Weekend Closes with Dallas Dominance

Be prepared for a short read, as there really isn’t a whole lot to say here. After a 5-game point streak (3-0-2), the Flyers fell in a drastic 5-1 loss against Dallas at the American Airlines Center. I wish I had something positive to say, or even something blatantly negative, but there just really isn’t with this one.

Simply put, the Flyers looked like a team playing the second of a back-to-back weekend in 2 different cities. When you take this into consideration, as well as the fact they played a clear cup contender, this game was not in our favor in the slightest. Although the numbers weren’t far off, with Dallas coming into the game 11-4-3, and Philadelphia 9-4-3, the Stars are a talented team with top scorers, as Philadelphia saw.

Dallas is a team that has its structure down, excelling in breakouts, neutral-zone play, and a stacked roster of forwards. Philadelphia on the other hand, has a young team with many new additions and a few recent injuries that are still oiling the gears. It doesn’t help when you take into consideration that many of these young Flyers have had years far more successful than they did with their previous teams. What does this mean for us? Well, many of our new guys like Grebenkin and Vladar have little to no experience travelling like this and being expected to play at a high level. Even guys that have been with the Flyers for a while, like the FCB line, have not been expected to perform like this in years prior. This travel, as well as the high-productivity game on Friday night, did not allow for peak performance from Philadelphia. 

I’m not happy about this game, but I’m certainly not mad about it either. We were truly never expected to win this game. Granted, I didn’t expect it to go this poorly, but the odds were not in our favor. Even though Vladar sat on Friday and didn’t perform to his typical level, he hasn’t yet had to play behind a tired team and against such a skilled team in his short tenure with the Flyers.

After a break and some recovery, the Flyers return to home ice on Thursday night for a 7:00pm rematch against the Blues. We’re looking for a substantial win to celebrate Hockey Fights Cancer Night.Weekend Closes with Dallas Dominance