9 hours Ago By Jonathan Bailey, Philly Hockey Now
After a devastating 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers are 8-10-2 with a minus-14 goal differential through the first quarter of the season. It is safe to say that expectations have been massively underperformed after a mostly strong 2023-24 campaign. The silver lining from a game like that — a game that the Flyers could have conceivably won and were within reach of doing so — is that backup goalie Ivan Fedotov is playable NHL goaltender, even if it rarely looks pretty.
Ivan Fedotov: B I’ll drop Fedotov one letter because of the third period Sebastian Aho goal that leaked through his equipment to give the Canes a 2-1 lead just 1:03 into the final frame. Other than that, he was good-to-great, and even had a highlight-reel pad stack save, followed by a highlight-reel dolphin dive across the crease to stop another. Overall, Fedotov finished with 33 saves on 37 shots, giving him a .
892 save percentage for the second time in less than a week. The 27-year-old Russian had the exact same stat line on Thursday against the Ottawa Senators, though the Flyers managed to win 5-4 in overtime after trailing 4-2 late in the game. Fedotov had no such luck with goal-scoring on Wednesday night, and the result is the result.
A 4-1 loss that ended with the Flyers getting booed off the ice by the few fans remaining in the building. Forwards: F Hardly any of the Flyers forwards had a good performance against the Hurricanes. In fact, Matvei Michkov, Travis Konecny, and Anthony Richard were the only ones consistently showing up positively for the full 60 minutes.
Center Ryan Poehling scored a beautiful solo goal early in the second period to tie the game at 1-1, but he also had a costly neutral zone turnover that lead Jack Roslovic’s dagger goal to make it 4-1 early in the third period. Konecny showed strong individual efforts at times, but even he fumbled around with the puck too often and passed up on prime scoring chances for passes. It was far from a banner night for JOel Farabee, Sean Couturier, and Owen Tippett.
The Flyers hardly generated anything all night, and when they did, they usually passed out of the look and ended up with nothing. Travis Sanheim: C The burgeoning hype around defenseman Travis Sanheim is well-deserved, but he was not at his best against the Hurricanes. Sanheim played a more modest 24:40, but he also featured on the top power play unit, which was abhorrent all night long.
The 28-year-old was also at fault for a few turnovers and failed clearances of his own. The Hurricanes are a tall task for any defenseman, but Sanheim failed to make the impact we’ve become accustomed to seeing in recent games. I’m positive he’ll bounce back, but the Flyers might want to be more vigilant managing his ice time going forward.
Helge Grans: C Helge Grans was far less noticeable on the ice against Carolina compared to his NHL debut for the Flyers on Monday night. Grans played 15:52, the fewest amongst Flyers defensemen, and was on the ice for two goals against. He also mis-played the puck at times, including one unforced error behind his own net that lead to extended offensive zone pressure from the Hurricanes.
This was a game where you might want to see Grans more than Erik Johnson or Nick Seeler, but John Tortorella and Brad Shaw decided otherwise. It’s hard to fault the 22-year-old after two games and a practice. Keep Grans’s name in your back pocket for future reference.
This article first appeared on Philly Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission..
