It’s an understatement to say that the beginning of the Philadelphia Flyers season was not what the team expected. However, things seems to be turning around.
It’s no shock that the Philadelphia Flyers aren’t exactly happy with their performances in the first quarter of the 2015-16 NHL season. Their games in October and November looked rough and no line looked like they were working cohesively. Not to mention that being plagued with injuries hasn’t helped the Flyers. Yet despite all these challenges, the Flyers are actually in the fight for a good position in the Metropolitan Division.
The reasons for the changes can be credited to quite a few things. Head coach Dave Hakstol runs a defensive-oriented team. Granted, the Flyers defense struggled earlier in the season and it wasn’t performing when it came to shot prevention or helping prevent entries into the offensive zone. Yet while these were the case earlier, things seemed to have been more organized and working better. A big boost to Hakstol’s team is its goalies. Goalies Steve Mason and Michal Neuvrith have stopped every kind of shot taken and have allowed few shots on goal. Granted, if you looked at them from a purely numbers basis, you would think that the goalies aren’t anything impressive. Flyers goalies are 12th in goals allowed per game and 10th in goals allowed during the season. Those don’t look like much but they also don’t tell the whole story. They have two able-bodied goalies instead
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The Flyers goalies aren’t the only factor contributing to their success. Their success with the penalty kill is huge for the team. In the beginning, it didn’t look much better than last year’s statistics, 27th in the league with a penalty kill percentage of 77.1. This season has seen that percentage going up significantly, with the latest check putting the Flyers in the 80-percent range. While having players like defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere has helped, having good goalies have also contributed to being penalty kill weapons. Yet it’s been a team effort that has helped to boost the team’s penalty killing abilities. They are starting to get better at limiting their opponent’s ability to get shots off and having a solid penalty kill is important, not just during the regular season but through the playoffs.
Puck Prose
Yet penalty kills alone don’t help the Flyers get in sync. A big name that’s been making a huge impact is rookie Shayne Gostisbehere. He’s exciting to watch on the ice and is also a dynamic player. The rookie was called up from Lehigh Valley on November 14th and it would appear that even since he came to the team, he’s been nothing but success.
Ghost, as he’s called, has had just a few game winning goals in the span of four days. That’s not only impressive but shows just how well he works within the team’s format. The Flyers have gone 5-2-2 since he joined them and he’s been significant where it counts: the neutral zone. According to Charlie O’Conner of Broad Street Hockey, “In the neutral zone, however, Ghost has delivered stellar results. Teams are only entering the offensive zone with control of the puck 29.53 percent of the time, and are losing the overall battle as well.” He’s not going to always been such a powerful player and he’s still young so he has quite a bit to learn. But he’s fast on the ice and is powerful with his shots. It might be worth trading Mark Streit to keep Ghost on the Flyers’ roster.
While there is still quite a bit of the NHL season left to play, one thing is certain: the Flyers are doing better. Another 4-3 overtime win against the New Jersey Devils Friday night. They dominated the Devils during regulation and it would’ve been a difficult loss. Fortunately, the team extend their win streak to four. With all of the positive pieces of the puzzle working in the Flyers’ favor, it might be awhile before the team sees another loss.
That just might be the best news of all.