GDT: ECQF 4 | FLYERS (A) vs. Canadiens (H) | Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 | 3:00 pm ET | Flyers lead series 2-1

[Ghosts Beer]

JVR was having a subpar season to begin with. Then broke his hand right before a several-month lay-off & couldn’t lift weights for a while. And he’s not exactly known for fitness, so you know he slacked off during the break.

He’s looked awful since the return. Not surprised, though. It was a worry.

 

[Beef Invictus]

He had 4 months off, how fatigued can he be?
Even the year after the SC, when he was overused in the playoffs, he bounced back in the second half.

Either there's a nagging injury or the end is nigh.
Though consider this:
Niskanen CF 37.62, xGF 41.56
Ghost CF 39.14, xGF 42.33

In fact, all the defensemen have pretty bad raw metrics except Hagg (50.07 xGF)

Top xGFrel:
Voracek +16.89
NAK +14.83
Laughton +14.34
Couts +12.51
Giroux +4.47
Braun +4.20
Ghost +3.31
Provorov +0.84

Then you have:
Raffl -26.3 [1 game and rust is an excuse]
Farabee -17.39
Thompson -11.49
JVR -6.74
Pitlick -6.09
Sanheim -4.98
Hayes -4.88
Grant -4.23
Myers -3.35
Niskanen -1.93

The Cup-run fatigue is a real thing. He's only gotten older. We don't know what level of PT and training he had this summer. It's perfectly feasible that hard usage last year has had an impact. Let's not forget we started seeing dips in quality of his play before the season ended, enough that talk of resting him was brought up.

 

[dragonoffrost]

Win it for Hawerchuk, boys.

RIP

Rest in peace

 

[tictactoe]

Called for JVR to be out of the lineup a 5-10 days ago.. finally it happened.

 

[bennysflyers16]

Win it for Hawerchuk, boys.

RIP

So sad,,, one of the few Jets I loved as a kid. And so damn young

 

[prototypical4thliner]

@DancingPanther I lost track of time watching the Nakamura-Carlsen match. Not sure I have time for this game now. Oops.

chess is compelling television hahaha

 

[Stizzle]

Don't worry, guys. Charlie will coachsplain it to us...

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Bahahahahahah.

The PR force is working overtime.

 

[tictactoe]

JVR injured or scratched?

who cares? It takes JVR a month to get going and after that he jets injured once he starts scoring.. We are ok without him. Even if Farabee makes mistake it's ok.

 

[Striiker]

Then got a 4 month break

TK, Hayes, and Niskanen are big reasons why this team is squeaking by right now.

Could it be the Laughton effect for Hayes and TK? Maybe. Could it be fatigue for Niskanen? Maybe. Regardless, if and when they find their games again, this team will go back to smoking teams. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later

He also had a multi-month break after the cup run but I was repeatedly told that was why he struggled the following season.
I'd also guess his training to stay in shape wasn't as good during this break as it is during a full normal offseason. But I don't know about that for sure, obviously.

Anyways, my point is that I don't think most of this team just suddenly forgot how to play hockey. I think a lot of it is factors outside of their control. Obviously I'm convinced a large part of it comes from coaching mistakes all year long, which has just been amplified during this series. For example, that Laughton-Hayes-TK line was never that good. It was just crazy lucky when it comes to shooting %s (which is why I brought up that it should be changed before the series started but people freaked out). And yet, even after the luck ended, that's the one line that hasn't been touched at all since the games started again. Instead they'd rather scratch JVR and boost Thompsons minutes.

I don't doubt that this roster can do some damage... there just needs to be changes. I think if that happens we'll see a lot of guys suddenly start playing better.

 

[dragonoffrost]

@DancingPanther I lost track of time watching the Nakamura-Carlsen match. Not sure I have time for this game now. Oops.

This guy is a chess master?

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Oh NAK is out too. Interesting.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Don't worry, guys. Charlie will coachsplain it to us...

They’re doing a good job of shutting down any hope of Flyers offensive production so if that’s the goal they’re doing a great job.

 

[bennysflyers16]

Oh NAK is out too. Interesting.

That screams injury with 3rd period useage.

 

[landsbergfan]

Is the bubble big enough for this brain?

 

[JojoTheWhale]

This guy is a chess master?

The GM has better hair. This timeline is weird.

 

[dragonoffrost]

Oh NAK is out too. Interesting.

Foot after the shot blocks

 

[Jack Straw]

Never forget...

 

[Tripod]

We are up 2-1 yet over half of our lineup have been trash so far in these 3 games and we have scored just 3 goals.

I voted that this series would go 6 games...I had Mtl winning 1 game outright and Price stealing a game. Well, we certainly lost game 2 outright. Hope we win this game to go up 3-1 in case Price does stand on his head in a win.

The upside...so many things and players can improve.

 

[Rebels57]

NAK out for Bunnaman too.

Either AV has lost his f***ing mind or he hurt his foot blocking that shot.

Either way, we are f***ed. Probably the only consistently good forechecker the entire series.

 

[Cootsfanclub]

That screams injury with 3rd period useage.

That's what I think too. He also had that brutal blocked shot at the end of the last game when he did come back in.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

NAK had two big blocks last game. Hopefully didn't break something.

 

[bennysflyers16]

We are up 2-1 yet over half of our lineup have been trash so far in these 3 games and we have scored just 3 goals.

I voted that this series would go 6 games...I had Mtl winning 1 game outright and Price stealing a game. Well, we certainly lost game 2 outright. Hope we win this game to go up 3-1 in case Price does stand on his head in a win.

The upside...so many things and players can improve.

4-1 Flyers today, win it for Ducky !!!

 

[dragonoffrost]

We are up 2-1 yet over half of our lineup have been trash so far in these 3 games and we have scored just 3 goals.

I voted that this series would go 6 games...I had Mtl winning 1 game outright and Price stealing a game. Well, we certainly lost game 2 outright. Hope we win this game to go up 3-1 in case Price does stand on his head in a win.

The upside...so many things and players can improve.

This was my view also and I still feel that way even with how poor the games look.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Hahahahaha haha. Therien jerking off Hagg.