Flyers Optimism Halted Against Winnipeg

The Flyers faced the Winnipeg Jets for their second home game of the year, falling in a disappointing 5-2 loss. This was a much different tone from the first three games of the season, which were filled with hunger and grit. 

The hunger of our young roster died off as Philadelphia only attained 17 shots on goal, their lowest of the season thus far. Tippett had a nice top-shelf snapshot with an assist from Zegras late in the second. It was good to see Tippett making those shots again, as his first few games began slowly. It was also good to see Michkov score his first of the season after a slow start with his own snipe with the man advantage for the Flyers. With a gorgeous feed from Noah Juulsen for his first point of the season, Michkov seems to be picking up speed again and is hopefully back on track. 

Another positive note is the success of our defense, who only allowed Winnipeg an opportunity on 15 shots. While this may sound exciting, it also poses the worry that Ersson only made 10 saves on fifteen shots. I’ve personally never been a huge Ersson fan, as I’ve seen his only true benefit to the team is that he is consistently mediocre. I’ve very rarely seen him play a game that I thought he truly looked like an impressive goalie, rather than seeing him helping out a team that has been impressively bad in recent years. I see this as fuel to give Vladar more time on ice, as he has earned a starter spot, at least in my mind. 

I was also glad to see the Flyers only facing a penalty once last night, as they have been frequently in the box in the first three games of the season. Their powerplay has been a struggle recently, and this season is no different. It was good to see them playing smarter if they couldn’t play harder for the night.

Cam York also made his return last night after coming off injured reserve. Deslauriers, Abols, and Zamula were scratches for the night. 

Tocchet and Konecny were available for postgame interviews and expressed their optimism for the upcoming games. Both reflected on the positive takeaways and look to continue to bring them out among the young team. Although this game did not end in our favor, there were definitely positive takeaways that should continue to grow throughout the season.

The Flyers next game will be on Saturday night at home as they face the Minnesota Wild for a 7pm puckdrop.