19 games for the Flyers this season, scoring one goal and recording 16 shots on net. After reaching the 40-point plateau twice in his career with Philadelphia in 2011-12 and 2013-14, his offensive production has only declined since 2014, yielding 30 points in 2014-15, 26 points in 2015-16 and 19 in 2016-17.
Filppula was traded to the Flyers by the Tampa Bay Lightning at last year’s trade deadline, served as an alternate captain this season and had 11-22–33 totals in 81 games. His numbers are respectable, though he hasn’t replicated his 58-point season with the Lightning in 2013-14.
A third round pick (95th overall) of the Red Wings in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, Filppula should see more time in the City of Brotherly Love if there’s a mutual attraction. Just maybe not at the $5.000 million cap hit he had on his five-year contract he signed with Tampa in July 2013.
24-year-old Taylor Leier makes up the only pending-RFA forward on Philadelphia’s roster and played in 39 games with the Flyers this season (the most he’s been a part of since breaking into the league in 2015-16). Leier had one goal and four assists (five points) and is not an offensive threat by any means.
Hextall could let Leier walk without tendering a qualifying offer and that’d be fine.
It’s not so much about what the Flyers do this summer, but rather what Hextall and his front office is proactively planning to do next summer that makes a world of a difference (glancing at the current NHL roster alone and ignoring any potential additions via trade or free agency).
There’s six players currently on Philadelphia’s NHL club that could test the open market in July 2019, including Lehtera, Wayne Simmonds, Michael Raffl, Jordan Weal, Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny.
The obvious standouts of those names are Simmonds (who’ll be in the midst of his prime and entering his 30s) and Konecny (who will be coming off of his entry-level contract). Both are sure to expect a raise and long term deals if they see themselves attached to the city for a while.
And with only two roster players signed past the 2021-22 season in Jakub Voracek (2023-24) and Shayne Gostisbehere (2022-23), Hextall will soon have to start navigating the future of the new core in Konecny, Nolan Patrick and crew.
Perhaps Hextall would float the idea of moving 29-year-old forward, Dale Weise, and his $2.350 million cap hit through the 2019-20 season with the future in mind.
On defense, the Flyers have two pending-UFAs in Brandon Manning and Johnny Oduya and one pending-RFA in Robert Hagg.
Manning, 28, had his best season with 7-12–19 totals in 65 games played, while Oduya, 36, signed with the Ottawa Senators last July as a free agent and was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia on February 26th. The Swedish defender recorded four goals and four assists with Ottawa this season and played in one game for the Flyers.
Hagg, 23, played his first full-season with Philadelphia in 2017-18, amassing 3-6–9 totals in 70 games played in his rookie season.
Both Manning and Hagg are part of the solution on Philly’s blueline, while Oduya will more than likely test the waters of free agency once more in the NHL.
In goal, Elliott, 33, Neuvirth, 30, and Mrazek, 26, are currently listed on the NHL roster.
Elliott had one-year left on his two-year deal with a $2.750 million cap hit, while Neuvirth also has one-year remaining on his current contract at $2.500 million.
For the second year in a row, Elliott’s goals against average increased and his save percentage worsened as a starting goalie. In 43 games this season, he had a 2.66 GAA and .909 SV%.
Neuvirth improved from 2016-17 to 2017-18 in six fewer games as Philadelphia’s backup, finishing the year with a 2.60 GAA and .915 SV%.
Mrazek is a pending-RFA coming off his worst season. In 22 games with Detroit this season, the Czech goaltender had a 2.89 GAA and .910 SV%. That’s less than ideal, but considering the Red Wings ongoing rebuild… Mrazek didn’t do himself any favors with a playoff bound team in the Flyers, amassing a 3.22 GAA and .891 SV% in 17 games.
On the surface it may appear as though the annual revolving door of goaltenders in Philadelphia may continue, but there’s some promise in their goaltending prospects.
Philly could have a situation very much like their rival in Pittsburgh currently has where Matt Murray is the starter and Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith constantly battle for the backup role while all being close in age.
The Flyers should make Neuvirth their starter– in the meantime, as the search continues for a legitimate starter– with Alex Lyon and Anthony Stolarz (both pending-RFAs this July) competing for the backup role.
Other pending free agents throughout the organization include:
Reece Wilcox (RFA), Colin McDonald (UFA), Samuel Morin (RFA), Tyrell Goulbourne (RFA), Alex Lyon (RFA), John Muse (UFA), Dustin Tokarski (UFA), Danick Martel (RFA), Anthony Stolarz (RFA), Will O’Neill (UFA)
Down the Frozen River 
You must be logged in to post a comment.