GDT: #60: Blue Jackets at FLYERS, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, 7:00 pm ET

[Hollywood Cannon]

Can we please stop with this? He’s not from Boston. We’re not from Boston. Just stop.

 

[BiggE]

soooo if we do make the playoffs who would rather face:

pens, caps, tampa, bruins?

In order:
1. Pittsburgh
Genuine hatred will make this fun, plus beating the Pens in round one after they’ve gone all in would be fantastic

2. Washington
They’re not as deep as they were when they won the Cup and I think the Flyers match up well

3. Boston
Boston is a veteran team that knows how to win in the playoffs. This would be a very tough round one match up

4. Tampa
No, thank you.

 

[Rich Nixon]

In order:
1. Pittsburgh
Genuine hatred will make this fun, plus beating the Pens in round one after they’ve gone all in would be fantastic

2. Washington
They’re not as deep as they were when they won the Cup and I think the Flyers match up well

3. Boston
Boston is a veteran team that knows how to win in the playoffs. This would be a very tough round one match up

4. Tampa
No, thank you.

Yeah if it's gonna happen, give me the Pens right off the bat.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

The only one of those 4 options they have a decent shot at beating in a series is Washington. Now this is the NHL and "not having a decent chance" can still be 35-40% of the time, so perspective and all of that.

 

[FLYguy3911]

The only one of those 4 options they have a decent shot at beating in a series is Washington. Now this is the NHL and "not having a decent chance" can still be 35-40% of the time, so perspective and all of that.

Yup. They don’t have a line you’re scared to see for 25 minutes a night in a playoff series compared to the other three.

 

[Rich Nixon]

The only one of those 4 options they have a decent shot at beating in a series is Washington. Now this is the NHL and "not having a decent chance" can still be 35-40% of the time, so perspective and all of that.

I honestly think they can beat anyone in a series as long as many of the youngsters don't completely freak out during their first playoff series. That applies especially to Hart--not always the easiest going into your first ever playoffs as a goalie, but he's a special kid.

I've been trying to identify this teams' biggest flaws, but I don't really think they have that many. They gotta decide what the PP is gonna look like and stick with something and make it work. They could use more talent in the lower half of the forward group, but that's true of basically everyone but Tampa. The defense's gaffes seem to be subsiding, I think both Sanheim and Myers look a lot more comfortable than they did earlier this year, the third pairing options have all been alright, and the first pair is terrific.

They still need to avoid those games where they get jumped early, like they did against NYI and Tampa. You can come out flat in the first and allow a goal and still recover easily, but you gotta really avoid letting your bad starts turn into early 3-0 deficits in the playoffs (unless it's against the Pens I guess).

They can score, they can dominate possession, they can kill penalties. There's weaknesses--3C is an evolving question mark--and some youthful inconsistency, but no achilles heel. Again, I think the level of competition in the conference is obscuring how good this team is, even to Flyers fans.

Any other season a team with this record and talent level would be a solid second in their division and receiving some chatter as a dark horse contender. They have performed pretty well against the other top-10 teams in the league, other than the Islanders and Tampa. They're 11-7-4 against them all combined, and that includes 0-4-1 against the aforementioned NYI and TB. Against Boston, Washington, and Pittsburgh, they're 5-1-2. They can play with these teams. The others might have a bit more recent playoff seasoning, but I don't think it's a huge deal.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

I honestly think they can beat anyone in a series as long as many of the youngsters don't completely freak out during their first playoff series. That applies especially to Hart--not always the easiest going into your first ever playoffs as a goalie, but he's a special kid.

I've been trying to identify this teams' biggest flaws, but I don't really think they have that many. They gotta decide what the PP is gonna look like and stick with something and make it work. They could use more talent in the lower half of the forward group, but that's true of basically everyone but Tampa. The defense's gaffes seem to be subsiding, I think both Sanheim and Myers look a lot more comfortable than they did earlier this year, the third pairing options have all been alright, and the first pair is terrific. They still need to avoid those games where they get jumped early, like they did against NYI and Tampa. You can come out flat in the first and allow a goal and still recover easily, but you gotta really avoid letting your bad starts turn into early 3-0 deficits in the playoffs (unless it's against the Pens I guess).

