Post-Game Talk: #3| Montreal at FLYERS |Sat., Oct. 11, 2014|

[CutOnDime97]

Andrew MacDonald is certainly not a 2nd pairing d-man and is not worthy of a 6 year/30 million dollar contract.

 

[thewall]

you guys have 2 excellent players in Giroux and Simmons.. last night i was glad mason was not plaging because he as the Habs number its seems.. Emery played a great game.. Good luck for the rest of the season!

 

[Curufinwe]

Andrew MacDonald is certainly not a 2nd pairing d-man and is not worthy of a 6 year/30 million dollar contract.

He is absolutely a second pairing Dman. Go look at his stats when he played on the second pairing with Streit last season. They were excellent.

Playing him for 28 minutes on the first pairing like they did last night is a coaching and management failure. He's not cut out to be given Ryan Suter minutes and responsibilities.

 

[tymed]

It makes no sense to worry more about this start than last years

 

[Cyborg LeClair]

I finally saw the game, I had it on my DVR.

Our team was awesome the first two periods, and I think it was a combination of us playing well and the Habs playing poorly. But in the third period we just played defense (not good defense either). We were much slower and didn't attack the puck as much as we did in the first two periods.

It was a real shame to lose that lead and even worse of a shame to not capitalize on the power play in OT. At least we got a point, but still...what a loss

 

[Evergreen]

He is absolutely a second pairing Dman. Go look at his stats when he played on the second pairing with Streit last season. They were excellent.

Playing him for 28 minutes on the first pairing like they did last night is a coaching and management failure. He's not cut out to be given Ryan Suter minutes and responsibilities.

Who else would you play in those minutes? Do you want to give Grossmann, Schultz, Schenn, or Del Zotto more minutes? We have no better options.

 

[onlylordsvsmorebp]

brutal loss to take. played well in first two periods and then... dont know if it was a strategy to lay back a little and defend the 3 goal lead in third or flat out were overwhelmed but just horrific period. even in the first two periods the score could have been closer if not for emery, his play surprised the hell out of me. sucks we wasted emerys/simmons great perfomances.

that period was like last years early season game against the devils when we were pinned in our own end for the entire third. after that game came the turnaround i believe.

 

[Flyerss]

Who else would you play in those minutes? Do you want to give Grossmann, Schultz, Schenn, or Del Zotto more minutes? We have no better options.

that's what he meant by management failure.

 

[Cootsfanclub]

that's what he meant by management failure.

It isn't management's fault that Timonen and Coburn got hurt.

 

[Solefool]

It isn't management's fault that Timonen and Coburn got hurt.

Not necessarily, but it definitely is management's fault that the team has to lean on a 39 year old as one of their most important defensive players.

 

[Flyerss]

It isn't management's fault that Timonen and Coburn got hurt.

that's a long story but even with a healthy Timonen and Coburn we needed another Dman to rely on defensively, only time will fix that mess...

 

[Stizzle]

I just saw this game on my DVR. All the negatives have been discussed and are obvious. But I will say I liked Couts again. Although, I pretty much always like Couts. He really is starting to flash some offense and some confidence.

 

[blinds]

I honestly don't give two ***** about all you fans who love to dump on Harts and say he was detrimental to this team.

There is no heart and soul on this team right now. Losing Hartnell was a gigantic blow to this team's character.

Or maybe you're just upset that we traded a player you liked. If you weren't blinded by that, you could see that clearly isn't that problem. The problem is defensive mistakes, defensive inability and terrible coaching decisions.

But hey, it's a lot easier to bring up abstract things like "the team's character was hurt". In my opinion, most of our guys are heart and soul players. It's easier to make a list of those that aren't than those that are. Our problem is lack of skill on the backend, not lack of heart. Lack of brain might be more accurate if we're talking about Berube.

 

[blinds]

He is absolutely a second pairing Dman. Go look at his stats when he played on the second pairing with Streit last season. They were excellent.

Playing him for 28 minutes on the first pairing like they did last night is a coaching and management failure. He's not cut out to be given Ryan Suter minutes and responsibilities.

This is the problem with MacDonald. He's a competent 2nd pairing guy, but both here and with NYI, he's been asked to take on a lot of responsibilities that he really isn't capable of and that's made him look worse than he is.

 

[Danko]

I honestly don't give two ***** about all you fans who love to dump on Harts and say he was detrimental to this team.

There is no heart and soul on this team right now. Losing Hartnell was a gigantic blow to this team's character.

What do you have to do to prove that you have heart and sole? Chuck a glove at a guy on a breakaway, crack some jokes and be good in the community? Hartnell was great to watch and he had some awesome seasons but i dunno, i dont think our teams character is as hurt as your making it out to be. These guys all care, hockey is their life. I dont think you can make that statement with a straight face when you have guys like Simmonds on the team.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

It makes no sense to worry more about this start than last years

The problem last year was that they couldn't score, but they were creating chances. You knew the goals would come, but it was unclear what response the team would have to the coaching change.

This year, the team defense is a fire drill without Timonen and Coburn logging big minutes. Even through two periods against Montreal, there were prolonged shifts in the defensive zone that were disconcerting; this will be the norm this season and is much more serious problem compared to what they faced early last year. I'm not sure the personnel is equipped with the skill to stay afloat with this defense, especially given the gauntlet of quality opponents the team faces in October and November.

For the team to be successful, at least a couple of middle pairing defenseman will have to play above their regular level for long periods of time... I'm not sure they can.

 

[Psuhockey]

The problem last year was that they couldn't score, but they were creating chances. You knew the goals would come, but it was unclear what response the team would have to the coaching change.

This year, the team defense is a fire drill without Timonen and Coburn logging big minutes. Even through two periods against Montreal, there were prolonged shifts in the defensive zone that were disconcerting; this will be the norm this season and is much more serious problem compared to what they faced early last year. I'm not sure the personnel is equipped with the skill to stay afloat with this defense, especially given the gauntlet of quality opponents the team faces in October and November.

For the team to be successful, at least a couple of middle pairing defenseman will have to play above their regular level for long periods of time... I'm not sure they can.

Not to mention every year is different. Last year, everyone in the East got off to an awful start. Going 1-7 this year could burry the Flyers permanently. Even with that start, I think the Flyers were only 4 or 5 points back. That might not be the case this year.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I'd say Mason needs to go full Hasek and drag the team through the D injuries. That's probably more likely than one of Grossmann/Schenn/MacDonald stepping up and playing at an elite level for an extended period.

 

[Curufinwe]

Even Hasek couldn't have stopped most of those NJ goals.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I'd say Mason needs to go full Hasek and drag the team through the D injuries. That's probably more likely than one of Grossmann/Schenn/MacDonald stepping up and playing at an elite level for an extended period.

good thing we have MacDonald for 6 more years! thanks again Paul.
yeah I know Hextall gave his blessing too. whatever. 6 years is about 3-4 years to many.

 

[Garbage Goal]

good thing we have MacDonald for 6 more years! thanks again Paul.
yeah I know Hextall gave his blessing too. whatever. 6 years is about 3-4 years to many.

Meh, we were only in that big of a need for a D in the first place because it had gotten to that point with Homer. So Homer still gets what might as well be all the blame in my mind. It's not just about one event, it's about what lead to it.

 

[chimrichalds18]

good thing we have MacDonald for 6 more years! thanks again Paul.
yeah I know Hextall gave his blessing too. whatever. 6 years is about 3-4 years to many.

Reading between the lines of what Hextall's said in interviews this summer (maybe it was the Broad Street Hockey one?), I don't really think that's the case.