What we learned from the Flyers 4-2 loss to the Senators

1 year ago  /  Broad Street Hockey

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images


Some observations for your morning... That’s all she wrote! The Flyers’ 2021-22 season is over at long last! They closed it out just about as we might have expected, by a nice little comeback but an ultimate loss to another non-playoff team, dropping this one 4-2 to the Ottawa Senators. Just like we drew it up.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick.
The votes are in...
The last game of the season also means it’s team awards time! The winners of this year’s set are as follows:
Bobby Clarke Trophy (Most Valuable Player) – Cam Atkinson
Barry Ashbee Trophy (Outstanding Defenseman) – Travis Sanheim
Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (Most Improved Player) – Travis Sanheim
Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award – Cam Atkinson
Gene Hart Memorial Award – Zack MacEwen
Toyota Cup – Carter Hart
Congratulations to the winners! With all of the turnover at the trade deadline (and this team now being without Claude Giroux specifically) this award season feels extra weird, but here we are.
We’ve slipped into the Twilight Zone
In perhaps the strangest turn of events, the Flyers got all of their production from the power play last night.
We’ll pause for a second to let that sink in.
Credit to them, the Flyers did do some good work on the power play. In 2:44 of 5-on-4 time, they put up three shots on goal and four high danger chances. They also put up a very nice goal from James van Riemsdyk, and that one really deserves a nod.


Vintage JVR between the legs in his office! pic.twitter.com/N4xeRfvnlx— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) April 29, 2022



And as a sort of hilarious addition, the Flyers very nearly made it through the whole of the season without a 5-on-3 goal, and that would have been the perfect factoid to point to as an emblem of the Flyers’ season. But we couldn’t get that! With just under a minute of 5-on-3 time to work with, they did end up getting the goal with just about nine seconds remaining, care of Owen Tippett. Which, really, you can only just laugh about.
Martin Jones finishes strong
And, before we go, one last nod to Martin Jones. He’s been tossed into weird and tough situations all year and held up well, and last night was another case of that. All told, he stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced, for a .914 save percentage, and that’s all not too bad at all, given the fatigue setting in for the team and the defense he had helping out in front of him. He made a couple of big and flashy saves, but overall he just put up the same kind of quietly solid game that we’ve gotten used to seeing from him. Even though the team as a whole didn’t get the result to reward those efforts for Jones (a loss is better for their lottery odds, of course, but that’s something for probably just us to take comfort in), he did well in his last start, and that work was appreciated.
A note on Keith Yandle
There was a moment at the end of the game, after the players’ salute to the fans, where Senators players came over to shake Yandle’s hand, his teammates were hugging him as they went off the ice, and that felt like something. Him being the one to lead the stretches at morning skate felt like something too. One has to wonder if this might be the end for him, if he’s going to retire after this one.
And there’s a lot we could say about how this season went for him. It did not go well on the ice, but that shouldn’t completely cloud the appreciation for the career that he’s had. It’s a weird note to go out on, but if this is it, we wish him the best in whatever’s next.
Thanks to you (yes, you!)
And that’s a wrap! That’s another year (year five for me, somehow) in the books. What a weird and so often not very fun year it’s been, but we truly are so grateful to all of you for hanging out with us through it. Let’s try this again next year, hopefully it’s a little kinder to us.
See you next year! Have a great summer gang!*
*We’ll still be here. You know what we mean. ...

Read Full Article.