Controversial penalty call or no controversial penalty call, the Philadelphia Flyers need to take care of themselves and their own issues, which plagued them for a second game in a row.
For starters, the Flyers were heavily out-chanced once again, and while they are playing against superior opponents in Carolina and Florida, that’s setting the bar pretty low for a team aspiring to get to that level soon.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers generated just 2.14 expected goals at 5-on-5 to the Hurricanes’ 3.24.
They did, however, almost come away with a win against the Hurricanes on Saturday night in a tough building, but Travis Sanheim, who scored the game-tying goal, was flagged for goalie interference on Bobby Brink’s overtime winner, wiping away a 4-3 win.
Instead, Seth Jarvis went down and stole a 4-3 win for the Hurricanes.
The problem is that the Flyers probably should have won before that, having held 1-0 and 2-1 leads thanks to the efforts of Brink and Owen Tippett.
Brink’s second period goal was also aided by Nikita Grebenkin, who earned his first NHL point on the play.
Through two games, Matvei Michkov just doesn’t look like the same player who threatened to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie a season ago, and that’s with two different line combinations.
Flyers Underwhelm in Loss to Panthers, But An Unlikely Hero Emerges
The Philadelphia Flyers suffered a rather uneventful 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in their season opener Thursday night, and it was a performance fans aren’t going to want to see often.
Michkov, 20, played just 13:27 against the Hurricanes on Saturday night, didn’t play in the 3-on-3 overtime period, and took a roughing penalty whilst standing up for Travis Konecny after the latter absorbed a massive hit from William Carrier.
Simply put, Michkov is the franchise player. He needs to get going (and probably will at some point), but the Flyers have little chance of winning consistently until he does.
To that point, the defensive depth continues to be a major pain point, as Adam Ginning, Egor Zamula, and Noah Juulsen have been borderline unplayable early on in Rick Tocchet’s tenure as head coach.
Yes, Cam York is banged up, and yes, Rasmus Ristolainen won’t be back for at least a few more weeks, but the Flyers ought to be weighing up some trades to but the issue to bed for good.
I’d be shocked if Oliver Bonk, Emil Andrae, and/or Helge Grans don’t see NHL games this season. At some point, it gets to a point, and the Flyers would be doing a disservice to themselves if the issue is extrapolated beyond October.
On a more positive note, Grebenkin and Jett Luchanko looked alright in their season debuts. While it’s not quite enough, giving those two eight minutes a night is more productive and beneficial than giving it to Rodrigo Abols and Nick Deslauriers.
Ex-Flyers Goalie Pitches Shutout in AHL Debut
In his first ever AHL game, this recently traded former Philadelphia Flyers goalie earned an impressive shutout.
Grebenkin, Luchanko, and Garnet Hathaway each had positive Corsi and scoring chance shares, but were unfortunate to be out-scored 1-0 at 5-on-5. It’s something to build on, and it should give Tocchet something to think about going forward, especially given the nature of their test against Carolina.
But, again, until the Flyers can get some forward lines going, they aren’t going to go very far at all. Travis Konecny has just two shots on goal in two games and is averaging just 16 minutes a night, while Michkov is down at 14.
Trevor Zegras earned his first Flyers point against the Hurricanes on Saturday night, and a reunion with Michkov could do the trick – defense be damned. For what it’s worth, for much of training camp and the preseason, the defense wasn’t all that good anyway. What difference does it make?
Tocchet and Co. will have some decisions to make ahead of the Flyers’ home opener against the Panthers on Monday night, starting with the line combinations. The good news, however, is that they were closer on Saturday than they were on Thursday night.
