The 2024-2025 Philadelphia Flyers were introduced with an impressive opening ceremony. Gritty was cosplaying as Rocky, eventually running around South Philadelphia to have a boxing match on center ice. While Gritty was able to defeat the Canucks in his match, the same couldn’t be said about the Flyers.
Flyers fall to Canucks in home-opener
The loudest cheers were for head coach John Tortorella, Matvei Michkov, Sam Ersson, and Travis Konecny during the ceremony. A surprise guest appeared after Philadelphia’s very own Lauren Hart sang the Canadian and American national anthems. Michael Buffer, who announced the Flyers’ 13th overall draft pick, Jett Luchanko, at this year’s NHL Entry Level Draft in Las Vegas, said to the Philadelphia crowd, “Let’s get ready to rumble.”
Philadelphia started their fourth line in the first frame, which Sean Couturier was playing left wing. The captain said he would be playing wing right before the contest. This is also the captain’s 800th NHL game. The Flyers could hold their own for a good majority of the time. Vancouver’s Nils Hoglander had a relatively open net as he was able to get the Canucks on the board.
Although Philadelphia also had Hathaway making numerous appearances in the penalty box for what seemed to be the majority of the first frame. Despite Philadelphia getting numerous power play opportunities, they were unable to capitalize.
In the second period, he told a worse story for Philadelphia as the orange and black had opportunities but kept missing contact with the stick-to-puck. For example, Erik Johnson had an empty net before him and couldn’t get his stick on the puck to deflect it. Johnson took ownership of that play and said the pass was perfect, but there was a bounce. He also had a few words to say about his luck.
You can figure it out. This was the Flyers’ theme all night, and I could not make that connection. Despite the pushing and shoving, it didn’t phase the Canucks, as Brock Boeser had a backhander to advance their lead to 2-0. Moments after Boeser’s goal, Kiefer Sherwood scored off the face-off, giving Vancouver a 3-0 lead.
Entering the final frame, the Flyers looked lifeless despite being down 3-0. Fans took notice as they yelled, “Shoot,” or the famous Eagles chants that broke out had already occurred. It didn’t take long for all the momentum to dissipate. Johnson said that the team deserved all the boo’s from the fans, that they had no excuses, and should have given a better product to the hometown fanbase.
Looking ahead
Players like Egor Zamula haven’t played well since the season began and it draws concern. Instead of Zamula being in the lineup against the Capitals on Tuesday, they should utilize Emil Andrae, who looked strong during training camp.
The Flyers have a lot they need to work on. Sure, returning home after a 10-day road trip can be taxing; however, with a Friday travel day and no morning skate ahead of the game, they should have had more energy.
After the game, John Tortorella talked about how sloppy and disjointed the team was. However, a few pairs changed during the game, such as Zamula, who is now with Drysdale. With the defensive issues, Tortorella said that he missed Nick Seeler. The bench boss also credited Sam Ersson, saying he played well. Scott Laughton went on to say that “we didn’t make it hard enough.” for the Canucks.
