Preseason Recap: 9/27 vs. Islanders

After a pair of bad losses on Monday night, it was nice to see the boys in orange and black combine into one team and actually score goals last night. Steve Mason looked superb (more on him later), Wayne Simmonds scored twice (more on him later too), and we got a chance to see some impressive young talent.

In my preview post, I asked three questions about the forwards and three questions about the defense. I did not list a question about goaltending because I wasn't aware of who would be playing. But let's start there.

(Note: I'm pulling most of this from HockeyViz.com, which is going to end up being my favorite website during this hockey season.)

Steve Mason

Though the score makes it seem like this game was a blowout, it was very back-and-forth between the two teams. It's not as if the Islanders couldn't get anything set up on offense, or they were at a disadvantage in time of possession.

The Flyers' defense just kept them to the outside, clogged up the passing and shooting lanes, and Steve Mason stopped everything that managed to squeak through. I don't know the final number of saves because there isn't a single media outlet on Google News that has a recap of the game up now, but Mason looked great.

Laughton-Cousins-Weise

The presumptive third line played together for the first time last night, and they actually led all Flyers forwards in ice time. Weise scored one of the greasier goals possible, Cousins nearly got in a fight with someone who is 7 inches taller and 60 pounds heavier than him, and Laughton got penalty kill time instead of power play time.

Sometimes I forget that Laughton is supposed to be a defensive center, and in my mind I want him to fill the top-six winger role. But this trio all looked solid, and they finished about even in shot attempts (but on the "dull" side instead of the "fun" side, which is okay for a line like this). I wouldn't be averse to seeing them in that third line in games that count.

Matt Read & Jordan Weal

Weal, of course, got the benefits of (1) playing with Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn and (2) starting just one of his 14 shifts in the neutral zone and the rest in the offensive zone. His line finished positive in shot attempts at even strength, and Weal/Schenn each assisted on one of Simmonds' powerplay goals. Weal played in the Giroux spot (Del Zotto and Sanheim played the Voracek/Gostisbehere spots), and he was impressive enough that he might get time on the second unit, if he can, you know, make the actual team.

Read did not get powerplay time, but he did get a few shifts on the penalty kill. He was buried in the defensive zone with Michael Raffl and Andy Miele, but that didn't stop them from scoring. It was good to see Read able to use his speed to create offense, and he had good chemistry with Boyd Gordon on the penalty kill. Reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.

The Fourth Line

Speaking of Gordon, he had kind of a quirky night. He started just two shifts on faceoffs, and the other eight were on-the-fly changes. He also played nearly as many minutes on the penalty kill as he did at even strength. That's exactly what he was signed to do. He kills penalties (and he did a good job tonight, as proven by the shutout) so that Claude Giroux doesn't have to.

Vandevelde is what he is. He's a body. He knows the system. I think he's an ideal 13th forward. You can plug him in if anything weird happens, but he's not going to drive play or create offense. He's just a solid end-of-the-roster guy.

Lyubimov is a total wild card for me. He finished with the worst shot attempt differential on the entire team, part of which comes from his poor showing against the NHL-caliber line of Bailey-Cizikas-Prince. He got some powerplay time and some penalty kill time, and I think he looked like he belongs in the NHL. I'll wait for Charlie O'Connor's morning recap before I officially pass my judgment, but I think I'm in on Roaming Lube Him Off.

Schultz-Sanheim

Well, that's an egg on my face. I used the word "disaster" when I described them, but the 55-57 pairing was the Flyers' best in terms of shot attempts. They weren't particularly sheltered, and there was not a single Islanders player who beat them in head-to-head shot attempts.

Sanheim got time on the top powerplay unit, including this nifty exchange with Phil Myers:

Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers dominated at the point on this goal by Andy Miele. Impressive stuff. pic.twitter.com/8RKQpmFGXI

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) September 28, 2016

As it turns out, that was not even one of Sanheim's powerplay shifts (the Islanders just kind of stopped trying so it looked like they were down a man). He clearly has the puck skills to play in the league, and that'll only get better this year in Lehigh Valley.

Schultz, except for his scary crash into the boards that forced him to the locker room, was his usual self. He didn't do too much that's worthy of a highlight reel, but he's a rock solid defensive defenseman. He needs a partner who is capable of moving the puck at a high level, and Sanheim clearly checks that box. We'll have to see what happens when the World Cup guys return, though, because I don't know if Mark Streit checks that box anymore.

Provorov-MacDonald

The other two pairings had good nights, but this duo was by far the worst for the Flyers last night. Provorov, to his credit, always shows flashes of being the steady, balanced, all-around defenseman that he's supposed to be. He also sometimes looks like a 19 year old that knows his future is largely riding on the next week and a half.

Here's a silver lining in case you're getting sad: Provorov played 29 minutes and 22 minutes on back-to-back nights, with healthy doses of powerplay and penalty kill time in both games. Management is giving him the look that we all wanted them to. He just needs to be better so he can seize the opportunity.

