Philadelphia Flyers: Sabres Game Stats Analysis
By Marc Naples
In the leadup to this game, there was lots of talk about how the Philadelphia Flyers needed to improve on their record against bottom half teams. Last year their relatively poor record against non-playoff teams doomed their playoff chances, and it was a seemingly easy issue to address this season.
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After a tough season-opening schedule, the Flyers had their first such opportunity tonight. They failed. The Sabres had all the jump, and mopped the floor of them on possession. Steve Mason didn’t have a good game either, as both the first and third goals conceded really should have been saved. The first goal actually seemed to stun them a bit, and the Sabres almost it made 3-0 in rapid succession.
The Philadelphia Flyers did turn it up a little in the second period after a slow start, but that’s really not enough. They were really just fortunate that Brayden Schenn, who was not having an otherwise good game, scored two late goals to salvage a point before losing in OT.
Forwards
Takeaways
Starting with the top line, their numbers were actually pretty good apart from being owned on two shifts by the Larsson-Eichel-Reinhart line. The goals are still to tough to come by for this group, however. Not that Raffl is playing poorly with his linemates, but over the last 2 games, Chris VandeVelde has a Corsi of 100% (8/0) in four minutes of ice time with Claude Giroux. Hmmm.
The biggest story is the Gagner line. Read and Simmonds alone had nine scoring chances. The rest of the team had 10 combined. Unfortunately of Simmonds eight shot attempts, only two made it to the net.
Not that Raffl is playing poorly with his linemates, but over the last 2 games, Chris VandeVelde has a Corsi of 100% (8/0) in 4 minutes of ice time with Claude Giroux. Hmmm.
Utterly brutal numbers for the Laughton line. This comes after a game against the Rangers in which they were pretty effective. Laughton made a play down the stretch, and Schenn had a bit of good fortune to direct it in. Schenn is scoring goals this season mostly by being Johnny-on-the-spot and popping up in the right spots at the right time.
Bellemare left the game early with what may be a serious injury. The fourth line was a bit of a shuffle after that. If Couturier returns Thursday and Bellemare is out, Laughton may find himself centering White and VandeVelde.
Defense
Takeaways
A nightmare-ish night for Streit-Schultz. I also don’t think they can hide behind the excuse that they had a tough matchup against a great Sabres line, as O’Reilly-Ennis-Deslauriers aren’t quite Benn-Seguin-Sharp and don’t explain a ~30% Corsi in 8 minute of ice time against. They were even worse against Larsson-Eichel-Reinhart (~15% Corsi).
Del-Zotto-Gudas was pretty effective, as Gudas continues to bring something to the table. Three more shot attempts and six more hits for Gudas tonight. Notably, this pair was about 65% Corsi against the Larsson-Eichel-Reinhart line that tortured the Giroux line and Streit pair.
It was also mostly good stuff from Medvedev-Schenn, although they did have easier assignments. This is better for Medvedev than his pairing with Manning against the Rangers, which went very poorly. I also noticed Medvedev got some time with Streit in the final few minutes. I was wondering when Hakstol would try this, although it may have simply been a desperate come-from-behind tactic. This potential pairing is something I will look out for in the future.