The Flyers and Bruins kicked off their re-scheduled outdoor game with a slight delay, like most of them, but it went off without a hitch, and the ice was terrific in the Bruins 7-3 win. Here are some important points from the game.
David Pastrnak has always killed the Flyers. He got his second hat trick against them this season! Outdoor hat tricks are rare although maybe that trend is changing since Tyler Toffoli had one last season for the Kings at the Air Force Academy game in Colorado. That was the first-ever. The Bruin’s seven goals tie an outdoor record, and the ten combined do as well. Bruins’ fans can feel good about the views and the two points as much as the pink sunglasses “Pasta” was sporting during the pre-game skate.
Sean Couturier was a force in a losing effort. The 2020 Selke Award winner was displaying his strong play at both ends of the ice, one of the few players who was solid for the Flyers. The pivot had a goal and an assist in this just his fifth game this crazy season. If the Flyers are going to get to the playoffs this season, Couturier has to play as he did in this game for the foreseeable future, and nobody doubts this will happen. The Flyers were missing Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Oskar Lindblom, and Scott Laughton out of their forward group as they were on the Covid-19 list.
Charlie McAvoy wears eye black the right way. Like the Ultimate Warrior that he is. If you wear the tape-on variety, it works to a degree but not like the old-fashioned stuff, and McAvoy gets top marks, and clearly, it helped him during the early part of that game when the glare was bad. The Long Beach, Long Island New York native got a goal late in the first to tie up the game, and that was the last time the game would be tied. This blueliner, now the top guy on the team, played over 23 minutes in the winning effort.
Trent Frederic got his first NHL goal. He got it outside. That’s memorable, although it will be memorable for the Flyers’ netminder as well. Frederic was selected 29th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft. When that happened, many Bruins fans panned the selection because they saw him as only a mucker and that’s it. He will be more than that, he has good hands and good hockey sense. He won’t be a big-time scorer, but he’s a perfect fourth-line player, and teams need good safe picks in the draft sometimes to re-stock their team,, and that’s exactly what they got in the 6-2, rugged forward.
Carter Hart was never locked in. He has done this at times this season and for the most part, has earned his .891 save percentage. The Flyers defense has been going through changes all season, but it’s good enough for Hart to be successful. The real issue here is his games played. He’s only played in 85 games, and while his life .912 save percentage is good, Hart is only 22 years-old and 193 days, the youngest to start an NHL outdoor game mind you. Fans have to understand that young goalies will have teachable moments right up until the point when they’ve reached their peak around the age of 24 or 25. The same goes for Hart and most Flyers fans understand that even when he was left in for six of the seven goals. His coach, Alain Vigneault certainly wanted him to remember this effort to learn from it as well.