Del Zotto-Myers

Do you want to talk about seizing an opportunity? Good Lord I love Philippe Myers. He's huge, and he hits, and he can play the puck. He's a perfect complement to Del Zotto. This is probably just my dumb hot take brain talking but I think he's been the best rookie (forward or defenseman) through camp and the preseason games. I don't think there's any chance that he stays up with the big club this year, but you know...... (trails off until someone else in the room says something)

Gudas is coming back from his hand injury. Gostisbehere and Streit are coming back from the World Cup. Brandon Manning is lurking somewhere. But the future is really goddamn bright, even if Ivan Provorov is maybe not living up to the impossible expectations we had for him. There is a lot of talent, a lot of variety, and it's all going to be ready in the next year or two.

The boys are on the ice again tonight, and I imagine the roster will look a bit different. We'll see you then.

Flyers Preseason Recap: 9/26

The team split up for the evening, with half going to New Jersey and half going to New York. With the majority of the top end of the Flyers roster not included in either lineup, it was a good chance for the coaching and management staff to see some of the young guys in action.

And it would have been cool for the fans to be able to see them, too. But that was too much for the NHL. The Devils game was only broadcast on the radio, and the Islanders game was streamed on the Flyers' website with no game sounds and an announcer who couldn't see what was happening on the ice.

So, that part was not great. But Sons of Penn did a solid job translating the highlights to GIF form, and Micah McCurdy somehow got advanced stats charts for both games. Let's dive in.

Flyers (0) vs. Islanders (3)

I tried to watch this stream, but the combination of poor video quality and terrible announcing made it tough. I don't blame it on the Flyers, or on the announcer, because this was his setup last night:

This is literally my vantage point tonight, so I apologize for any lack of descriptive terms pic.twitter.com/v9kf6ZG6iV

— Brian Smith (@BSmithFlyers) September 26, 2016

It was always going to be shitty. But my man Brian powered through, and here's what we were able to see (kind of):

• With the exception of late in the second and third periods, Anthony Stolarz was shelled. He gave up two goals. But, in a game that allowed for very little team practice beforehand and featured just two NHL-veteran Flyers (Michael Del Zotto and Nick Cousins), there were flashes of brilliance from Stolarz. However, he was very much outshined by the goalie in the other game (more on him later). 
• Nick Cousins got into two fights, and neither of them was as entertaining as Tyrell Goulbourne's fight last week. 
• The big names on the Islanders roster last night were prospects Mathew Barzal, Michael Dal Colle, Ryan Strome, and Joshua Ho-Sang. All four of them had at least one point, and Barzal was the only one of the four to not score a goal. We've known the future is bright for the Islanders, but it's scary to see it happen. 
• In this game, they split time between defensemen pretty evenly. The two guys to watch were Sam Morin and Travis Sanheim, obviously. They both played about 20 minutes total (Sanheim had some powerplay time and Morin killed at least one penalty). Morin, whether it's in training camp or in a game situation, clearly needs more time to stew. He's going to be an absolute animal, but his puck skills and decision making need to develop naturally. Sanheim is supposed to be the guy that already has those skills, but I was a little nervous about how he looked. Granted, it was tough to follow, but the few times I noticed #57 he was doing things that were bad. 

Flyers (0) vs. Devils (2)

• We'll start with the easiest analysis of this game. Carter Hart, by all accounts, was absolutely fantastic. He gave up one goal (the second was an empty netter). Keep in mind that this Devils lineup was made up of more than half of their actual NHL roster (Bennett, Cammalleri, Gazdic, Josefson, Kalinin, Zacha, Zajac, Greene, Lovejoy, Severson). Hart outplayed Stolarz against superior competition, and even though it's just one game it's a great sign for the goalie battle in Lehigh Valley*. 
• The Devils may have iced an NHL roster, but the Flyers certainly didn't. Scott Laughton and Brandon Manning were the only skaters with significant NHL experience, but the lineup also included NHL hopefuls Travis Konecny, Taylor Leier, Roman Lyubimov, Robert Haag, and Ivan Provorov. 
• Obviously Provorov is getting his own bullet. He played 29 (!!) minutes total, which includes leading the team in ice time in even strength, powerplay, and penalty kill minutes. He was as far from sheltered as a rookie can be, starting half of his shifts in his defensive zone. In a game where the 5v5 shot attempts chart essentially has every Devil in the positive and every Flyer in the negative, Provorov just about broke even in possession numbers. That includes close individual shot attempt battles with NHLers Lovejoy, Greene, Cammalleri, Zajac, and Bennett. Provy held Pavel Zacha to zero shot attempts while they were on the ice together, which is notable because Zacha was taken one pick before him. Provorov belongs in the NHL, and he proved it to us last night by holding his own against half a dozen guys who are experienced NHL veterans. 

*Update: obviously Carter Hart is only 18, so he'll be going back to juniors for at least another year. The goalie battle in Lehigh Valley will be between Stolarz and Alex Lyon. I hope you guys can all give me the credit I deserve for striving to put the best, most accurate, tremendously great product on your screen at all times. Thank you.