Flyers Earn First Win Of The Season Thanks To A Shutout From Michal Neuvirth

Flyers 1, Panthers 0 | (1-1-1)

Jordie’s Note: Yeah, totally fucked up that headline the first time around. Guess that’s what happens when you deliriously write a recap blog the first thing after waking up. #NoEditorsLife

The first half of this home & home series against the Panthers was a goddamn train wreck. A 7-1 drubbing in which the Flyers let up 4 goals in the first 7 minutes of the game. Luckily, that’s all behind us now and the Flyers finally got in the win column on their first time taking the ice at the Wells Fargo Center this season. It was a game of firsts out there in a bunch of different ways. It was the first win of the season for the Flyers. It was the first win for Dave Hakstol as a coach in the NHL. Guys like Radko Gudas and Sam Gagner played in their first game wearing Orange. And Michal Neuvirth pitched a shutout in his Flyers starting debut after taking over for Steve Mason who is dealing with some personal family matters right now. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means necessary, but a win is a win so let’s get right to it.

They Must Have Been Serving Up Something Nice In The Penalty Box Last Night

Less than 2 minutes into the game, Michael Raffl already earned himself a 4-minute match penalty for high sticking. In total, the Flyers took 8 penalties last night and spent over a quarter of the game in the penalty box. Typically that’s where I’d throw in the “that’s a bold move, Cotton” meme but fortunately, it actually ended up working out for the Flyers as the penalty kill unit went 6/6 on the night. That first 4-minute PK to start the game really set the tone though. After giving up so many early goals on Saturday, I think giving up a goal during that penalty would have been enough to break the Flyers’ back again. It’s a promising sign that the Flyers are able to rebound after a loss like that and keep their composure.

Welcome Home, Michal Neuvirth

I really liked what I saw from Neuvirth last night. I said in the season preview blog that the biggest thing with him is going to be his mental toughness, or lack thereof. He’s the type of goalie who will start playing mind games with himself as soon as things start going wrong, and the city of Philadelphia is the worst environment for a goalie like that. But Neuvie was focused and dialed-in all game last night. There were some pretty long stretches during that game when the ice seemed a little tilted and the Flyers were trapped in their own zone for a while. But Neuvirth just kept fighting away shots and got out of there with a shutout. Obviously you have to hope that everything is okay with Mason and that he’s good to go by tomorrow again, but it’s nice to have a competent backup.

Baby Schenn With The Lone Goal Of The Evening

That’s what you’re paid for, Brayden!

This goal came immediately after the Flyers killed off that 4-minute penalty to start the game so we’ll give the PK unite the secondary assist here. But this just shows you what happens when you throw the puck on the net and crash hard. I thought the Schenn/Couturier/Gagner line did a good job at that all night long. That line would fucking SLAY in juniors, but they didn’t look too bad last night either. Gagner looked a little lost out there from time to time but I’d really like to see him get a few more chances to earn his spot on this roster.

The Broad Street Bullies Are Back?

Anytime you have a home & home series, things are going to get a little testy out there. But last night’s game was brutally physical. The Flyers were playing an angry brand of hockey and I loved every second of it. The stats have down 53 hits in the game total with the Flyers out hitting the Panthers 31-22. You had Simmonds bullying everyone around out there. You had Radko Gudas making his presence felt with a few monster hits of his own. And you even had Pierre-Edourd Bellemare throwing his body around too. And here you were thinking that the French were all pussies.

Fun Fact Of The Day: Dave Hakstol has killed multiple men just by intensely staring at them.

The Other Guys

Like I said before, it wasn’t even close to a perfect game. It’s kind of hard to string together a full 60-minute effort when you spent a large chunk of that time in the penalty box, though. There were plenty of opportunities for both teams to put some more points up on the board but both Neuvirth and Luongo were on their A game. The Voracek – Giroux – Raffl line had their chances, but they seemed to be just a half-step off from each other all night long. A few bad turnovers here and there but in the end, the Tastykakes were flowing and I’ll take any win the boys can get. So now, without further ado, let’s cue up that new goal song.

I bet you didn’t think that going to a Flyers game this season would essentially end up being the same thing as going to a Barstool Blackout concert, now did ya?

For more Flyers and NHL coverage, follow @BarstoolJordie on the Twitter machine.