Post-Game Talk: #31 | Sabres 1 at FLYERS 2 | Thu., Dec. 14, 7:00 pm ET

[deadhead]

This game typlified Sanheim's season so far, a couple really nice rushes in the O-zone, including a goal, a couple really bad plays in the D-zone, and that was just the first period. His minutes will remain limited until he reduces the mindfart players - and this with Gudas the last two games. The talent is there, but he's got a ways to go to be a reliable player.

Ghost will never be on the ice with a lead in the last five minutes, this was one of his most physical games, and still showed how limited he was, should have gotten a penalty for a WWF move, because that was the only way he could fight for the puck behind the net. He's small, and he's not getting bigger.

Filppula not only got a goal, but made a couple real nice defensive plays. He gets trashed too much, it's not his fault we don't have a 2C, but he'll end the year with about 30ES points and a positive xGF% - which is fine for your 3C.

Provorov is really getting aggressive in the O-zone, had a bunch of plays where he got in deep and tried to make plays, and he's getting less shy about shooting. Think he now feels he knows the NHL, and is more confident about when to gamble, at some point he's going to have a big scoring game.

They dominated the 2nd period, but only got the one goal, didn't go into a shell in the 3rd period, but blew a number of opportunities to put the game away - especially the impotent 3 on 1. Got to put your foot on their neck.

Elliott should be fined any time he tries to stick handle the puck, Hextall must be covering his eyes in the press box. He's the scariest player on the ice when he leaves the crease.

 

[Lotusflower]

Also congrats to Sanheim. First of many.

 

[Stizzle]

Of course brain dead Boruk leads off the Hakstol media scrum by declaring that Sanheim has had a real up and down season. f*** off, Boruk. No he has not. Look at the numbers. One turnover in OT does not equal an up and down season. Considering he's a freaking 21 year old rookie, Sanheim has been rock solid. I guarantee they wouldn't have said that about Hagg. Who Sanheim has outplayed 9 games out of 10 this year.

 

[AaronTrieu]

5 in a row is a good thing, but i don’t think we are in a great spot playing so many division games in the last half. The metro is tough and i don’t think the flyers can outplay a lot of them at this point. Maybe things will change.

I still want Hak fired. I have not forgotten

 

[TheKingPin]

It’s great to get back into things. Only being a win out is pretty insane. All of the teams ahead have lost a lot of game recently.

Elliot does allow bad goals but stops a lot of tough ones. At least he has mental toughness. G is cannon. Congrats to sanhiem. Patrick played a good game. If our other lines are going when he comes on line it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Not sure we can win the next two but it would be amazing!

 

[NYCFlyer]

Provorov was also terrific. One of the best games I've seen him play and he looks every bit a 1D. We are really lucky to have him. I know they are hard to come by but I wish we could find him a really strong 1RHD to pair with him for the next ten years.

 

[BernieParent]

Provorov was also terrific. One of the best games I've seen him play and he looks every bit a 1D. We are really lucky to have him. I know they are hard to come by but I wish we could find him a really strong 1RHD to pair with him for the next ten years.

 

[The Rage Kage]

What kinda bizarro world are we in where the Flyers can lose 10 straight but find a way to only be 2 points back from the playoffs.

 

[Rebels57]

Isles lost in Reg
Devils lost in OT

 

[Rebels57]

5 in a row is a good thing, but i don’t think we are in a great spot playing so many division games in the last half. The metro is tough and i don’t think the flyers can outplay a lot of them at this point. Maybe things will change.

I still want Hak fired. I have not forgotten

We need 3 lines consistently contributing to do well in that stretch. Thats for sure.

 

[deadhead]

What kinda bizarro world are we in when losing results in 15 page post-game threads but winning 2 pages of comments?
Seems people enjoy whining about losses a lot more than celebrating victories.

Not that was an exciting game, but teams like Buffalo drag you down to their level, a mark of a solid team is not losing your focus and blowing these games.

Seems the win streak is a combination of a number of factors:
1) moving Voracek to the 2nd line
2) going to the 1-2-2- instead of the 1-3-1
3) stabilizing the defense with MacDonald and Gudas back
4) movng Raffl up and Konecny down and balancing all four lines

I don't think this is a very talented team right now, but it's a more balanced, stable team. Now if NP is starting to turn it around, that changes things. If Sanheim can just cut back on the mind farts that would also be huge.

Still hoping for a couple AHL promotions come the New Year.

 

[Striiker]

What kinda bizarro world are we in where the Flyers can lose 10 straight but find a way to only be 2 points back from the playoffs.

It helps that 5 of those losses were in OT... and the Rags and Pens suck.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I missed about 35 minutes of game time after the 1st. Looked like they weren't sitting back as much to end it? Or did I miss all of that.


