NHL is finally back and I haven’t had the chance to watch all the games but you bet your ass I was on the couch ready to watch the boys play the shitbag Bruins. The Flyers looked great in the exhibition game against the Pens, for as good as either team could look with some sloppy ice and knocking off the rust. Today though the boys came out buzzing ready to go for this game. The ice was still not perfect which I don’t think it will be during this modified playoffs, but the Flyers seems to handle the bounces well and move the puck real nicely.
In the first period they were down on quantity when it comes to shots but the quality was much higher, getting multiple scoring chances and moving the puck extraordinarily in the offensive zone. Watching I never felt like they weren’t in control of the game. Once the scoring started confidence throughout the team seemed to just surge even more after the phenomenal cut towards the net from the top of the zone by Sanhiem pulling pressure towards him and away from the front of the net opening up a lane for Raffl who finished with a filthy backhand. I just can’t remeber a Flyers team like this that ebs and flows so well together moving so in sync and just knowing where each other is going to be. The fourth line continued to amaze with a nice loose puck pick up and snipe by Nate Thompson who I am starting to love as a pick up at the deadline making our centermen depth that much more dominant. The best part of the game is the response they had to any misfortune.
Towards the end of the period the Bruins score a WEAK ASS goal off a skate to cut the Flyers lead in half and possibly go into the third with some momentum but how do they respond? Phil Myers simply says “Lol that’s cute, watch this” and goes top shelf, snipe central on them like god damn robin hood splitting his own arrow.
The third continued with all the same having Scott Laughton with another top shelf going glove side hide on Halak.
Lets not forget CAHTAH HAHT! While his team in front of him really stepped up and didn’t let the Bruins get set up or good opportunities, what they did give up he was ready for. It was nice to see the young tendy stand tall and confident in the net looking unfazed all game. After the years of the goaltender carousel that we have had in Philly it feels great to have someone between the pipes that you can feel 100% confident in every game and it makes everyone in front of him that much more relaxed and confident to play their game they need to for the win.
This game really built up confidence if you are a Flyers fan, it doesn’t look like they missed a beat during the season pause. They played a stellar game all around, it was aggressive, flowed perfectly, they didn’t take any shit, puck movement was fluid and easy for them, the young defensive core stepped up and didn’t give up easy scoring chance. Even when the Bruins got into the offensive zone any chance of getting set up was snuffed out quickly and efficiently. Even if you aren’t a fan of the Flyers sit and watch this game or ay of their games leading up to the shut down, it is a beautiful brand of hockey that is fun to watch and their games could be clipped and put on the Oddly Satisfying twitter page.
Hopefully the Flyers can continue this momentum through the rest of these modified playoffs because if so it is going to be a fun playoffs to watch!
The Hamm Report 