Posts for flyers

Snow The Goalie: Behind The Bench with Flyers Head Coach Scott Gordon

JoyOnBroad - February 18, 2019

Anthony and Russ sit down for an exclusive interview with Flyers coach Scott Gordon to discuss:

  • The decisions made that have led to the Flyers’ turnaround
  • Implementing changes to the team’s tactics on the fly
  • How he found out that he’d be taking over and the challenges of taking over mid-season
  • Why he enjoyed coaching in the AHL and how this NHL stint has affected his view of coaching at this level
  • Challenges in his previous NHL coaching tenures
  • Similarities between Sean Couturier and Patrice Bergeron
  • The importance of his young players helping to implement game plan wrinkles
  • Breaking down an individual player’s game and what he’s learned about coaching
  • Choosing his Boston College over Harvard
  • Being the first goalie to ever put his water bottle on his net
  • Playing in the Olympics
  • His favorite arenas
  • How he likes to decompress
  • The movie “Miracle” and how Jim Craig made his son’s day

Anthony and Russ then discuss some interesting quotes from Shayne Gostisbehere and Scott Gordon’s reaction following the Flyers’ OT winner over the Detroit Red Wings. They also give their thoughts on the Cam Talbot/Anthony Stolarz trade and read new iTunes five star reviews.

Please subscribe to the show ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter: @AntSanPhilly @JoyOnBroad

Plus, don’t forget to check out “The Press Row Show” with Anthony and Russ for pregame and intermission coverage of Flyers home games LIVE from press row! The show streams on Facebook Live via the Crossing Broad page and Periscope via Anthony’s Twitter account.

Check out the other shows on the Crossing Broad Podcast Network including: Crossing Broadcast: A Philly Sports Podcast, Crossed Up: A Phillies Podcast, It’s Always Soccer in Philadelphia, and Crossing Broad FC: A Soccer Podcast.

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Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost

Anthony SanFilippo - February 17, 2019

Photo Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

There are a few story lines many fans will be watching for when the Flyers and Red Wings reconvene tonight at 6 p.m. in Detroit:

  1. Can this white hot Flyers team (12-2-1 in their last 15 games) continue an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented run toward a playoff berth?
  2. Will Carter Hart bounce back from a mediocre performance against the first team to play against him for a third time and playing in back-to-back games for the first time, no less? (I am going out on a limb and assuming coach Scott Gordon won’t be putting an important game in the playoff race on the shoulders of Mike McKenna, who will likely be waived Monday. McKenna will still back up Hart as newly acquired goalie Cam Talbot isn’t available today).
  3. Will there be retribution on Detroit’s Anthony Mantha for his cross-check to Claude Giroux’s head while Giroux was on his knees against the boards in the third period of yesterday’s game? (There was no penalty called, although there should have been).

These are all interesting plots to follow as tonight’s game progresses. But it’s not the one I’m going to be watching the most closely.

Yes, they all have varying degrees of interest for me, and yes, they are all good water cooler topics for Monday – for those of you who don’t get the President’s Day holiday.

But there is one more that I want to follow even closer. And actually, it’s a plot line that, until post game yesterday, has simply gone unnoticed by many observers of the team.

It involves Shayne Gostisbehere.

It’s a story that has been brewing for a while now. One that goes back to before Dave Hakstol was fired. To before Ron Hextall was fired. To before there was any talk of considering moving on from the uber-talented but sometimes disconnected defenseman.

Let’s put together a quick timeline after the jump:

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Report: Flyers and Oilers in “Holding Pattern” on Talbot Talks

Kevin Kinkead - February 15, 2019

Photo Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Darren Dreger is more or less the NHL’s Adam Schefter.

He mentioned last night that the Flyers and Oilers were talking about a Cam Talbot trade and offered this update a short time ago:

Couple things here:

  • Stoli is actually a group 6 unrestricted free agent right now. He has a chance to reach RFA status, but he needs 11 games of 30+ minutes to reach that mark. The Flyers only have 25 games remaining, so I don’t see a 14/11 Hart-Stoli split happening.

Explanation on that via Cap Friendly:

So he’s likely going to remain an unrestricted free agent.

Also, after the jump:

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Inside the Linc’s Stadium Series Conversion at Lincoln Financial Field

JoyOnBroad - February 14, 2019

The NHL is in the process of converting the home of the Super Bowl LII Champions into the stage for the Battle of the Keystone State. When I got to the Linc on Wednesday afternoon, I didn’t expect much – after all, the league’s crew only arrived on Monday. What we found was a stunning display of human ingenuity.

In about two days of working in frigid conditions – including a snow and ice storm – workers had not only laid out the base covering that protects the field underneath, but also established the eventual site of the rink itself.

Video and updates after the jump:

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Claude Giroux is Having a Son

Kevin Kinkead - February 14, 2019

Photo Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Per ‘G’ and his wife:

Baby is due August, 2019, so we could probably get him suited up for the Flyers sometime in 2038 or 2039.

If he turns out to be anything like his father, he’ll be an incredibly talented ice hockey player, and also underappreciated by Philadelphia sports fans who don’t pay much attention to the Flyers.

