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Juggling lines doesn’t work for everyone… Right Philly?

Oct 21, 2011, 10:56 AM EST

Brayden Schenn

Shuffling the lines up was all well and good for the Boston Bruins last night, but the Flyers did the same thing as well heading into their game against the Capitals. That… Didn’t go so well.

Why the sudden switch-up in Philly? They had to find a place for Brayden Schenn to fit into the lineup.

If you’re a Flyers fan and getting ready to boo everyone for the change, Peter Laviolette wants you to know that switching up three out of four lines wasn’t the reason why they got pounded by Washington.

Sometimes chemistry can work on the fly for a team like Boston that’s mostly all the same players from last year, but in Philly’s case switching lines up on the fly like that for a game against a premiere opponent was begging for trouble. Add to that that the Flyers are still working out the chemistry together themselves and adding a new player into the mix to top it off and you’ve got a recipe for a beat down.

Losing one game like this isn’t the end of the world for the Flyers, of course, it’s just a bit awkward that a big lineup shuffle like that would occur suddenly before a “big” game. In Boston, they had to shake things up because it wasn’t working. With Philly, it was cruising along nicely before the Schenn addition. Now the question is: How long will it take them to figure it out?

  1. epictron1 - Oct 21, 2011 at 11:15 AM

    The 2nd and 3rd lines couldn’t get going because of lack of chemistry. Then add the worthlessness that is Scott Hartnell and you have last nights game.

  2. icelovinbrotha215 - Oct 21, 2011 at 12:00 PM

    It’s one game. If Schenn isn’t brought, does that mean the Flyers would have won? Is it Schenn’s fault that Hartnell turned it over leading to the first goal? Or is it Schenn’s fault that the Flyers continue to take dumb penalties? It is easy to point to one thing and say it was the reason the Flyers lost. But as someone who watches this team night in and night out, chemistry wasn’t the only problem (if it was a problem at all). You have to remember, the Flyers were up 1-0 nothing. No one was mentioning chemistry then.

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