Pregame
Philadelphia
Flyers vs. Calgary Flames
Wells
Fargo Center, Philadelphia
January
5, 2019
Game
Time – 1 p.m.
The
Philadelphia
Flyers
(15-20-5, 35 points) entered the game in last place in the Eastern
Conference's Metropolitan Division. The team was also tied for last
place in the National Hockey League with the Ottawa Senators and the
Los Angeles Kings. The Calgary Flames (25-13-4, 54 points) were in
first place in the Western Conference's Pacific Division. The team
was also tied for second place in the NHL with the Toronto Maple
Leafs and Las Vegas Golden Knights.
The
Flames beat the Flyers 6-5 in Calgary on December 12, 2018. Today is
the second and final game of the season series.
Today's
forty-first game of the season represents a disappointing halfway
point, but more importantly the unmasking of the organization. Chuck
Fletcher is now the General Manager, with Ron Hextall being relieved
of his duties in November. Then, head coach Dave Hakstol was dropped
weeks later, which caused the elevation of Lehigh Valley Phantoms
head coach Scott Gordon to the interim head coach slot.
The
lack of enough effective players turned this campaign into something
like the 2006-07 season. However that era quickly brought a
bounce-back to next season's deep playoff run and the 2010 Stanley
Cup appearance.
On
a personal note...The pregame meal on the Event Level dining room
always provides the opportunity to talk with a wide variety of people
who are connected to the game in one fashion, or another. Today, I
had the opportunity to share brunch with a Korean War Veteran, who,
like my own dad (in Vietnam), served his country. These men represent
the reason why the casual freedom of a hockey game can be taken in on
this rainy, early-January day in 2019.
Thank
you isn't a two-word cliché. It represents our culture's maturity,
in that people rightly see what so many great military people
sacrificed to make America unique in modern world history. That point
isn't rationally debated.
On a
much lighter note - President
Paul Holmgren was seen in the halls on the press level. Gritty was
later spotted, meaning that his services have been retained during
this season of change.
First
Period
Carter
Hart started in goal for Philadelphia. David Rittich was in net for
Calgary.
Only
six total shots on goal, through the first five minutes and fifty
seconds of the afternoon tilt. Yes, it wasn't overly compelling.
A
“Let's Go Flyers” chant was heard with around nine minutes
remaining in the period. It's lack of velocity reflected a deflated
fan base that knows this, in all likelihood won't be another
Cup-winning year.
While
Fletcher's track record is sound. He'll need to make a series of wise
trades leading to the Trade Deadline in February and then follow that
with impactful free agent signings this summer. In contrast, these
analytical thoughts are not ones that are rampant among Flames'
writers.
And
then...the rather full crowd's cheer pulled this scribe's eyes from
the keyboard, as Travis Sandheim potted a puck past Rittich at 12:10.
Ivan Provorov and Jordan Weal got the assists. It was Sandheim's
fourth goal of the season and it came on the power play.
Post-Christmas
and New Year's, the Wells Fargo Center's stands were filled with
plenty of people. Talk of empty seats earlier in the year weren't
applicable today.
Travis
Konecny's frenetic energy is fully evident when the full ice can be
seen. He should remain a keeper for this team. He, along with Hart,
Claude Giroux, Provorov, and Sean Couturier comprise what is (or
should be) the team's core five.
Shots
– Flyers 13, Flames 11.
Second
Period
Johnny
Gaudreau tied the game at at 8:51 with an even strength goal, his
thirteenth of the season. Assists to Sean Monahan and Noah Hanifin.
Credit
to the Flyers for hanging with one of the better teams in the League.
They can secure at least a point, or more with a full-period effort
in the third.
Shots
– Flyers 25, Flames 21.
Third
Period
Konecny,
referenced earlier, glided into the offensive zone, took advantage of
a Flame's misplay, and buried the puck into the net. Rittich was ten
feet away the crease, in the left side faceoff circle, and was
attempting to corral the puck. It was the Flyers top right winger's
(in this game) tenth tally of the season, coming at 5:57, and was
unassisted.
Matthew
Tkachuk (his nineteenth of the season) wristed a shot past Hart at
15:43. Assists to Sam Bennett and Hanifin.
Flyers
have rarely set up in the offensive zone during the entire game, or
haven't been there for many rebound shots. So, they were fortunate to
have led so late in the game.
Into OT both
teams go.
Overtime
Period
At
1:59 into the free hockey frame, the Flyers' flaws exposed, as Flames
scored to win game. T.J. Brodie scored his fifth of the season, with
the assist going to Tkachuk.
The breakdown in this extra period revealed what happens
when Philadelphia has less bodies on the ice and can't compensate for
errors, such as the one Jordan Weal made when he turned over the puck
in the offensive zone and the Flames took it the other way to end the
game.
Final
shot total: Flyers 34, Flames 32.