Of course, if Claude’s son doesn’t want to play ice hockey, that’s okay. He may want to be an actor, or an architect, or a sports blogger. He may be interested in setting his own path instead of following in his father’s footsteps.

Crossing Broadcast: Sixers/Celtics, Nola Extended, Stadium Series, The Market for Foles

JoyOnBroad - February 14, 2019

Kevin and Russ break down the Sixers loss to the Celtics, the positives from the Nuggets and Lakers games, the Brett Brown debate, Aaron Nola’s extension, prepping for the Stadium Series Flyers v. Penguins, what the Joe Flacco trade means for the Nick Foles market, and plenty more!

Please subscribe to the show ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter: @Kevin_Kinkead @JoyOnBroad

Check out the other shows on the Crossing Broad Podcast Network including: Crossed Up: A Phillies Podcast, Snow the Goalie: A Flyers Podcast, It’s Always Soccer in Philadelphia, and Crossing Broad FC: A Soccer Podcast.

Audio after the jump:
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Flyers Should Still Sell At Deadline Despite Their Recent Hot Play

Anthony SanFilippo - February 13, 2019

Photo Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports

So, you’re on board with the Flyers getting back in this playoff race, eh?

I understand why. The team is 11-2-1 in their last 14 games. They shrugged off a pivotal home loss to Pittsburgh and a terrible first period the next night in Minnesota to come back and beat the Wild.

They are once again just six points behind Pittsburgh for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with just 25 games to go. Pretty remarkable since a month ago they were the worst team in hockey.

But the odds of making the playoffs remain long.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

Odds of the Flyers making the playoffs as of 2/13/19 

  • HockeyReference.com – 3.4%
  • SportsClubStats.com – 1.5%
  • The Athletic – 9.0%
  • PlayoffStatus.com – 8.0%
  • MoneyPuck.com – 5.1%

So, unless your name is Lloyd Christmas, your focus should be on the 2019-2020 season already.

The reason being, it’s really hard to expect the Flyers to maintain the level of the Tampa Bay Lightning (they’d have to finish the season roughly 14-7-4 in those last 25 games, making it 25-9-5 over the final 39 games of the season) AND have three of four teams falter to the tune of .500 records or worse the rest of the way (Columbus, Pittsburgh, Carolina and/or Buffalo).

It’s really asking a lot. That’s why their odds are so long no matter where you look.

So, with the trade deadline now less than two weeks away, General Manager Chuck Fletcher needs to concentrate on next season.

This Flyers team is close. You are seeing what kind of a difference a consistent goaltender can make. You are seeing what kind of a difference good team defense can make. Fletcher doesn’t need to tear it down, he just needs to fine-tune it.

Which is why he wasn’t lying when he said the Flyers will be both buyers and sellers at the trade deadline.

Fletcher could move players on expiring contracts. He could move players that may have term left but could bring valuable return. And he could put the Flyers in a great position heading into the draft and free agency with extra picks, a stocked cupboard of prospects and plenty of cap room.

So, who could go? I’ve been sniffing around as best I can and I’m hearing some things that are interesting some things that are not a surprise and am being left to speculate in other areas. So let’s tackle this after the jump:

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The Associated Press is Expanding its Use of Artificial Intelligence

Kevin Kinkead - February 13, 2019

At some point in the not-so-distant future, all of us will be replaced by robots.

Some already have, like camera operators and master control technicians who work in television news. Now the cameras are controlled via joystick and everything else is automated, so why would you pay a human being a fair wage to do the job when you can just use machines instead? It’s like “Skynet” from the Terminator movies, only without the nuclear holocaust.

In 2019 we’re taking it a step further. We’re looking at automated WRITING, which seems crazy to me, but apparently the Associated Press is taking a dip in that pool, according to Sport Techie:

The Associated Press is automating all previews for NCAA Division I men’s basketball games following successful tests of the technology for MLB-affiliated minor league baseball games.

The news platform is deploying natural language generation from Automated Insights to automatically turn data from STATS into narratives, eventually without human input. While the AP has typically provided previews for all NCAA Tournament games, this marks the first time it will offer previews for over 5,000 regular-season games. Automated stories previewing the matchups will begin appearing on the wire the week of Feb. 11.

“We’re pleased to deliver significantly more content of value to our customers,” said Barry Bedlan, AP’s director of sports products. “Given the large number of college games played each season, using automation as a tool to more thoroughly cover this sport makes sense.”

The AP has been experimenting with artificial intelligence for its news coverage since 2012. In 2016, it deployed Automated Insights’ technology to expand its coverage of Minor League Baseball via automated recap stories on games not previously covered by the news organization using MLBAM data.

If the automation is for “expanded coverage” and human beings are actually still employable and/or necessary, then I guess this makes a lot of sense.

But let’s not beat around the bush. You know as well as I do that this is a slippery slope, and eventually the mechanical scribes will develop a mind of their own and break free of their bonds. There will be no override code. They will be out of control and they will begin writing their own previews and recaps of Eagles and Sixers games.

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