Post-Game Talk: #71 | Blue Jackets at FLYERS | Thu., Mar. 15, 2018, 7:00 pm ET

[Magua]

Really interesting learning material for our younger members, like Striiker, who is conspicuously absent and may be celebrating his 13th birthday at this very moment.

He really is a good kid that Striiker. Deep down. Like realllllly deep down where you can’t actually see it, so you’re just hoping it’s there and that he’s not the anti-Christ. Anyways, fingers crossed he plays spin the bottle at his big 13th birthday bash and gets his first kiss! But don’t feel peer pressured either, lil buddy!

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

He really is a good kid that Striiker. Deep down. Like realllllly deep down where you can’t actually see it, so you’re just hoping it’s there and that he’s not the anti-Christ. Anyways, fingers crossed he plays spin the bottle at his big 13th birthday bash and gets his first kiss!

He'll probably just cyber bully the rest of the circle so he is sitting there spinning the bottle by himself. Fingers crossed for version 3.0

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I want to see CDP like count pass his messages count

 

[Beef Invictus]

I want to see CDP like count pass his messages count

This is an interesting experiment. I wonder if Carolina can help us with this.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

This is an interesting experiment. I wonder if Carolina can help us with this.

but did we move in the right direction ??

hahaaa...

#Haktardhottakes

 

[Magua]

I want to see Beef’s like count pass his message count. We might need BOTH Carolinas for that.

 

[Winston Wolf]

The last goal Mrazek gave up was hard to defend. The others you could but still while maybe not the problem he wasn’t a solution either. You need some tough saves & he didn’t give any while the guy down at the other end did despite maybe not having his best game either.

He needed to have the last one and it wasn't even that it went in, but how bad he looked letting it in. The first three, how many of those does even Bobrovsky save tonight? Maybe one? I don't think any of Lyon, Neuvirth, or Elliott were stopping any of those either.

Either way, Mrazek has been poor, but this whole "blame the goalie" talking point that has started to surface is absolutely terrible for us. Goaltending is an immediate issue, yes. However, all this talk about goalies is going to do is give Hakstol an even bigger buffer than he already has. Hextall already has his excuse lined up now. Mrazek will be the easy scapegoat even though he was not the major problem tonight. The major problem is that they were dominated in the first and didn't get their first (weak) shot of the game until the first was almost half over. The first shift was decent enough, then MacDonald came on the ice and couldn't keep up with the pace. It was all down hill from there. Both teams had two days off before this one, but only one was ready to play.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

I don’t care what statistics say, Haktard makes it a coin flip if we make it or not. The more I watch, he continues to confirm he’s subhuman.

#fire Hakstol

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

He needed to have the last one and it wasn't even that it went in, but how bad he looked letting it in. The first three, how many of those does even Bobrovsky save tonight? Maybe one? I don't think any of Lyon, Neuvirth, or Elliott were stopping any of those either.

Either way, Mrazek has been poor, but this whole "blame the goalie" talking point that has started to surface is absolutely terrible for us. Goaltending is an immediate issue, yes. However, all this talk about goalies is going to do is give Hakstol an even bigger buffer than he already has. Hextall already has his excuse lined up now. Mrazek will be the easy scapegoat even though he was not the major problem tonight. The major problem is that they were dominated in the first and didn't get their first (weak) shot of the game until the first was almost half over. The first shift was decent enough, then MacDonald came on the ice and couldn't keep up with the pace. It was all down hill from there. Both teams had two days off before this one, but only one was ready to play.

Maybe.

I don’t think it’s the problem but it’s a problem right now. Mrazek just hasn’t been good overall since being acquired. Lyon is what he is, an AHL caliber goalie. They just can’t make up for their lack of 5v5 scoring & their PK getting gashed for things beyond the goaltending.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

This one hurts.

That said

- you can’t judge a team in the middle of a skid like this one or several others we have had.

- you can’t expect the jackets, devils and panthers to keep it up until the end. They may have more games in them, but they will slow down.

- if we go over .500 we are in the playoffs playing someone. I just don’t want to play Tampa and get stomped. If you can’t go over .500 to end the season then you really don’t belong in the playoffs anyway.

- Hak is bad but at least he eventually gets it. Sanheim on the PP2. Cutting filp out of the pp and double shifting players in his place. Benching filp and Lehtera for a lot of the third. There are still major issues like manning, but honestly do we really have the parts right now to make that much of a change there?

- people forget the start Simmonds got off to. He was carrying this team and was on fire. Then he got something like 4 injuries in 2 games and it showed. Then he was just out and had oral surgery. If you have teeth work done, you don’t eat. Simmonds looks like a guy that hasn’t eaten in awhile. Give him a few weeks.

- g is an absolute monster. You are talking a guy that will likely overtake Eric lindros next game and he’s 30 yo.

I’ll save some thoughts for the canes gdt.

I think when you have as many skids as this team you can start passing judgement. They have been brutal for weeks and it still isn't the low point of the season.

 

[dats81]

Half of the coaching staff are inept.

And the pieces on the ice just don't fit together.
There is not a single prospect on the farm that you could add next season and make them click. It's way more complicated.

 

[Alex K]

CBJ went for it at the deadline.

