Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Game 1 Summary

Well the Flyers were finally back in action tonight after a very long period off (a very painful time for the fans).  I can not express the words that could even come close to describing the excitement that I had waiting for the game to come on this evening.  The start of Flyers season is the most exciting sports day of the year for me.  Now that we are passed all of my excitement, let's talk about the game.

The game started off great, then went to decent, then finished just plain bad (where Flyers are taking out other Flyers in the offensive zone).  One thing is for sure, Vinny L is going to be a huge asset to this team moving forward.  Bernier stood on his head for the Leafs tonight, and I think that was the Flyers undoing this game.  There is one thing that has carried over from last year, and that is that the Flyers continue to turn the puck over in between the two blue lines.  Scottie H had a really rough game missing wide open nets, turning the puck over, and at times just looking old.  The Flyers powerplay became the powerless play towards the end of the game.  Kimmo I love you bud, but that was a horrible penalty with an empty net, you need to make better decisions than that.

Here is the good news, the defense looks so much better.  Words can not even begin to express how much better and healthier this unit looked.  Say what you want about Streit, but he played a great game and really helps getting the puck up the ice.  Mason played a REALLY good game, and the three goals that he let in could not have been stopped (the last was at the end of the game).  Honestly, it looks like he picked right up from where he left off last year.  The Flyers are also winning face-offs, which is a major improvement from last year.

Three Stars:

3rd: B. Schenn - this kid scored a goal, and got into a fight.  Played a solid two-way game the whole game, and anyone watching can see that he looks better than last year already.

2nd: Vinny L and Mark Streit:  Both of the new guys really stepped up tonight and showed why they needed to be added this off-season.

1st: I hate to give this spot to someone on the other team but Bernier was amazing tonight.  Really nothing else that I can say.

Good, Bad, Ugly (this is something that I am adding this year):

Good:  It looks like the Flyers have really cleaned up a lot of issues form last year.  They ran into a goalie tonight that stood on his head, you just have to tip your cap.

Bad: G. Honestly I got tired by the third period of him trying to do it all himself with people wide open on the wings.  PASS THE PUCK G!!!! I think he will see this on film this week and it should be fixed by Saturday.

Ugly: 1 for 7 on the powerless play.  Need I say any more? It just seemed to get worse and worse as the game went on.

Next Game: Flyers play in Montreal, and this should be an interesting game.  I think Danny B will be highly motivated, and it will be nice to see him again (just not in red and blue).  I think that if they play as hard as they did in the first period tonight they will come out with a win.  I know they lost tonight but I feel pretty good about the season moving forward from here.