Chuck Fletcher’s Chemistry Experiment Is Paying Off in Philadelphia

For the Philadelphia Flyers, the Boston Bruins were an unwelcome addition to their division last season.

Normally at arms’ length over in the Atlantic, Boston went 6-1-1 in eight games against Philadelphia as division rivals in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. Cumulatively, they outscored the Flyers 32-20.

On Wednesday, in front of a national TV audience on TNT, the Flyers got a measure of revenge. They beat Boston 6-3 win at Wells Fargo Center, improving their record in the young season to 2-0-1. After Chuck Fletcher dramatically re-tooled his roster during the offseason, the changes are paying early dividends.

Team Offense Impresses

Acquired from Columbus in the offseason with the hope that he could make Philadelphia’s offense more threatening, Cam Atkinson led the way with a two-goal effort.

He opened the scoring at 8:08 of the first period, beating Jeremy Swayman from close in off a 2-on-1 with Derick Brassard.

Shoot. Score. Celly. @CamAtkinson89 | #BringItToBroad pic.twitter.com/qZCCZaPWDd

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 21, 2021

In the third, with the score knotted at 3-3, Atkinson tallied what proved to be the game winner when he drove hard to the net, this time converting a pass from Joel Farabee as Taylor Hall was knocking him to the ice.

The FAB Line. @FarabeeJoel: 1g-1a@CamAtkinson89: 2g
Brassard: 2a#BOSvsPHI | #BringItToBroad pic.twitter.com/3r7Wigcwbm

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 21, 2021

Later in the third, Travis Konecny‘s third of the season provided some insurance — and further signalled that the 24-year-old is on the path to a bounce-back season after a disappointing 2020-21 campaign.

Last year’s Flyers leading scorer, Farabee, notched his third of the year on a first-period power play. He now leads his team with six points. Both he and Konecny have scored in the first three games of a season for the first time in their careers.

All told, nine Flyers are averaging a point a game or better through the first three games. As a team, Philadelphia is averaging a league-high 5.33 goals scored per game.

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FAB Line Shows Chemistry

The new-look second line with Farabee and Atkinson flanking Brassard is clicking so well, it has already earned a FAB nickname.

Some of that chemistry goes back to Columbus, where Brassard helped bring a young Atkinson along.

“When I was a rookie, for a couple years he was my centerman,” Atkinson said after the game. “We are obviously best buddies, so we are always talking, always staying positive. You add a guy like Beezer, who is obviously very skilled and can make plays and shoot the puck … I had a feeling we were going to click.”

“I think all those three guys have one thing in common,” said coach Alain Vigneault. “They’ve got great hockey sense and they all love to compete. So there’s no doubt that tonight, they made some big plays at the right time.”

Jones Passes First Test

With Boston outshooting the Flyers 40-25 and icing the always-dangerous Perfection Line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, Martin Jones was tested in his first regular-season appearance in orange and black. He passed with flying colors.

“I had a really strong feeling that we were going to get a good game from Jonesy,” Vigneault said. “He’s been working extremely hard, had the opportunity to play a lot of games in exhibition. I just thought that his game would be ready tonight to give us a good game against a real good team, and that’s what he did.”

“It was great — always feels nice to get the first win under your belt,” Jones said. “I thought we played really well, defended really well. I was able to see a lot of shots, a lot of stuff from the outside, so it was a great game all around.”

Ristolainen, MacEwen Debut

Also playing their first games as Flyers — big defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and physical winger Zack MacEwen.

After missing the first two games of the season with an upper-body injury, Ristolainen logged 18:37 in his debut, all at even strength. He logged five shot attempts, two hits and two blocked shots.

Midway through the second period, though, Ristolainen’s weak dump-in attempt before a line change got picked off by Charlie McAvoy. He made a sweet stretch pass to set up Taylor Hall’s breakaway goal.

Let's all sit back and enjoy this sequence, shall we?@CMcAvoy44 | @hallsy09 pic.twitter.com/dgpnYVVuS1

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 21, 2021

“I made a pretty bad play there, I was trying to change but I wasn’t able to,” Ristolainen admitted after the game. “Their guy got away and put it in.”

As for MacEwen, the waiver pickup from Vancouver tallied four hits in a team-low 9:09 of ice time, playing on a fourth line with Nate Thompson and Nic Aube-Kubel.

Panthers Prepare To Pounce

Through three games, the Flyers’ five points tie them with Washington and the New York Rangers in the tight Metropolitan Division. They’re one of five teams yet to record a regulation loss.

As of Thursday morning, the same is true for the Florida Panthers, who are tied with the surprising Buffalo Sabres atop the Atlantic Division, with identical 3-0-0 records.

The Panthers host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night before travelling to Philadelphia. The Flyers will close out their homestand against the Panthers on Saturday. Then, they’ll head to Western Canada for a three-games-in-four nights road trip next week.

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