The first line was definitely bringing a full forecheck to the end, at least.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

I missed about 35 minutes of game time after the 1st. Looked like they weren't sitting back as much to end it? Or did I miss all of that.


The first line was definitely bringing a full forecheck to the end, at least.

The Flyers weren't sitting back in the standard sense. They won with a boring style that is not uncommon in today's game. They got the job done. If viewers wanted to see a victory, they got it. If they wanted to be entertained, the highlights were few.

 

[The Rage Kage]

What kinda bizarro world are we in when losing results in 15 page post-game threads but winning 2 pages of comments?
Seems people enjoy whining about losses a lot more than celebrating victories.

Not that was an exciting game, but teams like Buffalo drag you down to their level, a mark of a solid team is not losing your focus and blowing these games.

Seems the win streak is a combination of a number of factors:
1) moving Voracek to the 2nd line
2) going to the 1-2-2- instead of the 1-3-1
3) stabilizing the defense with MacDonald and Gudas back
4) movng Raffl up and Konecny down and balancing all four lines

I don't think this is a very talented team right now, but it's a more balanced, stable team. Now if NP is starting to turn it around, that changes things. If Sanheim can just cut back on the mind farts that would also be huge.

Still hoping for a couple AHL promotions come the New Year.

Theres not really much to say, they have been consistently average as a whole. All the negatives have been talked to death and we know no changes are coming, so without a loss to get people angry all we can do is wait.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I could have fallen asleep from this one. Jesus.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

both made plenty of good plays tonight that will never go acknowledged.

I omitted the player names because my response is about general mindset, not because both of them didn’t make any positive plays.

Every single player makes some good and poor plays in a game. Not all of them are posted about. It’s not a grand conspiracy. The net effect measured over an appropriate sample size is still the only thing that matters.

 

[BillDineen]

Nice win. Elliott was good outside of the puck handling. Patrick line looked much better. Congrats to Sanheim.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

I omitted the player names because my response is about general mindset, not because both of them didn’t make any positive plays.

Every single player makes some good and poor plays in a game. Not all of them are posted about. It’s not a grand conspiracy. The net effect measured over an appropriate sample size is still the only thing that matters.

That's pretty much my point. It's not a grand conspiracy. You've got a group of posters acting like it's a conspiracy against Sanheim, Patrick, & Konecny, but they gloss over their mistakes & highlight their good plays, while highlighting the mistakes of MacD, Hagg, & Filppula while glossing over their good plays. A lot of filtering going on.

I'm sure I do it, too, but at least Allison is shooting up my charts

 

[JojoTheWhale]

That's pretty much my point. It's not a grand conspiracy. You've got a group of posters acting like it's a conspiracy against Sanheim, Patrick, & Konecny, but they gloss over their mistakes & highlight their good plays, while highlighting the mistakes of MacD, Hagg, & Filppula while glossing over their good plays. A lot of filtering going on.

I'm sure I do it, too, but at least Allison is shooting up my charts

I really think you're misunderstanding (going with that over misrepresenting because I'm not trying to imply malice) why I personally want the usage and deployment I do.

The bar is so unbelievably high to play the style Hagg does and maintain a solid, repeatable positive outcome on the ice. I am entirely up front that the way I want to go comes with more mistakes and specifically more glaring ones, but I have spent countless hours reading research and papers and books on what we can reasonably say is and is not repeatable and every angle that passes the smell test to me says you need to take more risks, not less. Dictating and putting pressure on the other team to react has real, tangible value. I certainly don't think it's a conspiracy, but I do think Hextall could not disagree with me more. I'm not sure how to disagree with an entire top-down philosophy and not come off like I am railing against the system as a whole, but I will at least attempt to include some positives when I do so. I think that's a fair request....unless I have a joke and it doesn't fit the line.

Maybe you weren't even talking to me and I'm just projecting myself into this conversation because I know I am one of the loudest on the subject, but I'm not going to speak for anyone else's opinion.

 

[boxcar65]

4-0 without the mandog.

That has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I’m sure they all miss the Dog. I know I do. It might be tough for him to get back into the lineup when he comes back, but we all know injuries can occur at anytime.

 

[FLYguy3911]

That has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I’m sure they all miss the Dog. I know I do. It might be tough for him to get back into the lineup when he comes back, but we all know injuries can occur at anytime.

Where have you been??

 

[Rebels57]

Where have you been??

Rehabbing his injury.

 

[klutch]

Missed this one, but sounds like it was a sleeper. Keep riding the hot streak, I guess.

 

[Curufinwe]

Winning two games in a row where the goalie gave up an awful goal in the 1st 10 minutes is hopefully a sign the team as a whole have turned the corner mentally. They didn't let Elliott's lapses deflate them.

It would be good to get Neuvirth back soon so Elliott doesn't have to play every game in December. Giving him that kind of workload is asking for trouble.