Bright: Holmgren’s Plan Looks Good After One Game
For one night, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren can relax.
With a defensive-minded and perfectly-executed 2-1 road win against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins on Thursday at TD Garden, the young Flyers made the mad scientist GM look like a genius.
His plan came together.
“It’s a new team and like I said, it was pretty exciting to see everybody working hard and everybody working together,” said Claude Giroux, who scored the team’s first goal. “The attitude was great out there.”
Wiping the deck this offseason, Part 1 of Holmgren’s master plan was to usher in a culture change of hard work and defensive fortitude. The philosophy became, “will wins on the grind, not lean on the offense.” No more late-game collapses, no more goaltending issues — this season will be different. And in Game 1 of the long 82-game campaign, he got what he was looking for.
Ilya Bryzgalov was tremendous, saving, not costing the Flyers, with 22 saves. Many came late in the game when the team needed him the most. What the Flyers yearned for when they signed him to the nine-year, franchise contract, they received.
“He was able to bail us out,” said coach Peter Laviolette of his goalie. “He played really strong.”
The Flyers’ penalty kill was also stellar, killing 4-of-5. Shipping Mike Richards, Blair Betts and Darroll Powe out of town caused many into thinking the Flyers could lack in this department. Enter: Matt Read, Sean Couturier, Max Talbot and Andreas Nodl, who all played a substantial amount on the man disadvantage and did good work in limiting second chances and immense pressure.
“You’ve got to sacrifice a lot,” Bryzgalov said of the penalty kill. “Blocking shots, battling hard in front, picking up rebounds. We did everything today and executed well. I think that’s a big reason why we won the game tonight.”
In the scoring department, the second part of Holmgren’s plan was for Giroux and James van Riemsdyk to step up into the spotlight at grab the offensive reigns from previous top scorers Richards and Jeff Carter. He also threw in Jaromir Jagr and Jakub Voracek for good measure.
Three of the four recorded a point.
“I think it helps them find their place and fit in,” Laviolette said of the new players like Voracek, who recorded the game-winning goal. “Certainly some of the players that have been here, like Claude Giroux and others, had a big game as well.”
Yet, although two parts of Holmgren’s plan went off without a hitch, it was the third part that played the kicker — the Flyers took a huge first step into developing real character. Albeit not a well-oiled team just yet, meshing into a unit may prove the most important part of Holmgren’s recipe. And though it’s been just one game, the potential is apparent.
“We feel like we’ve been playing a long time together,” Bryzgalov said. “We have a very, very good group of guys. We’re very friendly. It’s like one big family. In a few weeks I hope it’s going to be very, very good.”
Just what the GM wanted.
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