Philadelphia Flyers: Rocky start to road trip still showed good signs

The Philadelphia Flyers put forth a good effort on Wednesday night at high altitude, but they still dropped a 3-1 decision to the Colorado Avalanche.

This season, the Philadelphia Flyers have suffered several losses worth condemning.

But even though losing is never fun, I find myself hard-pressed to get too worked up about their setback to a very good Colorado Avalanche club on Wednesday night.

More from Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers, playing without top forwards Travis Konecny and Oskar Lindblom, who was a surprise scratch earlier in the day, took a while to settle down but then carried play for large stretches of the contest.

If not for some heroics by Colorado netminder Pavel Francouz, it could have been a very different result. The Flyers especially poured it on during the second period, when they registered 17 of their 33 shots for the game, but could not solve him.

The Avalanche, meanwhile, made the most of their opportunities and cashed in when they could, putting three of their 27 shots past Carter Hart. It’s a shame that Hart didn’t have a better fate in the game after he held the Flyers in it during the first period and then made a glove save for all-time in the second. But such is the nature of hockey.

Truth be told, there was a lot to like with the way the Flyers played on Wednesday despite ultimately losing the game. The offense was buzzing for large stretches and they matched one of the best teams in the league stride for stride in thin air, which is no easy feat.

The Flyers also largely locked down Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon, though he did still find time to pick up a pretty assist on Colorado’s second goal. But it was certainly nice to see the Flyers mostly keep a lid on a star player after struggling mightily against the likes of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid in other games this season.

Overall, you have to credit the Flyers with a gutty performance given their recently thinned forward ranks and the adverse conditions they were facing on the road against a top club.

The energy was there for the entire game, and the Flyers didn’t look like they ever considered packing it in for the night after Colorado went up 3-0 early in the third.

Sometimes a team’s losses can tell you as much or more about a team than its wins.

dark. Next. Flyers: Konecny out because of dirty hit

And, at the risk of sounding dumb, I liked a lot of what I saw from the Flyers in this loss.

Home/Philadelphia Sports