Wooooo The Flyers Put Out The Flames In Anthony Stolarz' NHL Debut Wooooo
Final Score: Flyers 5, Flames 3 | (10-10-3)
Before we even get to last night’s game, let’s address the “woo” situation. Apparently the Wells Fargo Center was making some weird echos last night. And apparently everybody in attendance was still drunk from Thanksgiving so instead of finding it funny for one or two times, they decided to Ric Flair the entire game. I’ll be honest… I don’t hate it. Every team needs a “thing”. The Panthers have throwing rats on to the ice. The Islanders have their fans never showing up to games. So the Flyers could have the “woooooo”. Wouldn’t necessarily mind if that one sticks around. Now let’s get to the game.
Anthony Stolarz is the first goalie from Jersey to start in the NHL. A pretty damn glorious occasion. Unfortunately, however, he and the rest of the Flyers must have ate too much mashed potatoes and green bean casserole at Thanksgiving dinner because those bastards were awful right out of the gate. (bet the beat writers don’t have any better topical Thanksgiving jokes than that). But seriously. This game looked like it was going to be your typical “holy shit this game is taking forever, this team is hot garbage and more boring than that extra hour of movie Michael Bay always throws in there” Flyers game. Stolarz obviously would have liked that one back after giving up a softy on his 2nd shot ever. But after that, he was able to settle in and made 29 saves on the night. Which leads me to my next question… can somebody make a dang Stoli The Goalie shirt yet?
Jake Voracek Destruction Tour is back on
The Flyers lost Sean Couturier for a few weeks to injury. Claude Giroux has the same amount of goals as Chris VandeVelde this season. And heading into last night, Jake Voracek was riding a 6-game scoreless streak. Obviously something had to give there and it was Voracek to the tune of a goal and assist. The puck protection was there, the vision was there, it didn’t look like he was gripping his stick too tight the whole game. Over this next week, the Flyers have the Bruins, Senators, Blackhawks and Predators. 4 games in 7 days. It’ll be nice to send Jake into that stretch with a little bit of momentum.
Wayne Train The Insurance Salesman
2 goals in 24 seconds last night for the Flyers. The Flames hadn’t given up more than 2 goals in an entire game the previous 4 before last night. 5 total goals against in that stretch and the Flyers put in 5 in 60 minutes. Wayne Simmonds continues to quietly have the best season of his career so far. A goal and an assist last night keeps him top 10 in the league for goals with 11. And top 10 for points with 21. He also managed to pad his stats a little more last night with this save.
While Konecny acts like a little bench on the bench, on the ice he’s a fucking mad man. And if anybody even looks at his best friend Ivan Provorov the wrong way, well then they’re in for a world of hurt.
The rookie bromance is probably my favorite thing to come out of this season so far. Find you someone who loves you as much as Travis Konecny loves Ivan Provorov. Wooooooo.
The Other Guys
– Great game out of Roman Lyubimov. It’s tough being able to get yourself into a groove if you’re constantly being shuffled in and out of the lineup. Hopefully a goal and assist last night from Luby forces Hakstol’s hand a little and keeps everything the same for tomorrow against Boston. VandeVelde also had a goal and assist on the night but we all know Hakstol only takes VandeVelde out of the lineup once per every Halley’s Comet.
– Nobody really stood out defensively both positively or negatively. I think that’s a good thing especially over this tough schedule stretch the Flyers are in the middle of. Provorov looked comfortable last night. Andrew MacDonald didn’t make many mistakes that make you, the fan, question why you’ve dedicated your entire life to this team. As long as the defense can steer clear of giving these games away, I think they’ll be fine.
– I’m serious about somebody designing a Stoli shirt. And while you’re at it, let’s get a Konecny Woooooo shirt designed too. Fire any designs you want over to me on Twitter.
——-> @BarstoolJordie