An afternoon meeting paid off.
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After absorbing a 7-1 drubbing to the Panthers, the Flyers held a players-only meeting and rookie coach Dave Hakstol made wholesale changes to his lineup.
The Philadelphia Flyers look to exact revenge and post their first victory of the season when they host the Florida Panthers on Monday in the back end of a home-and-home series.
“It’s little things and it’s a game of inches sometimes”, Hakstol said. “The score didn’t really show how we played”. “Tomorrow, it’s a big game [against Carolina] and we’ll be good”.
Michal Neuvirth pitched a shutout in his first start with the Flyers, who skated away with a 1-0 win in front of an energized, sold-out crowd.
According to the National Hockey League, Neuvirth became the fifth goaltender in Flyers’ history to earn a shutout in his first start with the team.
Through three games, Giroux is averaging 2:20 shorthanded a night and 3:13 on the power play.
“The last game helped me a lot”. His best – and probably most critical – save came with just over five minutes left. “I’m ready to go”. The guys in front of me did an outstanding job, great sticks, so many blocked shots in front of me. But it’s worth noting that the Flyers bailed on their head coach just a few games into the season previous year and there is vast pressure for the winning ways to return to Philly sooner rather than later. “I’ll take those goals all the time”.
If the Flyers are going to stabilize their penalty kill, they’ll need to focus on getting it done on the road (20th overall). Radko Gudas, in his first game as a Flyer, took a roughing penalty and Couturier was whistled for interference. Despite finishing with a combined six shots, the trio of Barkov, Jagr and Huberdeau wasn’t that noticeable during the first forty minutes.
Solid defense. The Panthers gave up the only goal of the contest, but they weren’t cheated often on defense. There’s many reasons for why the Flyers looked incredibly different last night, but one thing is for sure- Michal Neuvirth is a huge upgrade over Emery. “I got a little lucky and it worked out”.
Streit had theatrics of his own, kicking a puck out of the crease after Jaromir Jagr was looking for a back-door pass and Neuvirth wasn’t in position. “We got good bounces, scored four goals, the momentum was on our side”. You don’t want to give up anything. Theyre a tough team, have a lot of firepower and fight in them.
“We have to capitalize on our chances. Let’s move on here”.
So would the Flyers (1-1-1), who swore they weren’t questioning themselves after the six-goal defeat Saturday night.
Then with 11.7 seconds left and Luongo out of the net, Neuvirth stoned Brandon Pirri with yet another lightning-quick glove save to ice the win. Trocheck put his name on the stat sheet one last time with a primary assist on Smith’s goal, making it 7-0 in the final stanza.
Thanks to their penalty killing, especially early, they have a win under their belt.
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It wasnt a good effort, said Mason after Saturday’s loss to the Panthers.