Philly played for the future.

Tonight is the result.

That's the main difference between us and CBJ

 

[Beef Invictus]

I wanted to keep and develop Bob so badly.

 

[BillDineen]

Tough loss. Bad Mrazek plus the usual suspects. Lyon played well. Add Sanheim to PP2 as obvious things Hakstol took months to realize (Provorov-Ghost, TK with skilled guys, etc.).

If they make the playoffs, those 4 games won't really give the young players much playoff experience. If they don't and Hak is fired, it will help. If they don't and Hak is kept, we are truly f***ed.

 

[kudymen]

I fell asleep minutes before the game... good

 

[Starat327]

Um, that’s exactly the point.

I mean, you're being little disingenuous with misrepresenting them as of late but it is what it is I suppose. The second line also hasn't had anyone on the defense to work with to drive that production, which is a problem when you're expecting most of tour offense to be generated from the points.

 

[Psuhockey]

The funny thing is Hakstol did everything everyone asked this game.

I would like him to recognize that the team was flat and the goalie wasn’t sharp and make a change at 3 goals instead of 4, which every other NHL coach in the league does. Or perhaps use a time out instead of holding on to them for a terrible challenge later.

I am not going to kill the guy on usage because a lot of NHL coaches would overuse the same slop that he does given this roster but he had no in game awareness. His idea to change momentum is to wait until the end of the period. If he removes Mzarek as any other coach would after 3 goals, maybe the Flyers get a point tonight. Or maybe the change is a wake up call and swings momentum. Instead he sits there staring like he has no idea what’s going on.

 

[TheKingPin]

I would like him to recognize that the team was flat and the goalie wasn’t sharp and make a change at 3 goals instead of 4, which every other NHL coach in the league does. Or perhaps use a time out instead of holding on to them for a terrible challenge later.

I am not going to kill the guy on usage because a lot of NHL coaches would overuse the same slop that he does given this roster but he had no in game awareness. His idea to change momentum is to wait until the end of the period. If he removes Mzarek as any other coach would after 3 goals, maybe the Flyers get a point tonight. Or maybe the change is a wake up call and swings momentum. Instead he sits there staring like he has no idea what’s going on.

He’s the anti Lavy. He will get killed in the playoffs for the things you mentioned. It’s pretty telling when you leave your last position having never won a championship and then they win your first year gone.

That said, this loss is not on Hak. It’s on the players. Bob is just that good and he steps it up on us but last night he was beatable. The team had very little push to end the game. They got out worked again and were beaten to a lot of pucks. They can’t complete a crisp pass to save their lives and the turnovers and failed clears aren’t stopping.

 

[TheKingPin]

I think when you have as many skids as this team you can start passing judgement. They have been brutal for weeks and it still isn't the low point of the season.

They have also had good stretches and you obviously wouldn’t say they are that kind of team at the end of those. You aren’t going to say this team is a division winning caliber team. The average of the good and bad stretches for this team is a WC playoff team. That seems most likely now. Florida has games in hand but one of them is against Florida. Not sure if NJ plays Florida or the jackets. We are still likely going to make the playoffs and that was always the goal.

 

[Ms Maggie]

Bern (I'm not going to call you Jeff, or Geoff, too many bad associations at the moment), you know what's interesting is that we have all these fables that are applicable. "The Scorpion and the Frog" for Jeff, or rather Dan, or rather what'shisface, "The Boy Who Cried Woof" for Meatpig. Really interesting learning material for our younger members, like Striiker, who is conspicuously absent and may be celebrating his 13th birthday at this very moment.

"The Milkmaid and Her Pail", sadly.

Oh well, the chick counting was fun while it lasted. (References to fables make me philosophic. And I suspect tedious....)

 

[Tripod]

The funny thing is Hakstol did everything everyone asked this game, and it made no difference, played Sanheim, reduced Filppula's minutes, put Laughton with the 3rd line wingers, etc.

And that's because the talent simply isn't there, and the goalies are bad.
Look at Darling and Ward drag down Carolina, look at Mrazek kill our playoff chances.

Laughton, Filppula, Read, Lehtera (Weise, Leier), MacDonald, Gudas, Manning.
Raffl and Simmonds would be fine if they were paired with real centers. They're just not good enough to carry dreck.
And even then, if we just had an average goalie, we'd be a 95+ point team.

If only points mattered at the beginning of the season when you said they didn't.

 

[BernieParent]

I’m not mad, I’m disappointed.

When I say this to my family, it usually means I am more mad than disappointed.

 

[GKJ]

Circumstances aside, Mrazek has been a disaster. Lyon has been the better goaltender, if only be default, but it’s a back to back coming up so they need to split it. But after that Lyon should be #1. He isn’t that good either but at least he doesn’t completely implode

 

[flyers0909]

Mrazek only has 4 wins right? Might as well ride Lyon until the regulars get back so that pick is only a 4th (assuming we don't f*** this up and make the playoffs).

 

[Psuhockey]

Mrazek only has 4 wins right? Might as well ride Lyon until the regulars get back so that pick is only a 4th (assuming we don't **** this up and make the playoffs).

Won’t happen. Hakstol will choose Mzarek because he has more experience.