Final
score: Flames 3, Flyers 2.
Next
up the Flyers host the St. Louis Blues, who started today only one
point ahead of Philadelphia in overall points (36-35). That game will
be played Monday.
Postgame
Quotes
Responses to media questions after the game:
Philadelphia
Flyers D Ivan Provorov
Does
a loss like this kind of define what’s happened the first half of
the year, you guys played 50 minutes of good hockey and then
something seems to just not go right?
Yeah,
honestly I’m not sure what happened, we were playing well, I think
we sat back a little too much after the five minute mark and gave up
a goal.
Was
that pretty frustrating on the guys in here?
Yeah, we
keep having the lead and then all of the sudden we just give up goals
and end up losing in overtime or at the end of games. It’s
frustrating, but we have to learn from it and move on.
Carter
Hart, what have you seen from him so far, this in anyway wasn’t his
fault?
He’s a
great player, great goalie, battles hard, and he’ll only get better
for now.
You
guys have had so much of the same story, this being the halfway point
of the season is this one game where you can turn the page and say
forget the first 41 and focus on the rest?
I don’t
think we’re waiting for the 41st game for the mark
to just turn the page, we’re trying to turn the page, sometimes it
takes longer than you want, but we’re sticking with it and we’re
going to continue to work.
Philadelphia
Flyers C Travis Konecny
You
guys played a lot with the lead, did it just feel like there was a
lot less pressure when you were in that scenario?
“Obviously
we want to play with the lead, it’s a lot easier that way. It’s
hard chasing games and it’s tough on us as well. We played a pretty
solid game tonight.”
[Inaudible
question]
“I
think we know what it is, I don’t really know right now. It’s
tough because like I said, we’re playing good hockey. It just seems
like teams are just scoring on those one opportunities that they’re
getting. It usually doesn’t go that way, but that’s just the way
it’s going for us right now. It’s happened two times to us. We
keep going back, we’re playing really solid games, I think tonight
was one of our better ones.”
Flyers
D Travis Sanheim
For
as much you played in that game with the lead was it hard, these
days, to even feel good about that?
Yeah, it’s
obviously pretty frustrating. Felt like we had control most of the
game. A couple breakdowns and that cost us the game.
The
way that we talk about offensive opportunities, where it’s if
you’re getting them and one bounce here or there it doesn’t go
your way, do you feel like the opposite on the defensive side now?
Where you make one mistake and it ends up in the back of your net?
Yeah, kind
of feels that way lately. Because they’re not giving up a ton and
yet you have one breakdown and it’s in the back of your net. They
have their players on the other side, and they capitalize with their
opportunities.
First
half of the season and today, does it seem like a game like this sort
of typifies the frustration of you guys play a good game for 55
minutes and then something goes wrong?
Yeah, it’s
kind of been the course where first half we play the majority of the
game pretty well and do a lot of things well yet, we end up on the
wrong side of things.
Flyers
C Jordan Weal
Did
you just lose it there on that last goal?
Oh yeah, it
bounced. Just bounced on me, plain and simple. Gotta be a little
harder on that though, bear down make the right play.
Does
it feel like with any simple little mistake that gets made, it ends
up blowing up in to a goal against?
That seems
like what it’s been like the past couple weeks now. Something
little happens and it just snowballs in to a goal against. We got to
play smart 200-foot hockey if we’re going to get out of this and
that wasn’t it.
How
hard does that make it mentally to really kind of delve in to the x’s
and o’s and really look at a game and try and take away positives
from it? If any little thing becomes a big thing.
Well I
think we’ve gotten better at it. If a guy makes a mistake out
there, because it’s going to happen it’s hockey, we’re really
backing the guys up. There’s a couple of plays out there where guys
had great back checks and stole pucks. TK comes to mind there, that’s
just helping your team mates out and that’s what a team is for.
We’re starting to get better at that, but got some room to go, just
got to eliminate those little things that are shooting ourselves in
the foot.
Philadelphia
Flyers G Carter Hart
Considering
the job that the guys did in front of you on the Monahan, Gaudreau
line, do you feel pretty comfortable with the way you were able to
see the puck and the chances that they were getting, not being the
grade A all alone out front?
“Like
you said, we did a good job of limiting their chances. Shut down
their top line for most of the night. It’s disappointing to come
out with a result like that. I thought we really battled hard tonight
and the guys really wanted to win. It’s tough when you come out
with result like that.”
What
was clicking in your game tonight that wasn’t the last time?
“I
was seeing the puck, I felt comfortable, I wasn’t overthinking
things and just stuck to my game.”
How
difficult were the days after that Carolina game?
“I
think after that night happened you just put it behind you the next
day and move on.”
Did
you know Tkachuk was there on the second goal?
“Yeah,
it was a good shot above the pad. It was definitely a savable puck
for sure.”
