The Philadelphia Flyers special teams got off to a good start entering the stretch run of the season and they’ll need that to continue for the rest of the season.
The Flyers are only five points out of the second wild card spot for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The special teams will be a big part of whether or not the Flyers stay in the playoff race or fall out of it. The power play and penalty kill have been anything but special for the majority of the year. The power play was generating chances but not scoring until the last seven games where they have tallied nine power play goals in 30 opportunities (30%). The team had only 19 power play goals in 123 opportunities before the seven game stretch (15.4%).
The Flyers are creating chances on their power plays but need to keep finding the back of the net on a regular basis. They have good puck movement and always seem to have the opposing goaltender screened by either Wayne Simmonds or Brayden Schenn. The top unit of Schenn, Claude Giroux, Simmonds, Jake Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere is out on the ice a lot for the Flyers, There is a drastic dropoff in point production and talent from the top unit to the second one. The second power play unit of Matt Read, Sean Couturier, Michael Raffl, Mark Streit and Evgeny Medvedev has only contributed four power play goals to go along with 13 total points. Streit has four of those power play points and he was on the top unit until he was injured earlier in the season.
The penalty kill has been terrible and inconsistent all year long, only killing off 77.3% of the penalties taken. The Flyers have missed a couple of their regular penalty killers during the course of the season due to injury like Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Couturier, but it still needs to be better. Philadelphia has taken 163 penalties (11th most) and have allowed 36 power play goals against, which is the fifth most in the league. The penalty kill can look good for a majority of a game and then five up a big goal in the crucial minutes of a close game. The Flyers have also gone stretches without allowing a power play goal against and then will go several games in a row allowing them.
The special teams need to more consistent especially the penalty kill. If the Flyers stopped taking so many penalties during the course of games then that would cut down on the amount of time that the penalty killers are needed. The turnovers and failed clears on the penalty kill need to stop because they give the opposition more offensive zone time and chances. The power play has been better over the last seven games, but could be even better if the Orange and Black could get the second unit contributing so they’d have two dangerous units heading down the stretch.
The Flyers special teams need to be better down the stretch especially if this team wants to keep pace in the wild card race.
This is certainly a silly pre-Valentines Day post: I couldn’t resist sharing these adorable free printable hockey themed Valentines Day cards. Finding specific hockey Valentines Day cards in the store can be a feat for your little hockey fan – this is a fun alternative.
Stay tuned for a simple Valentines Day DIY project with a hockey theme!
*We have no affiliation with the website that is offering the templates. If you have comments or concerns regarding them, you should contact their site for information. We just loved the concept and wanted to share with our readers.
The story was all too familiar on Tuesday night as the Boston Bruins played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the fourth of five tilts between the division rivals. In the previous three games the Bruins had been able to pull out the win. Unfortunately the fourth time was not the charm. Instead, it was like a scene from Groundhog Dayas those watching the game saw Boston go up by two goals only to lose the game. Considering that it was, in fact, Groundhog Day, it’s easy to wonder if the Bruins were reliving a game–rather than a day–over again. If anything positive could be taken from the game it was the fact that they managed to get a critical point by forcing the game to overtime.
At the end of the first period, while shots on goal were even for both teams, the Bruins were ahead on the score sheet, off a wrist shot by Brad Marchand. The Leafs’ head coach, Mike Babcock felt that his goalie, James Reimer, had been impeded and exercised his Coach’s Challenge, but the call on the ice stood. As the second period pushed on the Leafs were outshooting Boston, so it was not a surprise when Daniel Winnik scored his fourth of the season with a tip-in. The period would end with the teams tied but the Bruins had managed to increase their pressure, ultimately outshooting the Leafs in those twenty minutes.
It looked like Boston was determined to get the win as they came out in the third period with Marchand getting his second of the night just 55 seconds into the final frame of regulation. That was followed 26 seconds later by David Krejci taking advantage of a rebound. Less than two minutes into the last period and the Bruins were up 3-1.
There was a time when that would have been enough to seal the deal on the game. They would have continued to push until the final horn, garnering the two points in regulation. However, the current team has given up too many two-goal leads this season. In fact, where once this was a guarantee of a win, this season it almost always results in a loss.
Bruins struggle to keep lead.
And that would be the case this time. While Marchand and Krejci were all about the wrist shots, the Leafs were all about the tip-ins, as Leo Komarov cut the Bruins’ lead in half at 9:02 of the third and then roughly two and a half minutes later Nazem Kadri would tie it up. All three of their goals were tip-ins and all three came from roughly the same spot.
“That’s what we need to work on. That’s what I’m trying to say, like when it’s three to one we need to be able to put a team away, and that’s something we need to figure out,” Kevan Miller shared postgame, with obvious frustration. “Every team’s capable of winning on any night, but I think it’s games that we should win, especially at home. We need to start getting that in order.”
As the teams took it to overtime, Krejci would get called just 1:48 into the extra inning for holding, giving the Leafs a 4-on-3 opportunity that they would capitalize on just 1:18 into the power play.
