PHILADELPHIA, Pa – The Philadelphia Flyers find themselves on a three-game winning streak after going winless in 10 straight games. The Flyers quick turnaround isn’t a matter of rocket science, just secondary scoring, solid goaltending, and finally breaking up the big line of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
Overshadowed by everything else going on with the team was the return to the lineup of defenseman Andrew MacDonald. Although he is not popular among fans, his teammates and fellow blueliners are more than happy for him to take some of the pressure of one of the youngest defensive core in the NHL.
Goalie Michal Neuvirth (#30) and Center Claude Giroux (#28) of the Philadelphia Flyers. Center Markus Granlund (#60) of the Vancouver Canucks.
Michael Raffl who has had goal in each of the past three games and five goals in his past eight games has led the secondary scoring. Scott Laughton has also picked up his offensive game as well as Jordan Weal, and Shayne Gostisbehere. Not to be outdone by MacDonald’s return was the return to form for goaltender Brian Elliott who’s save percentage is up to .912 and his goals against average is down to a respectable 2.79 after being above 3.00 for the longest time.
The Flyers have scored 83 goals and have allowed 86 with a .500 record of 11-11-7. Before the current win streak, Philadelphia had the fourth worst record point wise in the NHL. The team will not play again until Tuesday when they play the Toronto Maple Leafs. By then the Flyers will most likely slide back in the standing if and when some teams behind them start earning some points. That said things are slowly but slowly but surely turning things around after a rough November December might become the teams’ turning point to a playoff run.
It was not that long that Head Coach Dave Hakstol was being berated by the chants during home games for his firing. General Manager Ron Hextall has been patient with his tam and coach since this is only year three for his handpicked guy behind the bench. Philly fans are not a patient bunch and asking for patience is not in their DNA but they need to be quick to remember that Hextall had to clean up after his predecessor’s salary cap mess and a franchise without any top prospects to get excited about.
Right Wing Joshua Ho-Sang (#66) of the New York Islanders checked by Defenseman Sam Morin (#5) of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Today the Flyers salary cap issues are getting better but some work still needs to be done in order to get it in a better position to add some left wing scoring help. You can bet the names that will be thrown around between now and the NHL trade deadline will be Evander Kane and James Van Riemsdyk but do not expect JVR to go anywhere until free agency begins. Kane is another story all together. The Flyers have the prospects and draft picks to make a trade happen but Hextall will not trade top prospects for an unrestricted free agent.
The season is only two months into an 82 game season and we are a long ways away from the end of the season so in the meantime enjoy the ride Flyers fans. It looks like your into for an interesting time between now and mid-April.
Goalie Brian Elliot (#37) makes a save as Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (#53) of the Philadelphia Flyers fights of Center Sean Monahan (#23) of the Calgary Flames
Brian Jennings covers the Philadelphia Flyers for prohockeynews.com and can be found on twitter at @Flyersfan22.
All photos courtesy of Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.