The Flyers Won a Thrilling Game in Overtime, But I Can't Get Past This Graphic
Great, thrilling Flyers win last night. Exciting overtime. The Flyers were buzzing about and Jakub Voracek put an exclamation on things with this spin-around:
https://twitter.com/NHL_France_/status/806433641190592512
Earlier in the OT, Shayne Gostisbehere did a ridiculous EA Sports thing and nearly won it himself and led to calls for the AI to be improved in the next version:
Bet you didn't know this but Shayne Gostisbehere is a good hockey player pic.twitter.com/Ub5wQgqy1t
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) December 7, 2016
But I can’t get past this graphic CSN put together:
Man that is awful. Nothing against Steve Mason – he’s playing outstanding right now – but the fact that he’s near the top of this list after three on and off seasons is a damnation of 30 years of goaltending woes. Hextall, sure. Bernie, obviously. But then it drops off into a barren hellscape with the exception of Pelle Lindbergh, who obviously should’ve been much higher on this list. But ROMAN CECHMANEK? ROMAN FUCKING CECHMANEK is fourth all-time in wins among Flyers goalies? ROMAN CECHMANEK? The only thing he was good for was that time Lou Tilley said “It looks like you got a fruitcake in goal.” Like no joke– a local commentator called him a fruitcake on TV. He’s number four all-time in wins.
Oh, it gets worse:
check out the whole list…reads like Cleveland QBs… pic.twitter.com/oHEy000ekG
— TedS (@TSwizzly21) December 7, 2016
For how long have the Flyers been really good? There was an almost 20-year stretch where they were contenders almost every year. They at times dominated the Eastern Conference. They racked up wins and points in the regular season. They were often the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. The fact that these goalies are so even shows just how bad each of them were. Look at the years– 1999-2000, 2012-2013, 2001-2003, 1996-1998. There are college programs whose players have longer stretches with the team– you know, like four years. The goalies for their last two Stanley Cups runs are 19th and 25th on this list, behind names like Dominic Roussel, Marty Biron, and ROMAN CECHMANEK. Imagine if the Flyers had just one good goalie since 1995. Just one. Might they have won six Stanley Cups? They might.