So just where is that team with the ability to keep pushing even when they are ahead?
“I thought we came out hard; we came out in the third period especially to win the game. We got two good goals. I feel like after that we stopped playing on our toes and we started playing on our heels,” Krejci explained. “But like I said I guess we stopped playing to win after we scored those two good goals.”
Responses from all the players in the Bruins locker room were edgy with frustration, and perhaps that is a good thing. The Big Bad Bruins—even the modern version—need emotion. Frustration may not be the optimum emotion, but it shows that they are aware of how things are progressing and how tenuous their position in the playoff race is if they continue to give up leads in this manner.
“You know, good teams, they put lots of games together. And it seems we play a few games good, then a few games we let slip away. So obviously we have a long way to be a great team,” Krejci summed up. “So we have to learn from those mistakes but this is the time to do it. We don’t want to be playing catch-up hockey in March or April. So any point is crucial and we definitely let this one slip away from us.”
The Philadelphia Flyers are only five points out of the second wild card playoff spot coming
off of the All-Star Break. The have only played 47 games this season and will be a busy
hockey team starting February 2.
In their first week back, they have four games in six days including a back-to-back with
the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals over the weekend. Philadelphia could still
be without second line center, Sean Couturier, who has missed the last three games prior to
the All-Star break with a lower body injury. The Flyers will play the Montreal Canadiens,
Nashville Predators, Rangers and Capitals in their first week back from the break. All four
teams are in the thick of the playoff race.
The Flyers will return from the break to face the Canadiens, who have struggled since the
loss of goaltender Carey Price on November 25 to an injury, on Tuesday. In the first 23
games, the Canadiens scored 83 goals and only let in 51 goals, but in the last 27 games
without Price, they’ve only scored 53 goals, while allowing 83. The Flyers had struggled to
score goals until line changes were made on December 15 when Jake Voracek was put
together with Sean Couturier. Prior to the line change, the Flyers were only
averaging about two goals per game, but since then they’re averaging 2.76 goals per
game. They were 12-12-6 prior to the line changes on December 15, but have a
record of 9-6-2 since the changes were made.
This game will be an important game for both teams because if the Flyers win, they will be
tied with the Canadiens in the standings and have a chance to keep pace in the playoff
race for the second wild card spot. If the Canadiens win, they will be able to put some
distance between the two teams in the standings. The Flyers have won the only matchup
between the two teams so far this season with a 4-3 regulation win.
The Flyers will need to stay out of the penalty box against the Canadiens since they have
30 power play goals on the season, which is 12th best in the league. The Canadiens’
goalies have been struggling to stop pucks so the Flyers need to just shoot from every
angle and hope some pucks find the back of the net. The Canadiens may be struggling to
score but that doesn’t mean the Flyers won’t have to try and contain their top two lines.
The Canadiens will need to pay close attention to Brayden Schenn, who has one goal, two
assists and three points in one game played against them this season.
Then on Thursday night the Flyers will visit the Nashville Predators, who they beat in their only matchup in overtime. The Predators have been struggling to score at even strength all
season so the Flyers need to play a solid even strength game. The Flyers also need to
get pucks and traffic towards the goaltenders, especially if the goalie is Pekka Rinne. Rinne
has struggled throughout the season and has allowed the second most goals in the NHL
(101). The Flyers need to stay out of the penalty box against the Predators because
they have 33 power play goals, which is good for seventh overall. Philadelphia also needs to
capitalize on their own power play opportunities because the Predators penalty kill is ranked
25th out of 30 teams at 79.1%.
On Saturday afternoon, the Flyers play host to the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers have a 2-0-1 record against their Metropolitan foes this season with two of the
games ending in a shootout. They need to establish the forecheck early against the
Rangers since they’ve scored the second most even strength goals this season. If the
Rangers are trapped in their own end of the ice then it’ll be hard for them to get anything
going in the Flyers end of the ice. The Rangers will want to try and contain Wayne Simmonds, who has three goals, two assists and five points in three games played against
them this season. Simmonds and the team also need to capitalize on their power play
chances since the Rangers have the eighth worst penalty kill in the league. The Flyers will
need to keep an eye on J.T. Miller, who has two goals in three games played against
them this season.
The Flyers face the Capitals in the second game of a back-to-back on Sunday
afternoon. The Capitals are the best team in the NHL and have four lines that can score.
The Flyers need to stay out of the penalty box because Washington has the best power
play in the NHL, and both power play units can produce. Philadelphia needs to
establish a forechecking game early which will force the Capitals to turn the puck over, possibly
leading to scoring chances or goals. The Flyers need to get traffic in front of the
goaltenders especially if Braden Holtby is playing because he’s having a Vezina type
season so far and is stopping anything he can see. At the same time, Philadelphia will need to try
and shut down the Capitals top two scoring lines.
If the Flyers want to hang around in the playoff race then they’ll have to start playing
better special teams and winning the games that they have in hand on those teams
in front of them in the standings.
A few weeks ago, John Scott was content playing about 10 shifts a game in his 11 games with the Arizona Coyotes. He had one assist (Nov. 12) and 25 penalty minutes. His plus/minus balanced out at zero.
