Flyers 4, Leafs 2: What we learned from a statement win

The Corsi Report:

You know the drill by now, let’s get into to some fancy stats.

1st line: Claude Giroux / Sean Couturier / Jakub Voracek

Giroux: Raw (43.75) / Adjusted (49.27)

Couturier: Raw (45.45) / Adjusted (50.90)

Voracek: Raw (44.83) / Adjusted (50.52)

It wasn’t a dominating effort by the first line to say the least, but the line was on the ice for two of the Flyers 5-on-5 goals, one scored by Giroux and one by Voracek. This line which was thought of as a crazy experiment during the preseason has now become easily the Flyers’ best line.

2nd line: Jordan Weal / Valtteri Filppula / Wayne Simmonds

Weal: Raw (45.83) / Adjusted (51.46)

Filppula: Raw (50) / Adjusted (55.73)

Simmonds: Raw (51.85) / Adjusted (57.68)

Without a doubt I can say this was Filppula’s best game of the season so far. He wasn’t spectacular, but he got the job done and drove play at a fairly solid rate. Simmonds had a rare dominating play-driving night, coming in fourth on the team in xGF with a mark of 0.58, 0.10 higher than his linemate Filppula.

3rd line: Travis Konecny / Jori Lehtera / Matt Read

Konecny: Raw (56.25) / Rdjusted (59.64)

Lehtera: Raw (53.33) / Adjusted (56.89)

Read: Raw (56.25) / Adjusted (59.64)

Despite seeing the least amount of time on the ice at 5-on-5 with each player not seeing more than nine minutes, the makeshift line put together a solid performance against the high octane Leafs squad. While this isn’t a line I want trotted out there night in and night out (and it won’t be when Patrick returns), they showed some promise.

4th line: Taylor Leier / Scott Laughton / Michael Raffl

Leier: Raw (35.71) / Adjusted (41.23)

Laughton: Raw (41.18) / Adjusted (47.03)

Raffl: Raw (33.33) / Adjusted (38.42)

When I saw the numbers for this line I was shocked. It didn’t look as though they played that poorly of a game by just using the eye test. Then, when you dig a little a deeper, you see this line had the misfortune of facing Toronto’s second line which featured Mitch Marner and Patrick Marleau. A tough task for a “fourth line”.

Defense

1st Pair: Ivan Provorov / Shayne Gostisbehere

Provorov: Raw (50) / Adjusted (55.97)

Gostisbehere: Raw (52.17) / Adjusted (57.06)

Despite the loss of Ghost in the 3rd period, this duo was fantastic all night long. Their performance is even more impressive when you realize they had to face the Matthews line for the majority of the night — and they held their own against that line. Provorov also lead the Flyers on the night with an individiaul expected Goals For of 0.75.

2nd Pair: Robert Hagg/Brandon Manning

Hagg: Raw (44.44) / Adjusted (50.28)

Manning: Raw (28.57) / Adjusted (32.94)

About the only “good” thing about Ghost’s injury was that Hagg got to spend some time away from the ten-ton anchor that is Manning. Despite getting a 5-on-5 goal on a really well-executed play by the Flyers, it was a bad night for Manning, who was the team’s worst at 5v5 CF%. Hagg would spend the majority of the 3rd with Provorov, and his CF% went from 36.84 with Manning to 63.64 with Provy.

3rd Pair: Travis Sanheim/Radko Gudas

Sanheim: Raw (61.11) / Adjusted (65.24)

Gudas: Raw (48.39) / Adjusted (53.47)

Just a fantastic game for Sanheim and Gudas. After a horrific play by Gudas that resulted in Toronto’s first goal, he really settled in from then on and put together a solid game. As for Sanheim, he went mostly unnoticed defensively which is a good thing, and offensively he was letting that powerful shot go at will.

Team stats

Flyers Raw CF%: 46.59

Leafs Raw CF%: 53.41

Flyers Adjusted: 51.93

Leafs Adjusted: 48.07

As expected, the Flyers win the adjusted battle due to them leading for a little over two thirds of the game.

Heatmap

Flyers on offense: Not too shabby!

Flyers on defense: OH LORD WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT.

Obviously, Philadelphia needs to get better at protecting the front of the net and eliminating chances from that area. The two 5v5 Leafs goals were scored in or on the edge of that gigantic red spot right in front of the net. They won tonight, but this is something that needs to be fixed in the near future.

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Five Takeaways

1. Auston Matthews is really freakin good

I’m sure all of you are sick and tired of hearing about this, but it needs to be said. Matthews got the scoring started blowing by Ivan Provorov and AT THE LAST POSSIBLE SECOND making a perfect pass to Kadri. I don’t think this guy is capable of making a poor decision on the ice.

2. Jakub Voracek is the Flyers’ MVP through the 11 games

After a disappointing 2016-2017 season, Jake the Snake has put together a stretch to begin the season that reminds you of the lockout shortened 2012-13 Voracek, who was just two points shy of being point per game, and the 2014-15 Voracek, who finished just one point shy of reaching the point-per-game plateau.

In his first 11 games, Voracek only has two goals, but his 13 assists have put him on a career-high pace that we have desperately craved from him since he received his eight year contract extension before last season.

3. Shayne Gostisbehere injured

After this vicious hit by Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov, Ghost took a few more shifts to close out the second period but would not return for the entirety of the third.

Gostisbhere was ruled out due to the extremely descriptive and always-appreciated “upper body injury”. Obviously the first thought that arises is a concussion.

However considering the hit, it could very well be shoulders, neck/upper back etc. While, yes the possibility of a concussion for Ghost is absolutely there, the fact he completed a few shifts after the hit would lead me to believe it’s not. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping for.

4. Brian Elliott bounces back

After a poor showing by Elliott in his last game against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, he was on his game tonight. Solid positioning, and great reflexes, the BAMF was ready for the challenge of the Toronto offense and stepped up huge.

5. Sean Couturier is my first line center

Ever since he was a rookie, I have been extremely fond of Couturier and become somewhat of an apologist for him. Consistently thinking he was better than what the basic stats say, and thinking he has the potential to be a top center in the National Hockey League. We are only 11 games into this season, and Sean Couturier is on a point per game pace with 13 points in those 11 games. Coots has never surpassed 39 points in his career, despite dominating more often than not in the underlying metrics. Now who knows what the rest of the season has in store for him, but as of right now he is playing the best hockey of his career alongside the best linemates he has ever had. All I can say is #CouturierForSelke.

All stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, and Corsica.hockey