5 Things we learned from Philadelphia Flyers’ homestand
By Scott Cole
The Philadelphia Flyers have gone 1-3-0 on their recent homestand, and in that time, they went from near the top of the division to near the bottom. To be fair, it is early and the season and it is common to see wild swings in the standings like that.
Despite the poor showing in the record, there are some things we can learn from this recent experience. If the team can build on these lessons, they will be able to grow a lot this year.
Signs of life from Morgan Frost
Wait… wait… We’ve had a Morgan Frost sighting! He’s in the building. He was wearing skates and was seen on the ice!
All kidding aside, the fact that Frost had been a healthy scratch – not a benching, according to head coach John Tortorella – has been a massive point of discussion for a while. Some feel that he deserves a shot to play while others think it is time to cut ties. Still, with Frost in, that means someone has to sit; who is that going to be?
Frost played 17:02 against the Carolina Hurricanes and registered three shots on goal. He fed a few shot assists to some of his linemates, including one that was a great blast by Travis Konecny that got stopped by Frederik Andersen. Against the Buffalo Sabres, he played 16:41 and had… nothing.
Maybe it’s the rust from sitting out so long, or maybe it’s something else. If he is trying to show he belongs, these two games haven’t shown a lot. We’re not expecting him to score every night, but he has a reputation for being streaky. The Flyers can’t afford to have him be the bad kind of streaky. He’s also been dreadful in the faceoff circle, winning just 34 percent of his faceoffs. Speaking of dreadful…