Playing tough competition, the Philadelphia Flyers played one of their more solid games of the season. They matched the Los Angeles Kings throughout, and were unfortunate not to get two points after allowing a late goal.
It finally feels like there's some cause for optimism around the Flyers, with Gostisbehere providing a spark and a new look top line.
Game Flow
Goals:
1 – 0. PPG, Gostisbehere (Giroux, Voracek). PHI on-ice: 10, 17, 28, 93, 53
1 – 1. PPG, McBain (Martinez, Pearson). PHI on-ice: 76, 78, 22, 23
2 – 1. Giroux (Voracek, Del Zotto). PHI on-ice: 10, 28, 93, 22, 55
2 – 2. Lucic (Toffoli, Muzzin). PHI on-ice: 14, 24, 28, 22, 55
Forwards
This was the first time this year Schenn played on the top line, and the line had a very good game. They got the better of Kopitar line when matched up, and Schenn played with a lot of urgency. Schenn didn't look very good passing the puck, but I do think he has a knack of popping up in scoring positions when off the puck. His role on this line will be to shoot, shoot, and shoot, and he did that pretty well last night with 10 shot attempts. I also though it was a harsh decision to wave of his goal.
The Couturier line also had a pretty good game. They stayed even on possession despite all the defensive zone starts, and kept the Kings top scoring line (Carter line) off the board.
The new Bellemare line got a ton of ice time, but spent most of it chasing the puck in their own zone, despite usually playing the Kings third line and third pair. Hakstol might reconsider that group.
Defense
This was a pretty solid game from the Flyers' de-facto top pair of Del Zotto-Gudas. They had good numbers against both the Kopitar line and the Carter line, and Del Zotto notched an assist even though he left the ice before Giroux scored.
Schultz-Schenn had some struggles against the Carter line, but was serviceable otherwise in a number two role.
Lastly, the numbers don't look great for Manning-Gostisbehere, but for Gostisbehere it's really about his contributions to the power play. It was nice to see his aggression there, and for him to get his first NHL goal. He led the Flyers in power play ice time last night.
Also, it worth noting that this pair got absolutely roasted by the Kings third line, as did the Bellemare line, with a shocking 0/15 Corsi rating. It will be interesting to see if Manning can hold his spot over Medvedev in the near future.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter@SuperScrub47.
