The Flyers have started off at rate much better then everyone expected. If the Flyers continue to play the way they are they would be guaranteed a playoff spot. They are on pace to reach 106 points which would tie the mark they set back in the 2011/12 season. But what is the reason for all the success early on. Is it the new coaching regime? Is it TK and Lindblom’s scorching hot starts? Is it just simply good goaltending? Or perhaps it’s just a mixture of everything?

The New Regime

Let’s start with the new regime behind the bench. New head coach Alain Vigneault is now on his 4th team in the NHL with a very impressive track record which includes 11 playoff appearances and 2 Stanley Cup Finals appearances. He’s an impressive 648-435-98 not including what he’s done with Philly so far this year. His assistants are also experienced in the NHL with the likes of Michel Therrien, who was the Canadians head coach from 2012-2017 leading them to 3 playoff appearances and a conference semifinal. Therriens final head coaching totals were 406-303-82Next is Mike Yeo who most recently was fired from the St. Louis Blues. He’s mainly been an assistant bouncing around the league. He was the assistant coach on the Penguins when they won Stanley Cup in 2009. Yeo also coached the Wild for 4 seasons including 3 playoff appearances. His final head coaching totals were 246-181-55. If you combine those records you are looking at an astonishing 1300-919-235 easily making this the most experienced coaching staff in the league.

TK & Lindblom

Let’s start with Lindblom. As simply as I can put it he’s always in the right spot at the right time. It seems like Lindblom is always making right play. Lindblom has 14 points and is in second on the team trailing non other then Konecny who is on fire with 19 points in 17 games and is on pace for 91-92 points this season if he can stay as hot as he is all year. While Lindblom is on pace for a 68 point season which would exceed anyone’s expectations and predictions for this year.

The Tandem

The tandem of Carter Hart and Brian Elliot has been nothing but outstanding even with Harts early struggles. Elliot has started the year with a record of 4-2-1 with a Sv% .909 which is outstanding for his age and injury history. Hart on the other hand is 6-3-1 with a Sv% of .893 which is below average but his last 4 games have showed that he is back to form. Harts positioning and cross crease movements have been much better as of late as well.

Melting It All Down

Quiet frankly it is just a mixture of all of the above. If you put Michel Therrian as your power play/ offensive assistant and Mike Yeo as your penalty kill/ defensive assistant you’re numbers are going to improve drastically. Then you add an established head coach like AV who’s had success everywhere he’s been then you’re probably in pretty good shape. Then you throw in early success from a few guys you weren’t expecting to produce as much as they have that helps too. The best part of all of this is when 97.5 The Fanatics morning show holds an interview with AV and was asked if this team is a playoff team. His response which I feel should most definitely light a fire, was “this team right now is a playoff team”. With that being said I stick with my preseason prediction of the Flyers finishing 3rd in the Metro and going to at least the conference semi’s.

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