Screenshots: Arizona’s Flyers, Tavares, and Hot Streaks
Kim Klement-USA Sports TODAY
Another week, another Screenshots column in which we take a brief look at some of the NHL topics. Don’t waste any more time and get on with it instead.
The Philadelphia Story
The Philadelphia Flyers have changed their roster to a significant extent this past summer, but so far this season, they have failed to achieve ideal results. Philly has lost four games in a row and five of the past six, and four of the next six are games against the Carolinas, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay and Colorado.
The Flyers are in a four-team mix for the fourth and final playoff berth in the challenging Metropolitan Division, but they drop more shots per game (34.8) than any other team in the league and they generated just 2.44 goals -per game on average – the sixth-worst total in the NHL this year.
In previous years, the Flyers have been plagued by poor scoring performances, but that has not been the case this season. Starting off Carter Hart and Martin Jones have a steady save rate (Hart is .928, while Jones’ is .927), but they don’t have much of a track record in assisting goals. Only five Flyers (captain Claude Giroux, centre-forward Derik Brassard, centre-back Sean Couturier and wingers Travis Knecky and Cam Atkinson) have double-digit points across the team’s first 18 games. They don’t get any attacking help from their third and fourth forwards.
It is true that the Flyers have suffered a number of injuries to key players (including Brassard and defender Ryan Ellis), but most teams have faced talent that has been sidelined. A team that limits their opponent’s attack but can’t find the back of their opponent’s net is usually not what we see from the Flyers, but the results are disappointingly similar: Philly will have to face face a huge struggle to outlast their Metro rivals and the knockouts.
Consistency is Tavares’s middle name
At the beginning of the season, you predict different attack totals for different players. Some predictions are based on hunches, but often those predictions are based on past performance. And there are some things you can do all but guarantee that will happen every season: especially John Tavares’ steady and regular point output.
He has missed a game due to injury this year, but otherwise Tavares has achieved what it advertised: he has nine goals and 18 points in 20 games – a pace of almost one point per battle, like he always does. Last season, he generated 50 points in 56 games. The year before that, he had posted 60 points on 63GP. The year before that, he had accumulated 88 points in 82 GPs. And a year before that, he had 84 points in 82 GPs.
See why losing to Tavares in last season’s first-round playoffs against Montreal was so important to the Leafs? He more or less produces exactly what you would expect from him. Night and night, he made Toronto more dangerous. If the Leafs are going to do damage in the post-season, Tavares will have to be active and thrive.
Coyotes On *TEST NOTE*… A Hot Streak?!?!
At this time last week, the Arizona Coyotes announced a 2-13-2 record Their tank work was so thorough, it’s fair to ask if they’ll ever win two games in a row on any given day. any time of the year or not.
Well, it must be an early Christmas miracle, because the Coyotes have not only won two games in a row, they have won three of the past five. Yes, those wins come in lesser lights in Columbus, Detroit, and Los Angeles, but when your record is a lousy 4-14-2, you take the wins you could possibly have. .
However, this week could be a completely different story. Arizona hosts the Dallas Stars, then departs for a short road trip to Winnipeg and Minnesota. All three of those teams are better than the Yotes team, so a new, prolonged loss is entirely possible.
https://thehockeynews.com/news/screen-shots-flyers-tavares-and-arizonas-hot-streak Screenshots: Arizona’s Flyers, Tavares, and Hot Streaks
