Flyers sloppy in First Period
Philly turned the puck over 10 times, five of which were charged as giveaways in the opening stanza and honestly, it felt like it could’ve been more. The Flyers lacked conviction with the puck on their sticks and the Sharks made them pay for it, as San Jose played an aggressive and physical brand of hockey. They were rewarded for their hard work when Kevin Lebanc found a wide-open Anthony Duclair for his third of the season giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead just a minute and 43 seconds into the game.
The Power Outage
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the powerplay and continue to be mired in a 0-for-21 slump on the man advantage. Powerplay coach Rocky Thompson has tried several different unit configurations to no avail yet this year. However, so of those powerplay combinations have been mystifying. For example, one of Philadelphia’s units in this game had both Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett on the same unit. It seems redundant to have two right-handed shoot first players on the same unit. I understand wanting to switch things up, but not putting players in positions where they can utilize their best skills isn’t helping matters either.
As of this writing, the Flyers have the fourth worst powerplay in the league. There is no place more evident than the powerplay that the Flyers still need a healthy injection of skill into their lineup.
The Sharks Avoid Hockey History Futility
There’s nothing more embarrassing than dropping a game to a team that’s winless, but that’s exactly what happened tonight for the Flyers. Rebuild or not, losses like this really can fire up a fanbase, justifiably so.
Did You Know?
Sharks’ goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 37 shots in the San Jose win. According to NHL Stats, Blackwood has 69 saves in the high danger zone this season, which rank fourth in the NHL behind Jacob Markstrom (80), Thatcher Demko (78) and Jonas Johansson (78).
On Deck
The Flyers will return to action on Friday, when they visit the Anaheim Ducks.
