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New-look Flyers off to an impressive start

As feeling returns to Philadelphia's shocked central nervous system, the word change is being used a lot, maybe as a coping mechanism.

Jakub Voracek celebrates his goal in the second period. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Jakub Voracek celebrates his goal in the second period. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

As feeling returns to Philadelphia's shocked central nervous system, the word change is being used a lot, maybe as a coping mechanism.

With linchpin Jimmy Rollins among a handful of Phillies who could be gone, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is also touting a fundamental change in the team's approach to hitting. With the Eagles off to a stunning 1-4 start, fans and media are openly discussing whether it is time (or past time) to make a change at head coach.

"Change is good," Amaro said the other day. But change can also be bad, as the Eagles' coaching and roster shake-ups demonstrate. Almost always, change is scary.

That made the Flyers' home opener Wednesday night so timely. Here is a team that risked major change, that tore the bandage off on an entire era, and seems to be growing comfortably into its new skin.

The bombshells of July - trades that discarded cornerstones Mike Richards and Jeff Carter - were as stunning as anything that has happened with the Eagles or Phillies. GM Paul Holmgren, presumably with the approval of head coach Peter Laviolette, took a sledgehammer to the culture of his locker room. It would be like Amaro trading Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in one busy afternoon.

It is a natural impulse, when things get stale, to want to make such drastic changes. The hard part is replacing the stale and familiar with something better.

We're a long way from knowing whether Holmgren succeeded. Actually, coming off the Phillies' delicious, 162-game appetizer and bitter, five-game meal, the home opener mostly served as a reminder of just how far away the Stanley Cup playoffs are. There are months of encouraging wins, confounding losses, slumps, hot streaks, and injuries before these new-look Flyers take the real test. The team that gets to late April may look quite a bit different from this one.

With that caveat established, it is much better for this simultaneously younger and older team to win its first two games on the road than the alternative. And it is miles better to fire up the first sellout crowd of the season with a fast start and relentless hustle than to look tentative and confused.

Ask the Eagles. If there is anything to momentum, these Flyers started things off with the right kind.

Actually, the energy was different even before the puck dropped. The big screen showed various players during warm-ups. When the camera lingered on Chris Pronger, the charismatic defenseman who replaced Richards as team captain, there was an especially loud cheer. There was another for Jaromir Jagr, the Hall of Fame-bound forward who chose the Flyers for his NHL comeback.

But the real blast of fresh air came in the first period, and it provided a tailwind for Claude Giroux.

Now it would be disingenuous to suggest that Giroux could reach his full potential only with Richards and Carter gone. The truth is that Giroux was pretty darn good the last couple of years. He had already become the Flyers' best all-around player before the trades.

But the first impression still holds. Just as the Phillies' trading away of Bobby Abreu essentially turned the team over to Rollins, Utley, and Howard, these deals were a signal to Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, and others that it is their time.

Giroux pounced on a fluky carom and scored his third goal in three games. Then he slid a pass across to Pronger, who blasted a slap shot for his first goal of the season. Then Giroux headed off a poor clear by Vancouver goalie Robert Luongo and fired it back on net. Van Riemsdyk scored easily on the rebound.

Overall, the Flyers looked quicker and more energetic. Matt Read and Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds forecheck aggressively and have the speed to get back quickly. Simmonds, who screened Luongo on Pronger's goal, brings a physical presence to the front of the net.

The most interesting piece of the puzzle is Ilya Bryzgalov, the Russian goaltender who represents a philosophical shift for the Flyers. He had a wild night, standing strong early and then giving up a couple of soft goals late. That was the Sedin-laden Western Conference champions out there.

"That's a skilled team," Bryzgalov said. "When they're put on the power play a lot, that increases their chances."

Bryzgalov held a one-goal lead through a series of furious Vancouver power plays, and the Flyers were 3-0, with wins against both Stanley Cup finalists.

"We knew it was going to be a pretty good test for us, these first few games," Giroux said. "We've got a lot of things to work on. The first few games of the season, that's not the same hockey as in the playoffs."

That is still months away, and it will ultimately determine whether all this change was good. But for now, at least, all this change feels good.