Philadelphia
Flyers RW Dale Weise
Dale
this being the half way point of the seasons, kind of the craziest
first 41 games you’ve seen?
By far,
with coaches, GM’s, goaltenders, lines changing, it’s been really
wild and the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
You
guys were in the driver’s seat for most of the game today, what did
you see on your line going up against the Monahan line for most of
the game?
I thought
we did a good job on them, that line is dangerous, you don’t have
to give them very much and they create a lot. I thought we did a
really good job, a couple d-zone draws were they run a couple good
plays there and we did a good job, it’s just frustrating. We played
really well for call it 55 minutes it would be 50 and then the last
10 we’re just playing not to lose and kind of let our foot off the
gas, which has kind of been the story for us.
It’s
easy to take away the positives, but is there enough resiliency in
the room just to get over this and start something new?
I feel like
every game we’re trying to start something new, we got on a streak
here we lost five in a row or whatever it is, every day we come to
the rink we’re trying to start something new. There was
a lot of positives tonight. I think when you get into something like
this the only thing you can do is try to look at the positives.
That’s a really good hockey team over there and we played really
well, we had enough chances to win the game. I liked our power play,
they had some good looks, we had good contributions from everybody,
we just need to find a way to win games in the last 10 minutes. We
lose a lot of games in the 10 minutes where I don’t know if anybody
is doing anything that special to beat us, we’re just having mental
breakdowns and we’re giving teams the game in the last 10 minutes.
Do
the guys have positives like you have too, to maintain that and look
at it?
Yeah, I
think so, like I said we try to mentally reset every game.
That’s really all we can do at this point, you can’t really look
at the standings that’s not going to do anyone any favors. We come
to the rink every day, put a smile on your face, we bust to be an NHL
hockey player and try to build something here the best way we can.
Philadelphia
Flyers Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon
For
most of that game until you got down to the overtime, what did you
see (inaudible) when you it break down?
Jordan had
the puck, made a nice cut to the middle, almost had an opportunity
and then it came back to him and it looked like he was going to go to
JVR and they closed that off. I think he had the right idea to move
that puck to Ghost but I think he got it on his heels and he didn’t
get all of it and it rolled on him so the rest of the story we know
but it was the right play, I think he just needed to take a step
towards Ghost.
This
is the first half mark of the season, I know you haven’t been here
that long but it seemed like today, this kind of game shows what you
do, dominate for 40 minutes and then something goes wrong, would you
say that that’s the frustrating part of this whole thing?
I wouldn’t
say that we didn’t play well in the last 15 minutes, I thought
obviously they had two power plays in the third right? So, you lose 4
minutes there but the winning goal, I think the guys were just too
cautious; we backed off the initial fore-check, there should be
someone steering the puck and not allowing the play to be able to get
to the red line without any pressure and you know that’s not from
being reckless or anything. That’s just probably from being
too conservative so we’ll talk about it tomorrow in practice and
before we go on the ice.
When
you talk in practice, is the message building something in game 41,
you’re relatively new to the program, how do you balance you’re
message from we’re building to we’re running out of time?
Yeah, well
no matter what your situation is, you have to build the right things
and obviously there’s a lot of good things. Their goalie had
a hell of a game and I thought defensively we did a lot of the right
things. Their team loves to get the puck behind the net and find
somebody open in front and we shut that that down really well tonight
and that’s not an easy area to sell to your team to consistently do
that because it involves playing a little more in the defensive zone
for the wingers and it has to have reads and it has to have
patience. To our player’s credit, I thought they did an
excellent job and that’s something whether it be that or how we
play in the offensive zone or through the neutral zone, just getting
a level of consistency that is happening all the time.
The
power play, besides the one you scored on, where you did everything
and anything you wanted to do to go to the net. A psychiatrist would
say there is something to say about confidence.
We did get
the one goal. 9 shots. We had 2 power plays against us and gave 1
shot. Again you are up against a goaltender that’s playing well and
you’re creating your opportunities. They are not going in. A couple
power plays in the second, I didn’t think we did a good job,
getting through the blue line area. That would have been the only
thing I would have liked the power play to do better.
You
don’t usually see a fourth line matched up against a first line,
especially a first line as good as Calgary’s. What was your thought
process putting up the Laughton line against the first line?
Well, it
wasn’t just them. Coots line was also out against them. I didn’t
want to get consumed by one line being against the top line, or
whatever you want to call it. I think the one thing that you can say
about all three of those guys and what makes it hard to play against
them is if they manage the puck well, which means they’re
going to get in on forecheck and going to be hard to play against.
That’s not what top offensive lines like. They like to play against
top lines, because they know they are going to make mistakes, turn
pucks over. We have balance with that, with Coots line and with
Laughts. As far as being able to have two lines you feel comfortable
with. The rest you sort from there.
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