New Jersey Devils
Just as quickly as I discussed where Hart struggled in 2019-2020, I’m back to where he was dominant. Another team he never surrendered a loss to was the New Jersey Devils. He notched a shutout victory against the Devils early in 2019-2020. It could be argued that New Jersey never defeats Philadelphia last season if Hart didn’t miss action due to injury.
In his shutout victory, Hart stopped all of 25 shots. Konecny and Ivan Provorov drove the Flyers to victory, tallying a goal and an assist each. At this stage in the season, Connor Bunnaman and Carsen Twarynski were featured in the lineup for Philadelphia. Bunnaman played seven and a half minutes while Twarynski clocked in just over eleven. Niskanen, Sanheim, and Justin Braun all turned in solid defensive performances.
The Devils improved drastically in their second contest against Hart. In 2019-2020, the Flyers just had a thing for overtime drama. Philadelphia fans felt a pain in their chest when Wayne Simmonds scored the first goal of the game on the powerplay for New Jersey. Couturier acted as medicine to make Flyers fans better, scoring the game-winner in a shootout. He and Lindblom both had a crucial role in Philadelphia securing the win.
With Hart out of the Flyers lineup, Elliott started the final meeting of 2019-2020 against the Devils. Similar to how Hart struggled against the Islanders, Elliott did against New Jersey. He was ultimately relieved by Alex Lyon. Lyon didn’t do much better, surrendering a goal on two shots. The Devils shutout Philadelphia, 5-0.
New Jersey and Buffalo will benefit by playing better teams very often in 2020-2021. The Devils are a team who can sneak up on the Flyers in any game. For the longevity of the 2020-2021 season, Vigneault will have to come up with new ways to defeat New Jersey’s neutral zone trap that has given Philadelphia fits in years past.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Elliott had a rough go at the 2020-2021 Eastern Conference opponents during the 2019-2020 season. He did find redemption against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but not before struggling mightily. In the worst loss of the Flyers season, Elliott started in goal. Behind a stubborn defensive effort, Elliott turned his misfortune around by securing a shutout against the Penguins. It was against Pittsburgh in 2019-2020 that Elliott proved he could play close to quality teams.
First, let’s discuss the Penguins’ runaway victory against Philadelphia. Elliott played two periods and surrendered six goals. Vigneault wanted to give Hart a rest but opted to replace Elliott in the third period. There are some games where the defense is awful and others where it’s on goaltending. For the Flyers, nothing worked correctly in this 7-1 loss.
Getting their proverbial heads caved in during game one, Philadelphia played with a purpose in the second. It was as if Sidney Crosby provided bulletin board material for the Flyers to stew over. He did in 2012, and Philadelphia is a city that keeps tabs. The Flyers forgot every bad habit from game one, only allowing nineteen shots against Elliott. He saved every one of them, cruising to a 3-0 shutout victory.
What would have made 2019-2020 sweeter for Elliott was if he bested Pittsburgh in the three games he started against them. Unfortunately, the Penguins won the deciding game in overtime. What made that loss sting more was who scored the game-winner. If you guessed Crosby, I award you nothing.
After a long pause due to COVID19, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia met again in an exhibition game before the play-in round of the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Though it was a game for the players to get their skating legs back, the Flyers won in overtime. Earning the victory was Elliott.
Before the re-alignment was finalized, Philadelphia was at risk of losing its cross-state rival in 2020-2021. Including the exhibition game before the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, these two teams were evenly matched. The Flyers record against the Penguins in 2019-2020 totaled 2-1-1. They’ll kick off 2020-2021 versus Pittsburgh.
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals met Philadelphia the most in 2019-2020. Five games were played between the two franchises. The Capitals only won one game versus the Flyers. In defeat, Philadelphia still managed to garnish a point in the standings.
Giroux was responsible for the only goal to sneak by Braden Holtby in the first game between these two teams. Again, Hart played a formidable opponent very strongly. In a shootout, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the game-winner before Holtby made a save on Couturier to seal the victory.
Washington could only muster two goals at optimum against the Flyers in 2019-2020. None of those goals were courtesy of Alexander Ovechkin. Hayes finished the Capitals with a shorthanded game-winning goal in game two. Philadelphia’s top defensive pairing of Provorov and Niskanen shined in Hart’s first victory against Washington last season.
After Hart collected his first victory against the Capitals in 2019-2020, it was Elliott’s turn. The Flyers turned in a 7-2 rout of Washington. Couturier (2G, 1A) and Giroux (1G, 2A) fronted the offensive load for Philadelphia, both turning in a 3pt night. Another player of note was Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who achieved a Gordie Howe hat-trick.
The final regular-season meeting between these two teams featured another Flyers victory. This time, Philadelphia won, 5-2, off the performances of Provorov, Hayes, and Grant. Elliott collected another victory against the Capitals. During this part of the regular season, Washington was ahead of the Flyers in the standings. They were the one team keeping Philadelphia from obtaining “elite” status.
Elliott earned his stripes against the Capitals in 2019-2020, securing another victory in the postseason. During a 3-1 win, playoff Scott Laughton was born. Every goal in this game featured the trio of Laughton, Hayes, and Konecny. Through the re-seeding games, the Flyers went from the fourth seed to the first seed in the Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia continues to match up well against Washington in 2020-2021. Holtby moved on to the Vancouver Canucks after squandering his starting role. For the Flyers to match the same success, they’ll need to figure out how to solve Ilya Samsonov while continuing to silence Ovechkin. Perhaps the correct goaltender matchup for Philadephia features Elliott.
Moving Forward
There is no questioning the role Niskanen played defensively for the Flyers in 2019-2020, especially against this competition. On the top pairing, he was able to score goals while maintaining defensive pressure valuable to boosting the performance of Hart and Elliott. Gustafsson and Myers are defensemen enlisted to help fill that void.
Imagine how much better Philadelphia’s attack will be with Lindblom back in the permanent lineup, potentially accompanied by Nolan Patrick. Chuck Fletcher is itching to get Patrick back into the Flyers routine by the first game of the season. He’s skating and is close to being ready to practice with the team. Before the players take the ice, Philadelphia is regarded as a top team in the NHL for 2020-2021.
Photo Credit: Alex Mcintyre