They can score, they can dominate possession, they can kill penalties. There's weaknesses--3C is an evolving question mark--and some youthful inconsistency, but no achilles heel. Again, I think the level of competition in the conference is obscuring how good this team is, even to Flyers fans. Any other season a team with this record and talent level would be a solid second in their division and receiving some chatter as a dark horse contender.

I don't think we materially disagree about their chances. To me, having no real chance of winning a series is when you start to get into 30% and below territory. There are some things that make me think that while they're dogs every realistic opponent, they're not that much of a dog except probably to Tampa, as I really don't like that matchup.

First and foremost, they have Couturier. You have a chance to beat the other team's top line every night if he's healthy and surrounded by anything resembling reasonable talent. The other major factor at play here is that they generally play low event hockey. That's the side of the coin you'd rather be on if the other team has more talent.

I do think that as fans of every team does, we tend to get a little carried away with mentally promoting players/pairings/lines to a certain level because they demonstrate the ability to do so in bursts and ignore whether or not they stay there. Prime example here would be the first pair. They were downright excellent to start the year, but haven't been for a while now. I'm not trying to make a definitive statement either way, but I do think that early season form will be needed in order to have a solid shot at advancing. The team as a whole has a similar issue in that they've ended up fairly close to average at 5v5, but it's come with huge highs and lows. I don't know that anyone really has an idea which of those teams would show up during the 2 weeks in question.

I also think they have the Goaltending advantage in a Washington series as long as Hart is healthy. Removing current day Elliott from the equation does wonders for their outlook.

 

[landsbergfan]

The three biggest weaknesses for the Flyers, in order, IMO

1. power play
2. 3rd line center
3. goaltending

Goaltending has been their biggest weakness so far, but I still trust Hart to get it figured out when it matters most. A big win streak is in our future if he gets rolling. Patrick getting back into shape will be huge. And then who knows with the power play. It is number 1 for me mostly because I have the most doubt it gets fixed.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

We’re still a middle of the packish 5v5 team with a terrible PP. We’re a bit better in actual results on the PP but process wise we’re one of the worst teams in the league in creating chances there.

In a playoff series they should commit more to Hart than Elliott which should help improve our goaltending situation. Not that Hart’s been some stalwart himself at times but he’s certainly better than Elliott/Lyon who’ve just been terrible in totality this year.

 

[flyerslducks]

I guess if there was an option of who to choose I’d prefer Washington or Boston.

The speed of Pittsburgh and Tampa will pose problems for this club imo. Either way, those are essentially the top squads of the East this year - and the Flyers will definitely be underdogs. They will have to convincingly win the goaltender duel to stand a chance.

ya it will definitely be interesting to see how the goalie duel ends up. Caps can go either way with holtby/samsanov and same things with pens with murray/jarry. I think vasi and rask are the top 2 goalies right now so that wouldn't be ideal lol. Funny enough I do think hagg would be better for the caps than ghost (i hate myself for saying that lol). Just for a bigger team and a guy who can throw his body at ovi's shot on the pp is crucial. Ghost is definitely needed for the speedier teams in pens/tamps though.

 

[flyerslducks]

The two biggest weaknesses for the Flyers, in order, IMO

1. power play
2. 3rd line center
3. goaltending

Goaltending has been their biggest weakness so far, but I still trust Hart to get it figured out when it matters most. A big win streak is in our future if he gets rolling. Patrick getting back into shape will be huge. And then who knows with the power play. It is number 1 for me mostly because I have the most doubt it gets fixed.

the awesome thing about all of this is that we can fix these more than other issues. PP does look like its getting better. The puck movement has been much better and ghost will help that too. He is better at keeping the puck in and can make that back hand sauce pass to giroux more. Provorov has trouble going back to giroux when they are close to each other but ghost/timmo are great at it.

