Home openers tend to feel like a party.
The Flyers made sure this one was, without any chance of it dying early.
They binge-scored Saturday night at the expense of their Metropolitan Division neighbors, suffocating the Washington Capitals with an outpouring of goals — an 8-2 onslaught in the Flyers' first Wells Fargo Center rendition of 2017-18 (see observations).
"It just kept coming down our throat," Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said.
Plenty of Flyers celebrated. Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Scott Laughton all scored two goals, while Wayne Simmonds and Valtteri Filppula added one apiece. Giroux finished with four points and Couturier three. Shayne Gostisbehere and Jakub Voracek each had three assists. And 10 different Flyers recorded at least a point.
Now that's some offense.
"We played a good game," Giroux said. "I don't remember the last time that we won, 8-2, or something like that, so it's good to have a game like that.
"Those games are a little bit more fun."
The Flyers never had such fun last season when they consistently struggled to score goals, especially from mid-December to the finish line. They missed the playoffs after scoring the NHL's third-fewest markers since Dec. 15 with 110 in the final 50 games (2.20 per game). As a result, some doubts swirled in the offseason regarding the Flyers' core.
But Saturday represented a different team. Faster skating, greater possession and more weapons. The Flyers are younger and deeper and looked it.
"I think we've added a lot of depth and speed," Simmonds said. "I think those guys probably had a little more depth and speed than we do, so now it's evened up, it's who's going to play harder, who's going to want it that much more, so I think we're in a really good position."
This was the first time the Flyers scored eight or more goals in a game since Nov. 5, 2011, and the first time they did so in a home opener since Oct. 7, 1982.
The Flyers also saw Giroux, Voracek and Simmonds get the better of their Washington counterparts, something you couldn't say last season or the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Capitals' big names of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom had given them trouble in the recent past.
So much so that Giroux, Voracek and Simmonds combined for just two points in four games against Washington last season. On Saturday, they went off for nine points (three goals, six assists).
"Play with structure and play with detail," Trotz said. "If you play the right way, then your structure and your detail are going to be your security blanket. We didn’t have enough of that and we weren't smart. Absolutely stupid with the puck. We deserved every ounce of that. Giroux's line just ate up Kuznetsov's line today. It wasn't good."
While many of the household names did damage Saturday, the Flyers are pleased with the blend of youth and veterans. The new fourth line of Taylor Leier, Laughton and Michael Raffl has made up one of the team's best units. Jordan Weal and Filppula are playing their first full seasons with the Flyers. Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny pose threats in the bottom six, while the defense is young and sharp, as expected.
"Our veterans are playing hard, playing well and the young guys are fitting in and doing their part," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said. "It's a combination — we've played five games and the one common thread is we worked hard in all of those games and we've had everybody as a part of it, everybody has been chipping in. We haven’t gotten the results, obviously in all five games (3-2-0), but we’ve played hard as a team and that’s a good place to start."
The Flyers know this is just a start. Turning it into a season is the challenge. In 2016-17, the Flyers produced goals at a top-two clip through the first two months before tailing off.
"Tonight went well," Giroux said, "but we need to build on this.
"I really think we're just in better shape. The camp we had, guys came to camp in great shape. We don't really get tired. I think we've got four lines that play great. We don't have one line playing 22 minutes or something like that, so when you have four lines going, you can keep your energy up a little bit better.
"We've got to stay energized, keep working hard in practice and get ready for the next game. Tonight, the fans … I haven't heard the crowd loud like that in a while, so it was great to hear."
Eight goals and a party will do that.
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