A review of the Flyers back-to-back West Coast games

After the NHL temporarily paused the season, the Philadelphia Flyers headed to the West Coast for two back-to-back games against the Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks. They managed to capture three out of four points but honestly, the performances left us with nothing to be giddy about.

The Flyers were bailed out by their goaltending once again and squeaked by in some very close games.

Seattle Kraken

Where do I start with this snooze-fest? This had to have been one of the most boring watches as a fan all year, outside of the last couple minutes. James Van Riemsdyk scored a power play goal from the slot to make it 1-0 early and from there, the Flyers fell asleep for the majority of the game.

Absolute dot from JVR. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/9T2G4rWjgu
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) December 30, 2021

There was multiple lifeless stretches that had to be saved by Martin Jones. Thankfully we were playing Seattle because any decent team would have stomped the Flyers out for performing like that.

Seattle went up 2-1 with five minutes remaining and it was quickly followed by another JVR goal.

Such a clutch goal.

Ivan Provorov received a stretch pass from Hayes in overtime and put together another beautiful OT highlight to win the game.

Provorov loves OT. What a disgusting goal to give the #Flyers the W. pic.twitter.com/QhxPDpuW3A
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) December 30, 2021

This game was one of the few times I wasn’t all that thrilled with a win. Yes it’s huge to get two points in a game you had no business being in, but why was that the case?

Why did Seattle dominate the Flyers throughout game? Ugh.

None the less, the Flyers went into San Jose winning game one of the back-to-back.

San Jose Sharks

I know what was coming as soon as Yeo said the team got into San Jose at 4:30am during rough travel conditions. It was shaping up to be a carbon copy of the performance in Seattle.

Philadelphia was definitely the slower team out of the gate and it showed. Felix Sandstrom, who was making his first start with the Flyers, put together an impressive debut and it shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Anyone who has watched the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this year knows what kind of performances Sandstrom has been delivering. Countless times he dragged the Phantoms back into games with his great play in net and he did that for the Flyers against the Sharks.

Morgan Frost scored his second on the season from a beautiful play set-up by Konecny and Lindblom to make it 1-0. That new line combination is insanely fun to watch and I’d like to see it more going forward.

It’s a little chilly in San Jose ❄️

Morgan. Frost. His 2nd of the year. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/0jPhAyUT74
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) December 31, 2021

Keith Yandle singlehandedly brought San Jose back into the game with a brutal turnover on the power play to allow San Jose to tie it. After this the wheels fell off and the Flyers couldn’t get their bearings straight before it was already 2-1 San Jose.

Much like the night before, some clutch heroics were needed if the Flyers wanted to squeak any kind of points out. Joel Farabee wired one on the rush to tie the game. Another timely goal when the Flyers needed it the most.

Joel Farabee ties this game up with a laser #Flyers pic.twitter.com/zoBkRfJDOf
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) December 31, 2021

San Jose won in overtime leaving the Flyers with 3 points in the back-to-back set. Not the results, but the performances are concerning and it honestly, it’s nothing new.

Lack of puck support, relying on goaltending, and a lethargic power play highlighted both games. The only positive I can take from this is that at least the Flyers had the will to claw back in each of these games and walk away with points.

Next up: @ LA Kings on Saturday (10:30PM)