As for 3c=patrick please
Goalie=i trust hart as you say

 

[flyerslducks]

Columbus really got hit with the injury bug:

Jones, #1 D-man
Murray, #4/#5 D-man
Kukan #6 D-man

Atkinson #7, ES TOI
Wennberg #8, ES TOI
Anderson #9 ES TOI
Texier #12 ES TOI

yikes lol. Imagine if atkinson and anderson weren't having down years too.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

the awesome thing about all of this is that we can fix these more than other issues. PP does look like its getting better. The puck movement has been much better and ghost will help that too. He is better at keeping the puck in and can make that back hand sauce pass to giroux more. Provorov has trouble going back to giroux when they are close to each other but ghost/timmo are great at it.

As for 3c=patrick please
Goalie=i trust hart as you say

 

[Rich Nixon]

I do think that as fans of every team does, we tend to get a little carried away with mentally promoting players/pairings/lines to a certain level because they demonstrate the ability to do so in bursts and ignore whether or not they stay there.

I don't know anyone on this board who does that. Also, Provorov is only effective with Gostisbehere. , obviously.

But, it's a fair point, though every player and pair and line has ebbs and flows throughout the season. I think looking cumulatively it's still appropriate to say that first pairing has been excellent, and that they have as much likelihood of playing at the level they need to in the playoffs as anyone. I think it's when we start reaching back seasons, or pointing to like 7-game stretches, that it gets a little sketchy.

 

[Striiker]

the awesome thing about all of this is that we can fix these more than other issues. PP does look like its getting better. The puck movement has been much better and ghost will help that too. He is better at keeping the puck in and can make that back hand sauce pass to giroux more. Provorov has trouble going back to giroux when they are close to each other but ghost/timmo are great at it.

As for 3c=patrick please
Goalie=i trust hart as you say

These idiots aren't going to put Ghost back on the top PP.

They're committed to force-feeding Provorov every single piece of prime usage available (to his and the teams detriment) while simultaneously screwing Ghost over whenever possible (to his and the teams detriment).

 

[Striiker]

The top pair remains incredibly overrated based on the first month or two of the season.

 

[PDX Flyer]

That's the one. Makes sense that he'd go where the ladies are, haha.

Ha .... yeah I can only imagine what Mary’s was like back then.

 

[deadhead]

The top pair remains incredibly overrated based on the first month or two of the season.

Yeah, 'cause they've been terrible the last 16 games since the road trip from hell.
Provorov CF 53.70%, xGF 51.45% - PDO .943
Niskanen CF 55.09%, xGF 53.52% - PDO .961

 

[Adam Warlock]

Columbus really got hit with the injury bug:

Jones, #1 D-man
Murray, #4/#5 D-man
Kukan #6 D-man

Atkinson #7, ES TOI
Wennberg #8, ES TOI
Anderson #9 ES TOI
Texier #12 ES TOI

There is really no excuse for not winning both games against them this week. It really could knock them out of the race and put the flyers in a position to be looking at 3rd place instead of a wildcard.

Such a great opportunity...especially with all of those injuries.

 

[flyerslducks]

The top pair remains incredibly overrated based on the first month or two of the season.

so
provorov-myers
sanheim-niskanen?

always wanted to see that top pair and how it would do

 

[Tripod]

We’re still a middle of the packish 5v5 team with a terrible PP. We’re a bit better in actual results on the PP but process wise we’re one of the worst teams in the league in creating chances there.

In a playoff series they should commit more to Hart than Elliott which should help improve our goaltending situation. Not that Hart’s been some stalwart himself at times but he’s certainly better than Elliott/Lyon who’ve just been terrible in totality this year.

 

[deadhead]

It's all due to Bunnaman!@

 

[BiggE]

Flyers biggest problem: Michel Therrien.

#freeGhostnow!

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Flyers biggest problem: Michel Therrien.

#freeGhostnow!

Ghost: 41 GP, 5 G, 7 A, 12 pts, 2:38 PP TOI/GP
Hagg: 39 GP, 3 G, 8 A, 11 pts, 0:02 PP TOI/GP

Maybe Ghost is a problem himself.

 

[Tripod]

Very impartial analysis.