Like a fairytale he’d read his daughters, he’s since become a celebrity man of honor, a hero, and an NHL All-Star Captain and MVP.
With his first shot on his first shift in his first All-Star Game, which he nearly didn’t attend, Scott gave the Pacific Division a 2-0 lead over the Central Division.
At 3:27 into the second period, Scott scored again, going top-shelf on a breakaway for a 5-3 lead in what would be a 9-6 victory.
And while there were four two-goal scorers in this semi-final game, Scott was by far the fan favorite.
“I never, in a million years, believed I would’ve been in an All-Star Game,” Scott said. “To have the fans get behind me like that, to score two goals in a game, you can’t put it into words.
“You can’t write this stuff. It’s unbelievable how it happened.”
The Pacific would go on to win 1-0 against the Atlantic in the final.
And then, the NHL announced its three Twitter fan vote MVP finalists: Taylor Hall (2 goals, 1 assist), Johnny Gaudreau, (1 goal, 2 assists), and Roberto Luongo (8 saves on 10 shots in the first game and 10/10 in the second).
They were to vote by tweeting: #votemvphall, #votemvpgaudreau, or #votemvpluongo.
Bridgestone Arena erupted in a loud, deep “Booooo.”
When Scott next stepped on the ice, fans chanted “M-V-P, M-V-P.” In fact, they did so each of his shifts the remainder of the game.
“I was sitting next to Johnny and Taylor on the bench, and I said, ‘You guys better give me that van, because I need it,’” Scott said after the game.
His wife is expecting twins any day. They already have two young daughters. All were in attendance for the weekend.
Twitter went crazy: #votemvpscott took over from fans and professional hockey accounts.
The league had no choice. His votes by far outnumbered those of the suggested MVP entries. And Scott was anointed 2016 NHL All-Star Most Valuable Player.
It’s the stuff of dreams and storybooks. It seemed like a long-shot because him being in the game was such an issue. But his performance on the ice was certainly that of an All-Star.
“You know what, he truly deserved it. That’s the funniest thing. He deserved it. The fans voted for him and he deserved it. He played good,” veteran All-Star Jaromir Jagr said. “If somebody’s very unwanted, he becomes [a] hero. That’s why I love it. There was the story. The guy was unwanted from the NHL and I think from the NHL, whatever happened today I think it’s probably [one of] the best stories to happen at [the] All-Star Game.”
In an age where “enforcers,” are being phased out, a 33-year-old with a hockeyfights.com record higher than his scoring record, the league seemed to think he’d put a dent in their annual exhibition.
P.K. Subban laid it all out on the ice to give the Atlantic Division a win in Game 1 of the NHL All-Star three-on-three tournament. In his premiere appearance, the Montreal defenseman scored the game-winner and put his body between potential shots and goalie Ben Bishop to keep the 4-3 score as the clock ticked down.
The Metropolitan Division came out hot with Kris Letang scoring high glove-side off a feed from Evgeni Malkin just 1:01 after puck-drop.
They wouldn’t stay tied for long, however. Erik Karlsson took a feed from Dylan Larkin to the high slot and fired a wrister in to tie the game.
Off a Larkin pass, with 48 seconds left in the first period, Jagr double-deked Braden Holtby for a top-shelf goal.
And, less than 45 seconds into the second period, Malkin scored with a very patient spin-o-rama set up by Brandon Saad and a Cory Schneider goalie assist.
Then, Subban took a pass from goalie Ben Bishop, passed to Larkin, then took a pass-back from Larkin and fired it in for the lead with 4:48 remaining in the game.
This high-scoring matchup included four two-goal scorers and a slew of hometown fan favorite Predator players, but Scott, of course would stand out with his highlight reel shown above.
The 2016 Honda NHL® All-Star Game will be a three-game tournament played in a 3-on-3 format.
The tournament will feature four teams, one team representing each NHL Division: the Pacific, Central, Metropolitan and Atlantic.
Each team is made up of 11 players from each Division: six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.
All NHL Rules apply to each game. Each game will be 20 minutes in length, with two 10-minute periods per game.
There will be a hard whistle at the 10-minute mark of each game. At this time, teams and goalies will change ends.
Video Review will be used to confirm all goals. NHL Hockey Operations will initiate any potential coach’s challenge reviews.
All minor penalties will be one-minute in length. Manpower advantages during these penalties will reflect current NHL Rules, where at no time will a team have less than three players on the ice–this may require a fourth and/or fifth skater to be added.
Games that are tied after 20 minutes will be decided by a shootout using current NHL shootout rules.
All three games will be officiated by referees Dan O’Rourke and Ian Walsh, and linesman Jonny Murray and Vaughan Rody.
In the first game, the Atlantic Division All-Stars (wearing black) will face the Metropolitan Division All-Stars (wearing white). In the second game, the Central Division All-Stars (wearing black) will face the Pacific Division All-Stars (wearing white). The winner of each semifinal will face-off in the Final.
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