The Flyers lost a game, much to everybody’s chagrin, but there are baseball things going on so all is well. After an excruciating three-ish periods of hockey where neither team managed to score a goal, Philadelphia ran out of gas and Carter Hart, with all of his magic wishes already used up, couldn’t bail the Orange & Black out one last time. How’d that happen? Let’s dive in.
What went right?
Carter Hart. The Flyers’ stud netminder continued his monstrous run of play to start the season, stopping 35 of 36 shots on goal and warding off plenty of other dangerous attempts that missed the net. On a night where the Flyers struggled to accomplish much of anything besides drawing penalties and managing the occasional counterattacking chance, their goalie stole them a point.
Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes created a number of chances (combined for 8 SOG), but overall not much to cheer about from the skaters besides their effort in blocking shots and hanging tough with a clearly superior team.
What went wrong?
The Flyers couldn’t bury their chances and maintain their opportunistic streak, which meant that they were bound to lose. Between not getting the bounces and facing a goalie like Shesterkin, an already difficult task became impossible.
Lindy does it all. pic.twitter.com/TzTub30t5v
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 1, 2022
Travis Konecny couldn’t put this play in the back of the net, and a Kevin Hayes chance from in tight in the final two minutes of regulation was shut down when Shesterkin out-waited the veteran forward for the glove save.
The Blueshirts dominated play in every facet of the game, crushing the Flyers in shots on goal, shot attempts and scoring chances. Not ideal, but this wasn’t exactly a surprising outcome for the Flyers. The only reason the score wasn’t more lopsided (besides the play of Hart) was the Rangers hitting the post a whopping FIVE times.
Overtime wasn’t a clinic by any means for either team, but the Flyers conceded the lion’s share of high quality chances, including a number of odd man rushes. Finally, Chris Kreider broke the scoreless tie to end things.
CHRISTOPHER. JAMES. pic.twitter.com/wzgjSf0S9B
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 2, 2022
Three Big Things
- Carter Hart is having a start unlike anything we’ve seen from a Philadelphia goaltender in modern times. Entering tonight he was pretty much top ten in the league in every meaningful statistic and analytic; that trend held up again. If there’s one thing that could make another year spent watching a pathetic team exciting, it’d be the emergence of Hart as a true franchise goalie. Be excited.
- Say what you will about tonight, the effort was there. John Tortorella has this roster working hard in the corners and forechecking/backchecking at full speed. It’s a breath of fresh air even if the results and underlying numbers aren’t anything to be smiling about.
- Go Phillies.
Post Game Tunes
The Wonder Years are an amazing band and their most recent release is probably their best stuff in years.
Good night, good hockey, and as always, go Flyers.
