The Philadelphia Flyers Best The Flyers West. It’s Still a Thing.
Photo Courtesy of Sean M.Haffey/Getty Images North America
The Philadelphia Flyers season opener on October 14th, 2016 had all the hallmarks of great hockey; frustration, drama, suspense, relief, scoring and raining on the L.A. Kings home opener parade.
Frustration
The Philadelphia Flyers demonstrated some less than spectacular play in the first period. They did not get their first shot on goal until the majority of it was over with a little less than seven minutes left. They exhibited difficulty in getting out of their own zone and in not turning the puck over. The Flyers started Michael Neuvirth for the first time since adding him to the roster. He has not started in goal in the NHL since 2010. He made 23 saves in total and kept his team in the game for the lack luster first period.
Neuvirth said of his teams effort; “They came out hard and it took us 10 minutes to get our legs going. That’s the way we’ve got to play on the road.”
He also said of his own effort; “Yeah, I stayed patient and reacted and I trust myself to react…”
Neither team was on the board, but the first period had a brief and harrowing two minutes for fans of the Orange and Black.
Drama
“I didn’t know if it was a skate, a stick or what,” he said. “I saw him and saw the replay. When you see the replay, you realize how close that came to being really bad.” – Flyers Coach Dave Hakstol
Less than three minutes into the Flyers first regular season game, their defense playing wonder scion Shayne Gostisbehere had fans, teammates and spectators of all ilk holding their breath. He received a skate blade to his right cheek from the Kings Kyle Clifford that could have potentially caused devastating injuries.
See the video of Shayne Gostisbehere’s laceration
Video from SPORTSNETCANADA on YouTube.com
Relief
The Ghost Bear did not sustain serious injury and did not need stitches. Gostisbehere returned to the ice with out missing a shift, to the relief and amazement of all.
Gostisbehere narrated his unnerving experience; “I kinda fell first and he just hit me. I kinda got lucky. It didn’t get me too bad. No stitches, just a scrape. I was just thankful it wasn’t worse. I’ll take this any day for whatever could have happened.”
,As a result, he may very well go through life with an added sense of mystique that will be the admiration by all who gaze upon him. He might be able to rock a hood in new and exciting ways. The Ghost Bear will be the living embodiment of the phrase “ruggedly handsome” in the very best ways. Most important, he was not blinded or de-nosed and suffered no nerve or muscular damage that anyone knows about yet.
Both teams failed to get on the board by the end of the first period.
Scoring
The Flyers came to life in the second period and rewarded their fans for waiting out the summer and gave them sweet sweet glory.
The Flyers first goal of the season was a dark horse effort from Boyd Gordon 3:55 into period, assisted by Brandon Manning and Nick Cousins. This was his first goal in the NHL that put the Flyers on the board and gave them a 1-0 lead.
Accordingly, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol reflected on his teams first period doldrums and awakening; “We got a couple good saves when the game was 0-0, the first goal was big for us. We felt like, coming out of the first period we had started to skate and play a bit better, do a few more things positively with the puck. The play on the first goal was patience, which was a good play for us, and we carried it through from there.”
To be sure, those few things added up in short order. Just 48 seconds after Gordon’s goal, Sean Couturier, assisted by 19 year old rookie Travis Konecny and Shayne Gostisbehere, extended the Flyers lead 2-0. In like manner, the patience paid of as well. At 12:04 into the second period, 7:21 after his first goal, fans put their hats on after Sean Couturier scored his second goal of the evening. Once again, Couturier was assisted by Travis Konecny and also by Jake Voracek. Unfortunately, Couturier did not get a third goal and fans will have to cast their chapeau on the rink in celebration another day.
However, the other Flyers were ready to take their place on the board. Mark Streit surprised fans at 18:03 into the second period with his very own goal assisted by Ivan Provorov and Nick Cousins, giving the Flyers a 4-0 lead. Forthwith, this gave the Kings good cause to sweat in their squash colored jerseys. To the dismay of Orange and Black fans, the Kings Drew Doughty got on the board 49 seconds later, with slightly over a minute left in the period. The period ended with a score 4-1 and the Flyers made 21 shots on goal this period.
Raining on the Kings Home Opener
For fear of losing their home opener, The L.A. Kings did not waste time trying to mount a come back in the third period. Brayden McNabb scored 3:01 in, producing the final score of 4-2. The Philadelphia Flyers illustriously brought ruination to the Los Angeles Kings home opener. The Flyers won their first game of the season for the first time in five years.
Ivan Provorov reflected on his team’s victory; “You expect the best; it’s the best league in the world. The LA Kings are a hard team to play against and I thought we played well as a team and that’s why we got the win.”
Another big story of the night is the full season debut of rookies Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov to Philadelphia’s line up. Fans waited patiently, as General Manager Ron Hextall made it clear last season that he would move the players up on his time table.
At long last, they have been deemed ready by the Flyers General Manager; “They’re here,” said he. “They made our team. This isn’t a tryout. If I felt like either player wasn’t ready to be here the whole year, they wouldn’t be here right now.” Hextall’s reward for his faith is 2 points from Konecny and 1 point for Provorov.
Correspondingly, another young and fabulous team member, Shayne Gostisbehere, also shared his approval; “It’s awesome having them here, they bring an element I don’t think we necessarily had last year. They’ve got speed, and they can make plays.”
For putting Philadelphia on the board first the Flyers season opener and his first NHL game, Boyd Gordon gets a gold star right on his forehead. In regards for his back to back goals, Sean Couturier gets 2 gold stars wherever he wants them. For the closest shave of his life, Shayne Gostisbehere gets a gold star on his brand new face gash.
For the triumph of the season debut, Captain Claude Giroux will feast upon a buttery browned grilled cheese sandwich of victory, because that is what winners eat.
The Philadelphia Flyers will play next in Arizona against the Coyotes Saturday, October 15th at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
*Halo untuk, gadis Yusinta kami sayang kami sangat mencintaimu dan berpikir dari anda selalu