First impressions on 0-2 Flyers
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First impressions on 0-2 Flyers
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
UPDATE: Zac Rinaldo will miss a minimum of one week because of a lacerated right leg, GM Paul Holmgren said. Tye McGinn will be recalled from the Phantoms.
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BUFFALO - A dozen first impressions on the 2013 Flyers, who are 0-2 for the first time since 2008:
1. Luke Schenn needs to play with more discipline AND more physicality. That’s a fine line, and it takes time to find the right balance.
2. Brayden Schenn has not been that effective on the top line. But it’s early and he deserves a longer look-see before Wayne Simmonds or Jake Voracek is moved to the first unit.
3. The power play is out of sync and dearly misses the injured Danny Briere, who won’t be back until Saturday at the earliest. In addition, the team has been weak on faceoffs.
4. The defense played well in the opener against the Penguins, but left Ilya Bryzgalov out to dry in Sunday’s 5-2 loss in Buffalo. They allowed 41 shots against the Sabres, a team that should have looked rusty because it was playing its first game.
5. Scott Laughton, the team’s No. 1 pick, plays with a tenacity and poise beyond his years. He will give the Flyers a difficult decision on whether to keep him here after he plays five games.
6. The penalty kill has been atrocious. Yes, there have been some bad bounces, but they are giving teams too much room. Opponents are 5 for 9 on their PP against the Flyers, including an empty-net goal. Luke Schenn and Ruslan Fedotenko are newcomers on the team's PK.
7. It’s only two games, but the Flyers have not displayed enough physical play. They have one of the league’s biggest D corps and need to show that size DOES matter.
8. Bryzgalov has been mostly sharp, and the 0-2 start can’t be pinned on him.
9. Don’t expect Flyers management to be patient, especially in a 48-game season. If they start this year like they did the lockout-shortened 1995 season (3-7-1), a major move is coming.
10. The Flyers miss Jaromir Jagr’s presence a lot more than many probably imagined.
11. Rinaldo has played with lots of fire (nine hits in less than 12 minutes), but is now sidelined by a leg injury. The Flyers need to play with Rinaldo's passion.
12. It’s still early, even in a shortened season. Exhale. Breathe. Didn’t that feel good?
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Agree on all points, except I think the PP has looked in sync, but hasn't been able to finish. Against Pitt, in particular, they generated many scoring opps. Simmonds could easily have 2 or 3 goals already.— tfnj42- Where is the talent after Giroux? Don't trade the 2013 1st round pick. Trading high draft picks for players like Kris Versteeg, Matt Carle and Pavel Kubina and others have hurt the franchise ability to find and develop talented skilled players. Homer seems to think signing undrafted college kids is a shortcut to build a team.— zeke128
- I agree with the comment above. Other than Giroux and Danny B. we don't have any other natural goal scorers.— ANDY-IS-FAT
- It's getting late for the flyers awfully early this year...— bigdaddyG
- 13. Couturier is killing this team right now. He was responsible for the 2 first period goals against the Pens and another 2 against the Sabres. If there is one thing you can almost always bank on in hockey, it is the sophomore slump. Thought he would be much better than most this early in the season, given his play in the AHL, but it appears the minors taught him some bad habits and made his play a step slower than where he needs to be.— snipesmorris
- Wow, the Bryz-haters are out. He kept them in both games. Thank the PK and PP at this point.— thawthor88
- The highlight of my day was reading above where someone called Daymond Lagkow a "sniper".........now that's hillarious!! Thanks for that, I stopped reading your suggestions at that point, but please, call Holmer and offer up some other genious ideas.— Tar Heel 1
- "The highlight of my day was reading above where someone called Daymond Lagkow a "sniper".........now that's hillarious!! Thanks for that, I stopped reading your suggestions at that point, but please, call Holmer and offer up some other genious ideas.
— Tar Heel 1"
What do you do with your head when it's not up your a s s? It's spelled Langkow and he's got 270 career NHL goals. That's more than the number of hand jobs you can give yourself in a month.
Don't kid anybody. You stopped reading cause you reached your word quota. Before you throw the word 'genius' around learn to spell the word 'hilarious'. My neighbor's cat has more brains than you even if you have more body hair.
— Claudio Vernight - This team will struggle to be competitive and is one of the weakest Flyers teams on ice since the disastrous 2006-07 team. Homer has made a couple big swings and misses lately (Bryz signing, JVR traded for at best a stay at home defense, not replacing Jagr, etc). The spotlight is going to shift to him if the Flyers have another 06-07 run, which looks more possible than a playoff run.— Repubrebirth
- What does a short season have to do with the defense being slow, turnover prone and they can't carry the puck up the ice?— jbruder02
- Are you kidding me!!?? Its only been 2 GAMES!!! You morons's already have them done for the season! Give them at least 12 or 14 games!— Smit1
- Big and slow. How can a professional organization be so miserable at recognizing goaltending and defensemen? Who was the last Flyer drafted defenseman that made the All-Star game?— schnitzelboy
- "plz this team is so overrated its pathetic. your defense is horrible and slow. u have no scoring and u have a guy that really needs a haircut and shave this isnt mountain man. CAN U PLZZZ TAKE DOWN THAT STUPID ROCKY STATUE IT WAS A MOVIE MORONS U EMBARRASS URSELVES WHENEVER THEY SHOW IT ON T.V
— scott-stevens-is-god"
Meeting of Devils' fan club tonight in a phone booth outside Spuggy's in E. Newark. The backseat of Fonzy's W.W. bug is not available cause it got repo'ed.— Claudio Vernight - #13...Grossman is a HUGE liability with glacier-like speed.— Nicher
- The loss of Matt Carle is killing this team. They have no one with the ability to skate the puck out of the zone. Coburn has had flashes this season, but has proven to be incapable of doing that for an entire season. He is currently the only D-man of any value on this club.
@snipesmorris.....you couldn't be more incorrect about Couturier. He has been responsible well beyond his years. You seem to be blaming him, simply because you see him on the ice. When you look at the goal in Buffalo, where it appears that Couts has been beaten...you will see that he was the only man back, and Max Talbot simply was brain dead, trying to change. Talbot wandered out of the play, and Couturier was left to cover for Talbot, and the D.
This team lacks skill. Period. Giroux and Hartnell have exceptional skill. Voracek will always be a guy who looks like he could do more...but never does. Simmonds had the best season he will ever have, last year. He is a 'glue guy' and he is great at it. But he is not skilled.
The Schenns are terrible. I used to see potential in Luke Schenn, but the years in Toronto have destroyed him. It will take years to build him up again. Brayden Schenn is officially a bust as a blue chip prospect. He has NHL ability. But his outlook is far more of the Kris Draper mold, than the Steve Yzerman.
Laviolette goes now. Holmgren goes at season's end. And, several years after it's inception, my screen name finally becomes a fact.
In other news....Mike Richards and Jeff Carter still have a Stanley Cup.— Hexy4GM
