On opening night, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets on the road to secure their seventh win in their last nine opening-night games. What were some of the biggest stories and takeaways from this match for Philadelphia?
Hart Stole the Show for the Flyers
Elvis Merzlikins was fantastic for the Blue Jackets in goal, but a major reason why the Flyers came away with the win was because of the effort of their starting goaltender, Carter Hart. Stopping 31 of 33 shot attempts, he was lights out in this one.
Hart seemingly has a knack for performing in the month of October, coming off of a .938 save percentage (SV%) and 2.31 goals-against average (GAA) performance with an almost flawless 5-0-1 record last season. So far, he is starting off hot again.
As outlined in the preview for this game, forwards Patrik Laine and Johnny Gaudreau were going to be a little bit of trouble. Both of them were the Flyers’ biggest challenge, but they were both held off the scoresheet until a late-game scare with less than a minute left in the contest. Hart did a great job of snuffing out their high-danger opportunities, even though they did sneak one of their combined seven shot attempts past him.
Related: Flyers’ 2024 Restricted Free Agents Contract Projections
In a contract year, this season will be huge for Hart. His 2023-24 campaign should be pretty telling as to what kind of goaltender he is. He will earn a massive raise on his current deal if he continues to perform like this.
Flyers Have Top-to-Bottom Offensive Talent
Flyers’ head coach John Tortorella deserves some credit for how he assembled the lines for this game. It seemed as though every unit was dangerous for Philadelphia. Every trio the Flyers sent out was generating and sustaining pressure in the offensive end, likely meaning that the lines could remain similar for a chunk of the season.
The most impressive part about this game was the length at which the Flyers were in Columbus’ zone. The Blue Jackets were often quick and deadly in transition, but the Flyers had a different approach that simply wore them down. Pressure was the name of the game, and it led to Philadelphia having more dangerous scoring chances than Columbus.
When Travis Konecny, arguably the best player on the Flyers, scores multiple goals despite being relegated to a third-line role, there can be comfort in having him there. He likely won’t stay there for long, but the depth that the Flyers have at the forward position justifies him starting out there. It gives some hope that the team can be an improved offensive unit from their fourth-worst finish in total goal-scoring output among all 32 teams in the league last season.
The Flyers’ depth is further assisted by a player like 21-year-old Tyson Foerster, who made the 23-man roster but did not slot into the lineup for game one. Goal scoring can be a genuine strength for the Flyers if they can stay healthy, even though they don’t have a star who is in the same tier as someone like Gaudreau.
Penalty Kill Fantastic Despite Bad Discipline
Discipline is something that the Flyers might have to work on as the season goes on, as they took some unnecessary penalties in this game. None of that truly mattered in terms of the final outcome, as they gave Columbus almost nothing, and were constantly possessing the puck on the penalty kill and clearing the zone. Going four-for-four on the kill, Philadelphia really had no problem aside from a couple decent scoring chances against them.
One of the more egregious penalties in this game was Garnet Hathaway’s knee-on-knee collision with defenseman Zach Werenski, who was playing in his first regular season game since Nov. 10, 2022. Whether his incident was intentional or not, it could have cost the Flyers a goal for what was an unnecessary penalty in the offensive zone. In the future, he will have to be better, even if his teammates killed the penalty for him.
Late in the third period, defenseman Marc Staal took a bad penalty on Gaudreau primarily due to him being out of position. Up by only a single goal, this could have sunk the Flyers in this contest and brought the Columbus crowd into the game. No harm was done, so there are both positives and negatives to be had if the Flyers continue to be poorly disciplined.
Couturier Looks Like His Old Self
In the preseason, Sean Couturier was definitely not perfect after having missed 136 consecutive regular season games, but there were some signs that he would at least be solid in his return. His performance against Columbus was better than anyone could have really expected. He looked like his vintage self in this one.
Part of what made Couturier great in the past was not just his defensive zone impact, but his ability to change the game offensively and create his own chances. In this contest, he was great on the forecheck, won most of his draws, and held the primary assist on a give-and-go breakaway alongside Joel Farabee.
There was no holding back, as he played over 20 minutes in the game. The Flyers virtually had no chance at success without their true first-line center in Couturier. Now that he is back, their potential is not capped like it might have been in previous seasons without him.
Sanheim Could Return to Form
In this game, we saw a much different Travis Sanheim than what was shown last season. After an offseason filled with trade rumors around his name due to underperformance, he might be on track to emerge as the best defender on the team this season. If the Flyers are getting an improved version of him, he could be the anchor of the defense.
Sanheim looked like a different defenseman than he was last season. It could be argued that he had one of the best games of his entire career, generating offensively and being a clear threat on the blue line. He was fantastic in his own end, giving inspiration that he could put it all together and become a legitimate top option defensively. The 26:17 of ice time he played suggests that he might already be that.
Sanheim was also exceptional during the preseason, so this seems like less of a one-off and more of what is to come moving forward. This season will be big for him and his career, so it was really nice to see him be able to have such a substantial impact on the game in a positive way.
Following a nice opening-night win on the road, the Flyers are set to take on the Ottawa Senators on the road once again on Oct. 14. With it seeming likely that they are missing two key centermen in Shane Pinto and Josh Norris, there might be no better time for the Flyers to take them on.