Tag: Claude Giroux

After a pair of embarrassing losses to the New York Rangers in the span of eight days, the Flyers managed to rebound with a 2-1 win back on March 27. They will close out the season series against the Rangers with a pair of games leading into the weekend, starting with Thursday night’s matchup.

The Flyers are left to press on, and they get to face another team right at the top of the East Division standings. Only 12 games remain in this season that continues to show just how much work the Flyers need. The Islanders come to town for one final matchup this season.

The Capitals’ superstar was given the opportunities to unleash his lethal shot. The Flyers third-string netminder did an admirable job given the circumstances. The Flyers continued to get an impressive start from one of their young players. Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s 6-3 Flyers loss to Washington.

Alex Ovechkin scored another pair of goals to bring his season total against the Flyers to eight and his career total to 730, as the Capitals handed the Flyers a 6-3 loss on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers should have plenty of motivation to continue their positive play from Thursday, beings that Saturday afternoon’s opponent handed them another embarrassing defeat earlier this week. The Washington Capitals are back at Wells Fargo Center for another matchup.

Notably in Thursday’s game, the Flyers saw their goalie perform at the level he’s shown before but struggled to get to this season. And he had to take center stage in the skills competition coin flip that is the shootout to secure a 2-1 victory over the Penguins.

Carter Hart was the center of attention in the Flyers 2-1 shootout win over the Penguins, making 31 saves in regulation and overtime and two more in the shootout.

The Flyers head to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins on Thursday night, who recently acquired a familiar face at the deadline. 

The Flyers face the Washington Capitals one day after the two teams were trade partners on deadline day. Michael Raffl will not play Tuesday, but newcomer Anthony Mantha will be in the lineup for Washington.

Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher addressed the moves made by the team on trade deadline day, trading Michael Raffl and Erik Gustafsson and re-signing Scott Laughton, while also starting to take a glimpse into what should be a busy offseason.

Less than 24 hours before the trade deadline, the Flyers were left with a stunning defeat to the Buffalo Sabres, the NHL lowest team in the standings, handed a loss by lowly Buffalo for the second time in two weeks. It was the most fitting of endings for a team that has continued to get in their own way all season.

The Sabres tied the game with 3:03 left after an icing by the Flyers, then scored again with 2:38 to play to take the lead away from the Flyers in a matter of 25 seconds. Buffalo also managed the empty-netter to secure the 5-3 result on Sunday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers take the ice again on Sunday afternoon, this time to face the Buffalo Sabres. A win could move them back to within two points of the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot in the East, pending the result of Boston’s game later on Sunday night. 

The two teams split the games earlier in the week with the Flyers winning on Monday night in overtime, then falling in regulation on Tuesday. That loss certainly felt like the final nail in the coffin on the Flyers playoff hopes, but if they are to make any bid at getting back in the race, a regulation win on Saturday against Boston is a must. 

Thursday night was a really good game from the Flyers if you are strictly looking for positive building blocks moving forward. There were two very notable areas that stepped up and helped get the game to overtime and put them in a position to win. But if you were strictly looking for two points and a chance to stay in the playoff race even just for a little longer, it was another night where even a solid effort came up short.

The Flyers got one point by getting Thursday’s game against the Islanders to overtime, but suffered the same fate as their previous game in Long Island, falling in a shootout, 3-2.

The Flyers week continues with a meeting against the New York Islanders, a team that just made their splash at the trade deadline by acquiring Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the New Jersey Devils. 

The Flyers and Bruins meet again on Tuesday night, this time in Philadelphia, to complete the home-and-home and the second of three matchups this week that could ultimately determine the standings for good. For the Flyers, it’s another must just to keep pace.

The result was what the Flyers needed. How long it took was what they didn’t. In this critical week in their season, the one that will likely define whether they choose to buy or sell – or do a little of both – at the deadline, the Flyers needed to win games. They have one to start, certainly a step in the right direction. 

If the Flyers still want to believe a playoff push is truly possible, these next two games against the Boston Bruins are their season. If the Flyers win both in regulation, they will move into a tie with the Bruins, though Boston would still hold the edge with two games in hand. Still, the pressure would be on for both sides. But a loss to Boston in either game essentially answered the big, looming question for the Flyers regarding their trade deadline approach. The first game gets going on Monday night.

There are no moral victories when it comes to playoff races or trying to contend at this point in a season. You either find a way to win or you don’t and that single point still involves a point lost. That said, there are plenty of moral victories you can find in games like this when you are trying to determine what you have and what you need for the future. The Flyers got lessons in both on Saturday.

The Flyers are about to embark on another rough month, facing numerous contenders and not having a lot of time off between games. It all starts with Saturday night’s game against the New York Islanders.

Wednesday night’s game in Buffalo was the fourth time this season the Flyers were handed a 6-1 defeat. This one was by far the worst though, because this one helped the Buffalo Sabres, the NHL’s last-place team in the standings, snap an 18-game winless streak. It was a new low for the Flyers, and a fitting way to cap off a month that progressively got worse. 

The Flyers face the Sabres again on Wednesday night. The Flyers are continue to try to keep their dimming playoff hopes alive, while the Sabres look to avoid carrying their winless streak to 19 games.

The Flyers may be sitting fifth in the East, three points out of a playoffs, still very much mathematically alive. But their defense is in shambles. Almost every core player that was expected to produce on the higher end offensively has shown struggles. The goaltending has been questioned. To put it simply, the Flyers are a mess right now, and it’s become clear that the current system is just not working.

Monday’s game was a battle royale of mediocrity. This was a game that probably played out exactly as it should have in both result and process. Yes, the Flyers are a better team than the Sabres. The standings certainly reflect that. But for 40 minutes, they weren’t close to that, so much so that they not only once again dug a hole to the worst team in the league, requiring another frantic third-period rally, but they also had to shorten the bench to do it.

After falling behind 3-0, the Flyers erased the deficit in the third period, then won the game 42 seconds into overtime on Ivan Provorov’s game-winner to claim two points against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.

The Flyers hit the road, going to Buffalo for the next two games. The Sabres are certainly a reeling team, having lost 17 straight games. This is certainly an opportunity for the Flyers to get on a roll and turn their season back in the right direction.

The Rangers are back at Wells Fargo Center again on Saturday afternoon to take on the Flyers again, with the Flyers desperately needing to do something to turn their season around or face some significant consequences of a lost season.