The Philadelphia Flyers’ top defensive pair was among the many positives in the teams’ home-opener.
Do you want to know what’s better than one win to open a new season? Two wins. The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the New Jersey Devils for nearly the entire contest on route to a 4-0 victory over their Metropolitan Division foe. Carter Hart absolutely stole the show, saving all 25 shots he saw, which led him to his first career NHL shutout.
The 21-year-old netminder became the youngest goaltender in Flyers history to reach that feat, unseating Dominic Roussel, who previously held the record at 22 years and five days. While Hart was the talk of the game, partially due to a jaw-dropping save he made on Taylor Hall on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, plenty of other players came through.
I came away readily impressed with the top defensive pair of Ivan Provorov and Justin Braun. Like many, I was skeptical of the two being paired together by Alain Vigneault, and some of it was justified with their less than stellar showing against the Chicago Blackhawks in Prague, especially in Braun’s case, but they more than turned it around last night.
The two defensemen posted a 72.73 Corsi-for, 68.42 Fenwick-for, 73.18 Expected Goals-for, 81.25 Scoring Chances-for, and 71.43 High Danger Scoring Chances-for percentages while together at even strength, according to Natural Stat Trick. Those numbers are pretty darn impressive and, as far as CF% and FF% go, led the other pairings on the team by a large margin.
I thought Provorov showed flashes of his 2017-18 self, too. He potted the game’s first goal as a Flyers power-play opportunity was in its’ final seconds, blasting the puck by Cory Schneider from the left circle while drawing a bit of iron as it went into the back of the net. I don’t remember Provorov showing such confidence in his shot at any point in 2018-19, which was obviously a good sign for the six-year, 40.5 million dollar man.
As for Braun, I’d be lying if I said that he didn’t make me nervous at times. I swear on some plays he looks thoroughly beat while defending the opposition but is able to recover in the nick of time to break up chances with his stick. The veteran d-man improved from a 44.12 CF% while strength was even in the game against the Blackhawks to 75.00 CF% versus New Jersey. The difference between both numbers is night and day, and it really showed on Wednesday night.
Yes, it’s just one game, but you can’t deny how good both defensemen looked against the Devils. Hopefully, they’ll continue to thrive on a pair together and give the Flyers an excellent number one defensive pair throughout the year.