Missing: Flyers' offense
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Missing: Flyers' offense
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
NEWARK - Three games. Three losses. Three goals.
After Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to New Jersey, the Flyers are 0-3 for the first time since 1995.
They ran into a hot goalie - the ageless Martin Brodeur - but they have shown an inability to finish plays in all three games.
They are averaging one goal per game, and their power play is 1 for 15 (6.7 percent).
The Flyers finished tied for second in the NHL with an average of 3.17 goals per game last season.
They are minus Jaromir Jagr (signed with Dallas), James van Riemsdyk (traded to Toronto) and the injured Danny Briere. And it shows.
Some of their big guns from last year - Scott Hartnell (37 goals), Wayne Simmonds (28), Matt Read (24), Max Talbot (19) and Jake Voracek (18) - have yet to score.
The good news is that the Flyers had a lot of attack time - especially in the first half of the game - but were beaten by a sizzling goalie on Tuesday.
The bad news is that their next game is against a team that owned them last season, the visiting New York Rangers, and their outstanding goalie, Henrik Lundqvist.
Breakaways. Hartnell had an ice bag on his left foot and was limping badly after the game. He was hit by a shot in the third period…..Brodeur has 10 shutouts against the Flyers, equaling the most he has against any NHL club. He has 120 career shutouts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ilya Kovalchuk’s second-period goal made opponents 20 for 37 against the Flyers in penalty shots in franchise history.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Look, the Flyers are a young team and PROVED they had talent last yr. Its also clear some players didnt believe that there was gonna be season and took too much time off. There is alot of rust it seems. They have a very young captain and dont have alot of vet leadership esp since they let Jagr go. Jagr had these boys playing very well to start last year. By mid season, im sure they will be playing much better. Unfortunately, that would be too late in shortened season. Lockouts hurt young undisciplined teams the most. But, Brys continues to look weak in goal. I would like them to dump him in offseason, he just doesnt appear to be the answer in goal. But, they def need some more vet goal scorers. Its a shame they missed out on Parise in offseason. And, Jagr presence is missed badly right now it seems. I know he broke down in second half but there is something to be said for vet leadership that kids look up to and pushes them to be better. Jagr was workout freak and i think that really rubbed off. Def missing that part now— Over_Exposed- They created some offense in the first 30 minutes or so but again failed to capitalize on the few scoring opportunities the Devils allowed. The second goal conceded was another strange bounce and the penalty shot by Kovalchuk was created by yet another breakdown of the defense of the kind the Devils did not produce the whole game. The biggest void left from last season clearly is Jagr with his puck possession skills, especially on the PP. Bryz was solid, no complaints on my part in that regard. On the whole, I think Lavy should quickly introduce a more defensive-minded approach since the Flyers apparently do not have two forward units which can apply constant pressure and maintain puck possession over longer stretches of time at the moment.— flyerdommo
- Their overall strength and conditioning looks like it is lacking. They look a step slower than the other teams and get muscled off the puck. Its got to be one or the other slow but strong or quick and agile. Again, this is comparatively speaking. They are obviously world-class athletes, but just look a bit weaker out there. Guys like Couturier should have taken a step forward in their skating ability, Matt Read should be stronger on the puck, etc.— mike
- Flyers offense lacks the skill to score more than 1 or 2 goals a game. Briere will help the offense when he comes back but this is a bad team. Maybe they can be a seller at the trade deadline and pick up some young players and draft picks for players like Hartnell, Simmonds, Talbot, Read, Timonen and Briere.— zeke128
- Going in to last night's game Jagr had as many goals as the whole Flyer's team. What a mistake not resigning him.— farley
- You people are ridiculous. Fire Homer? This is an AHL team? Seriously? It's been a week. These guys have been on the ice together all of two weeks this year (one week of training camp, and one week of games). Two weeks together. Three games. All of you whiners, please just stop watching the games now. Go become Pittsburgh fans or something.— metapede
- You know what other team has no wins yet this year? The Rangers. The favorite to win the cup has no wins yet. Relax people.— metapede
- Every publication I read was picking the Penguins. — schnitzelboy
- Most are picking Penguins and Rangers as co-favorites, with the same odds. See http://linemakers.sportingnews.com/nhl/2013-01-06/stanley-cup-2013-odds-las-vegas-penguin-rangers-red-wings-kings-bruins-flyers and http://www.oddsshark.com/nhl/stanley-cup-futures-0 for example — metapede
- Flyers' offense missing so far, but the defense and goaltending is good? Wow...waited 4 months for the season and its over in 3 games. IT'S ALL OVER! IT'S ALL OVER! IT'S ALL OVER! LOL!!— justacarpenter
- ah, the stepfords and koolade drinkers respond....stop already....Homer has assembled an average team at best.....and you can't blame this on BRYZ...think about it sheep....the other guys wre playing thier home opener and came out fired up....the flyers played thier home opener against their hated rival and stunk up the first period and fell behind 2-0....Is that heart and desire by the players ? Is that lack of preparation by the coach ? or is that just a bunch of so-so talent put together by Homer..........O for 3 faithful.....and no sense of urgency......no other way to spin this....sorry...— nuggett
- I'd rather them peak late than early - 8th seed won the Cup last year - the biggest problem this Organization has is lack of patience - Snider runs it like a finance company - profits now or heads roll no time for team chemistry to gel - Patrick Sharp still grates on my nerves - Hitchcock and his alleged discipline - we should be trolling Hitch's coffers today for quality cast offs who don't fit his defensive plan but skate like the wind, create and score.— JourneyHome
- Same pathetic team as last year. That why they play in Loserdelphia. The city deserves better than these awful teams we have.— eaglesman1
- a lot of mistake, Jagr with the Stars, Bob with Columbus, wont buyout Bryz awful contract...
Before we signed Bryz, the idea was to sign Thomas Vokoon which is was a great help and trainer for Bob...for me Bob had the talent, and he would be a great goalie in one or two years.
The German— xtrem1337
