It's A President's Day Miracle: Flyers Win Without Andrew MacDonald
Final Score: Flyers 3, Canucks 2 | (28-24-7)
First off, nothing like starting your week dead ass tired because the Flyers had a 10pm Sunday night puck drop. I swear to god, the moment I become President I am getting rid of time zones and everybody will just live on Eastern Standard Time. The Pacific time zone can suck a bag of nuts (testicles). Anyways… everybody knows that Dave Hakstol has been making some severely questionable lineup decisions all year so far. The way he’s been handling this roster has been equatable to the way that Allen Iverson has handled his money. But when the news broke yesterday that he would be scratching Andrew MacDonald, I knew that was the final straw. Just look back at the previous 5 games before last night. A 6-3 ass whooping from Edmonton. A 3-1 loss to Calgary. A 2-1 overtime WIN against San Jose. A 3-1 loss to the Islanders and getting shutout 2-0 to the Blues. You think the Flyers get that overtime win against the Sharks without AMac? Shoot no. But Hakstol is a bum and decided to jeopardize the Flyers’ chance of getting 2 points by putting him in the press box last night. Thankfully, however, it worked out.
Flyers Finally Pay Their Energy Bill, PECO Powerplay Is Back
There was a time back in the day when taking a penalty against the Philadelphia Flyers Men’s Professional Ice Hockey Team carried a death sentence. You take a penalty against this team, the puck is ending up in the back of the net and you’re forced to feel double shame. But since around mid-December, the powerplay has been so ass that I think teams have been getting themselves into penalty trouble on purpose against the Flyers because they know they aren’t going to do shit with the 2-minute man advantage. If I had a nickel for every time the Flyers failed to score on a 5v3 over the last two months, I’d have at least 20 cents or so. It was getting to the point where Dave Hakstol had to have been begging to decline penalties. But alas, the Flyers finally made some adjustments and voila, 2 goals on the powerplay last night. You had Wayne Train setting up in his office with the putback.
That son of a bitch Chris Tanev thought he could be slick and take that goal away from Simmer. But his bitcc ass wasn’t quick enough and that’s goal number 25 for Simmonds on the year. Crazy how good things happen when Ghost actually gets the puck on net instead of just clapping away like a wild man from the point and missing 5 feet to the right. 1-0 good guys and then the PECO wasn’t done just yet.
Ghost to Schenn to the back of the net. Nothing fancy, just getting pucks on. And that was Shayne Gostisbehere’s 3rd point of the night. Been a real shitty year for the kid so far, have to be happy for him after that performance last night. I’m sure Hak will have him in the press box again soon enough for something but I think a 3-point game earned him at least another week of playtime. This goal came just over a minute after Voracek scored his 1st goal since January 25th.
Let’s take another look at that stretch pass from Ghost that started the rush.
Oh my. Oh my my my. That’s just some good, clean, fast, transition hockey through and through. Great work by Coots to just get that puck on net instead of trying to force the pass to Jake. That’s how you shoot for an assist and it worked out to perfection. About goddamn time the Flyers finally started to figure that out.
But Wait… Not So Fast, My Friend
Obviously it wasn’t going to be a Flyers game if they didn’t make themselves sweat this win out. Obviously they weren’t going to let the fans go to sleep earlier after securing a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd period. So just a minute after taking the 3-0 lead, the Canucks came back to make it 3-1. Then 3-2 and now you’re starting to think that maybe the Flyers actually want you to blow your brains out, stuff them back into your skull and then blow them out again. Thankfully we can chalk this one up to “bend don’t break” and that’s as close as the Canucks would get. But yeah, really would have appreciated locking that one up before midnight.
The Other Guys
– Henrik Sedin is a little bitch boy and his brother is a bitch and his father is a bitch and his momma is a bitch and his grandma is a bitch and the entire Sedin family is Charmin Ultra soft.
Has a career lined up on Broadway after he’s done playing hockey though. That’s for sure.
– Pretty decent night all around from Michal Neuvirth last night. He looked like garbage against Edmonton on Thursday so it’s a little strange that Hak went back to him last night. He started all 3 games during this Western Canada road trip. That was his 4th start in a row and I’m guessing that can’t be a good sign for Steve Mason’s future in Philadelphia. Personally, I’m ready to see both goalies out of here but yeah, good game from Neuvy last night. I’m sure he’ll shit the bed in his next start and then he’ll play well the one after that and then rinse, repeat.
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Caps at home on Wednesday night and then Stadium Series in Pittsburgh on Saturday night. For the love of god, Flyers, please don’t embarrass yourselves on national television 2 times in the same week.