Philadelphia Flyers

[Zorro]

Ok seriously now, Voracek WHERE ARE YOU???????

[Atomic Wedgy]

DAL are a good team. We never seemed like we were going to win that game. Neuvirth did pretty well and kept us in it as much as he could. G looked pretty good the whole game. He's quietly scored 15 points in the last 10 games. He is almost point per game now despite his slow start. Voracek is still struggling. Now its mostly from being played with Bellemare and Vandevelde. They are good players but not offensively. They can hold their own but Voracek wont break out of the slump playing with them. I have a feeling that Hakstol is about to bring him back up to play with G again. Just a feeling that the purpose for him playing on the energy line is now has been achieved. I think Hakstol wanted Voracek to play a simple game and not force things. Playing with the energetic simplicity of Bellemare and Vandevelde will hopefully be a hard reset on his game. This is what I think Hakstol is trying to do. I think its time to switch it back and reap the reward. My bet is Voracek will soon be playing with G again. I also bet that this time it will click and Voracek will take off.

They rolled with Neuvirth in back to back games. This says a lot about the the current confidence. He's been playing well and he deserves it. Hopefully he wont burn out.

The Flyers announcers were comparing Gostisbehere to Klingberg. That is a gross over compliment in my opinion. He is not cut from the same cloth. Gostisbehere isn't really that good. He's got a big shot and some creativity, but he brings little else. In my opinion, he is (at best) a stop gap solution before one of our better defensive prospect are ready to pay off. I think they will play the shit out of him on the PP though. His shot is worth it. He scored again on the PP. G seems to like him shooting as he is looking for that option quite a lot. I dont see Streit taking over that D spot on the 1st PP. Gostisbehere has been too effective.

The Flyers dressed 6 dmen. Mostly cause MacDonald is not a NHL dman.

I wish they would give more time to Laughton. I like his play, but he didn't even get eight minutes. In my opinion, put Voracek on his line for a while if you aren't gonna play him with G. Laughton has skill and he works hard. It could pay off for both. Give Laughton 15-16 minutes a night. I'd roll lines like this (assuming that I am not allowed to play Voracek and G together, which I would do pronto).

Raffl-G-Schenn
Read-Couturier-Simmonds
Umberger-Laughton-Voracek
Bellemare-Vandevelde-White

So it ended up 3-1 with a late emtpy netter, but I dont feel that bad about it.

[Atomic Wedgy]

Well Hakstol's thinking seems to be similar yo my own. Its time to give Jake more talented linemates. Skating with the energy line is has done all it is going to do. I would still like to see Laughton get more minutes.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/s...ine-again.html

[Atomic Wedgy]

The boys looked good last night. Voracek was on the left wing and played well. He didn't look out of place. He was dangerous. I like what I saw. He scored a great goal and assisted on two others including a beauty for the game winner. He almost scored another one from in close, but Lack got his shoulder up enough to save it.

I do not like the Medvedev Schultz pairing. They make me really nervous. In fact, I dont get a good vibe from any of the defensive pairings. Maybe Streit can make a difference when he comes back. Also, I never thought I would be saying this... looking forward to Schenn coming back.

Gostisbehere scored the winner. It was a really nice pass from Jake, but the finish was equally good. Lack had no chance whatsoever. Gostisbehere roofed it perfectly. Neuvirth let in a soft one, but for the most part he was solid.

Simmonds dropped the mitts after a hit on Raffl. I didn't think it was that bad, but the announcers had a different opinion. I really dont like the Flyers announcers. I think they are big homers and it clouds their judgement. Medvedev clearly slew footed someone and they said that the Canes player fell on purpose to draw the penalty. Then later on they claimed that a Canes player was slewfooting. It wasn't near as bad as Medvedev's one. It makes it hard to listen to them sometimes.

G didn't have any points, but b/c Voracek came away with a goal and two assists, I'm still happy. The win against the Canes was an important one. We are four point behind BOS and NJD. Getting into the playoffs will not be easy, but I believe we have a good chance. You have to think that PIT will get better, so it still is an uphill battle.

All in all, good game for the lads. I was happy.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I caught the game against the Blues last night. I am very pleased with what I saw. The team came back from 3-0 to win it 4-3. Incredible effort. Voracek is looking really good. I think he is starting to come around. The Jake-Couts-Simmonds line is a good one. I dont like the Schenn-G-Raffl line though. They never seem to get anything going. G has no points in four games and I am not surprised. The line does not seem dangerous. Bellemare-Vandvelde-White looks more dangerous than them.

Gostisbehere played well. It could have easily been a shit storm though. He takes chances stepping up and pinching in. Last night it worked almost every time. If it didn't however, we might have lost 5-0. He is a high risk player. Last night things all went his way. I am not looking forward to when it doesn't. I was impressed by him last night though. He looks really confident.

I also really like Gudas. He brings a lot to the table. Very dependable. I think that was a good trade. Braydon Coburn for Gudas, 1st rounder (used to trade up for Konecny), and a third rounder. I dont think we lose anything going from Coburn to Gudas, but we gain a lot by being able to grab Konecny.

Mason was ok. Not awesome, but good enough to hold the fort.

So, great game. Proud of how the boys fought back to win it against a good team. Voracek will be just fine. We just need to get G going now.

