The Philadelphia Flyers regular season opener against Vegas is here. It’s finally here!
After five months without playing meaningful hockey, the Philadelphia Flyers return to regular season action tonight as they face the Golden Knights in Vegas. The Flyers have won their last two regular season openers, and this will be the third straight time they begin the year on the west coast.
The team is looking to improve upon a third place finish in the Metropolitan division and a first round Stanley Cup playoff exit at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. General Manager Ron Hextall upgraded the roster on paper with a big addition this past offseason, inking James van Riemsdyk to a five year contract.
With questions in-net for yet another year, the Flyers will not only rely on the health and consistency of Brian Elliott but also offensive production. Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny had breakout sophomore campaigns last year. Nolan Patrick also looked good in the second half of his rookie year, as well. They all will need to improve upon those numbers and continue to develop in order for the Flyers to ultimately reach their ceiling in the 2018-19 season.
Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, and Jakub Voracek will also again be relied upon for their leadership and offensive production. They all posted career numbers last year, and Couturier was named a Selke Trophy finalist. They’ve become the core of the Flyers offense. Not to say they absolutely need to post similar or better numbers again, but just to keep producing at a high level.
Wayne Simmonds is also completely healthy and will get some looks on the third line this season. A healthy, motivated Simmonds going against third line talent should strike fear into opposing NHL coaches. He is still one of the best best power-forwards in the league, and proved last year he can still score while playing hurt.
The play of the penalty-kill will also be a huge factor in the 2018-19 Flyers success. The unit was one of the worst in the NHL last season, and Hextall didn’t do much roster wise to help it out. He signed defenseman Christian Folin to a one year deal, but his addition alone won’t help much. This unit can’t be one of the worst in hockey again, improvements must be made.
The Flyers have a lot of things to look forward to heading into tonights game against the Vegas Golden Knights. They also have a decent amount of question marks with the penalty kill and goaltending as noted above. All-in-all, this should be a very entertaining team to watch this season. Go Flyers.