Bill Barber
From the front office to coaches to the players, there are plenty of areas of focus regarding the Flyers. Here are some takeaways.
Wednesday’s Flyers press conference with Dave Scott and Chuck Fletcher was another example of just how far the Flyers are from an identity and a sense of direction. It presents more questions than answers, and it runs through a range of emotions that rival the five stages of grief – some congruent like anger and denial and others like irrationality and delusion.
Again in the third period, as they have many times before, the Flyers were in a position to grab two points. A quick response and another overtime winner ensured they did come away with just that, as their points streak hits six games with a 5-0-1 record.
It wasn’t pretty, and against another of the NHL’s bottom-feeder teams, the mistakes being made and the habits continuing to take center-stage are still troubling. But the Flyers also have strung together wins and points, and that’s what was needed against these teams. Now they need to continue to form better habits and apply it, perhaps as soon as next week against some tough Metro Division competition, if the schedule allows.
Travis Sanheim scored the game-winning goal at 1:35 of OT, giving the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Senators on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The dividends that are being paid from several new faces are very clear. Three of those newcomers had multiple points and helped the Flyers get off to their best scoring start through three games since 1983-84 with another six-goal outburst.
The finalists for the Flyers Hall of Fame were named on Tuesday morning, with six members of the Flyers long and storied franchise being up for possible induction later this season. Here’s a closer look at the six and their case to join the names in the rafters.
On this night, it looked like another dismal performance, just another game of going through the motions. That was until the final two minutes, when the captain of the team willed them to a comeback, eventually ending with a 4-3 victory following a six-round shootout.
Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault was named as one of the three finalists for the Jack Adams Award on Wednesday. The other finalists are Columbus head coach John Tortorella and Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy.
At the start of the 1979-80 season, the Flyers opened with a win over the Islanders on Oct. 11 and a loss to the Atlanta Flames two nights later. Their third game of the season was the next night on Oct. 14, and the Flyers squeaked out a 4-3 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was the start of a streak that lasted nearly three months and spanned 35 games.