[SeaDawg]

Voracek is such a whipping boy, but I've always liked him so much. Even when he wasn't scoring early on, he looked good out there (in the games that I watched). Many people were so quick to peg him to regress after his career-high season last year (and after signing that monster contract extension) and unfortunately he won't repeat last year's numbers, but that doesn't mean he isn't still elite. He was being productive on the 4th line, now he is productive on the 2nd line, and if he goes back to playing with Giroux, he will be productive on the 1st line also.

Honestly, the reason that first line struggled early on was no more Voracek's fault than it was Giroux's. Personally, I think it simply had more to do with the team struggling as a whole and lacking confidence and execution.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I agree SeaDawg. Voracek is the team leader in shots. He was back then as well. I think it is really bad luck. Right now Voracek's shot % is 3.0%. 3 point oh percent..... That will most certainly normalize. I'd expect him to end up with 10-11%. So, I'd expect a few hot games to bring him to that level and bring the universe back into alignment. I watched a few games this year and I dont recall thinking that Voracek is playing bad. He has been playing well all year, just not getting the luck and as a result maybe squeezing the stick to hard. Anyways, he's starting to loosen up now and I fully expect him to start scoring.

[Atomic Wedgy]

Well, I think it is safe to assume that Voracek is back. 3 goals, 6 assists, 21 shots in his last 6 games. He has adjusted to the left wing very, very well. I believe Hakstol to be a very smart coach. The bad thing is that G had another pointless game. Schenn - G - Raffl aren't getting anything going. Its quite frustrating.

Mason had an average night. Not awesome, but adequate. They seem to trust him more than Neuvy, so it must be b/c they have access to more info than I do. If it was me, I'd be starting Neuvy for a good stretch. 10 games or so, to see what he can do.

They were playing the shit out of Gostisbehere on the PP. Del Zotto was out so the first power play he got double shifted! He played most of the PP time. He ended up getting almost 7 minutes, a minute over what Giroux got. His confidence is growing and so is mine in him. The announcers were saying that he is in the show to stay even after Streit comes back, so that is good.

Overall, the game was not a good one for the lads. ANA looked strong, we did not.

[Zorro]

I need Voracek and Giroux to get HOT here.. Come on boys!!

[BabyElias]

What is wrong with Giroux?! Two points in last 10 games. Yesterday against NYI he could not even get a SOG. Pathetic.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I haven't been able to catch the last few games, but I have been watching the stats and its pretty friggin bad. I'm pleased with three wins in a row, but as a fantasy owner of Giroux, I would be much happier if he woke the hell up.

[lektrix]

I just picked up Del Zotto. Can he keep this up?

[Atomic Wedgy]

Del Zotto is a stop gap until Gostisbehere comes back. Ride him until that happens. I think the gravy train ends when Gostisbehere is ready to go, which might be as early as Wednesday.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I just wanna say that I like Radko Gudas. He is a really solid defender. I like him more than I used to like Coburn. To think that we got Gudas, Konecny (minus 61 overall) and a goalie prospect for Coburn gives me the warm fuzzies.

Medvedev had a great night. I am really warming to him as well. He was showing some offensive awareness tonight and I liked it. Could it be that he has just taken a while to find his feet? He wasn't anything to write home about in the first part of the season, but tonight he really showed me why they brought him over. Apart from the dumb penalty he took which lead to a PP goal, he was good. I hope he does that consistently.

Giroux put together a 3 point night. His first one since Dec 10. Since Dec 11, he only scored 3 points in 11 games! Sheesh.... Tonight was really needed and is was a welcome relief.

Voracek also had a 3 point night - a goal and two assists. V-G-S didn't really impress me tonight, but in the end they really did the business. None of the offensive players really stood out for me despite V-G-S having a total of seven points b/w them.

Schenn set the tone early with a big hit on Krug and then fighting Miller. I dont think this can be overlooked. He didn't do much else, but this happening early on put the Flyers on the right track.

Mason put in a really good performance. I dont think you can blame either of the two Bruins goals on him. He was solid and lucky - a good combo.

That makes it four in a row. If V-G-S keep going, we might see the streak continue.

Good game against the Bruins all in all. We fought back from a goal down starting the 3rd. We also closed the gap on the Bruins who currently hold the wild card spot. Boston is shitting the bed with 2-7-1 over the last 10. Montreal is shitting the bed with 3-7-0 over the same number of games. Islanders, Devils and Penguins have all stalled over the last 10.... We might just make the playoffs even with Giroux and Voracek going long streches without scoring. With our defense getting better and the hope of V-G-S finally putting the puzzle together, I actually have a bit of hope.

Here's to starting the new year well and making good on the promise of the last few games.

[hockeymanG23]

I've really liked having Medvedev on the team. For the most part he's been great at breaking up plays in the neutral zone and moving play the right way and I wouldn't mind if the Hextal thought he earned an extension at some point here. I would like to see the young D come up, yes, though Med would be a good experienced D for them to play with too an pick up on those neutral zone skills.

Cant believe this team has a real shot at the playoff hunt though. With the team healthy and the D actually being better than the sum of its parts we might see some post season action from this squad. Not a contender, yet, but still a nice spot for a team re-tooling on the fly.

As far as Gudas is concerned... love having him on the team. He plays hard, and despite watching his game for years he's actually better on the breakouts than I realized in the past. He and MDZ have been great as the top pair and along with Med it would be great to see him get an extension for a few years as well.