Kyle Phillippi
The Flyers Report is a weekly segment by Kyle Phillippi, the About.com Philadelphia Flyers beat writer. You can follow him at @Kyle_Phillippi on Twitter. The piece will go over some of the week’s biggest news, some key stats and trends to know and a quick look at what’s to come.
As of Friday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers are 19-15-7 (45 points) and are just two points behind the Boston Bruins for a playoff spot. They have games in hand on every team they’re chasing, as well (four less games played than New Jersey and Carolina).
Now onto the report:
4 in a row
In our last Flyers Report, the Flyers had just bounced back from their west coast trip with two straight wins. Since then? Add two more to that streak.
The Flyers are on an absolute tear right now and their offense is turning a corner. The team has four goals in three of their last last four games with three of those against teams they’re chasing in the conference. The players knew they needed a good start to this stretch of 10 games against Eastern Conference opponents, so far, it couldn’t be going any better.
So what’s gone right?
I alluded to it above: the offense has heated up. More importantly, the top line has picked things up. In the win over Boston, Jake Voracek (1 G, 2 A), Claude Giroux (3 A) and Wayne Simmonds (1 G) were instrumental and admitted it felt great to get that monkey off their back, especially Giroux.
In addition, the second line has been red hot with Sean Couturier coming into his own. You can read more on Couturier’s confidence boost at About.com. To go with that, both Brayden Schenn, who had a monster hit on Wednesday, and Michael Raffl are all flying around the ice creating plays and setting up Couturier.
Then there’s the defense, which has quietly gone about their business and kept pucks from getting deep in the zone, from the opposition gaining long stretches in the zone and making sure Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth have clear sight on the incoming pucks.
Halfway point
41 games are in the bag, officially marking the midway mark of the season.
I went around the locker on Friday to get a feel of Dave Hakstol and how the players are responding to him. The general consensus is he’s been fantastic and his demeanor has really fueled the team. His system is paying off with the guys becoming comfortable in it, which means this team could very well be in for a big second half of the season.
You can check out what a few of the players said about the first-year head coach, including Ryan White saying he’s been “a hell of a coach for us.”
Trends to know
- The Wells Fargo Center has seen six straight wins at home by the Flyers — the longest run since an eight-game stretch from Nov. 9-Dec. 19, 2013.
- Sean Couturier has five points over his last four games (3 G, 2 A).
- Steve Mason has three straight wins, his best stretch of the season. He has a .942 save percentage over that span, including one shutout.
Odds and ends
- I spoke with Jordan Weal, who was acquired in the deal with Los Angeles last week. He has yet to play for the team but is working his way into the lineup. The team isn’t expected to switch up its lines while on this winning streak. To learn more about Weal, check out my piece on him. A snippet: “It was just being a kid,” Weal explained. “Growing up you’re playing on the best teams all the time and your head gets a little big.”
- Using a panel that featured Sam Carchidi (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and Dave Isaac (The Courier-Post) among others, we discussed our thoughts on Scott Laughton and his role on the team. The consensus seems to be to keep him up with the team but perhaps switch up his line in an effort to supply more offense and in turn, minutes.
- Wednesday’s game marked the 1,000th NHL game for defenseman Nick Schultz.
- Flyers fans will like this: Shayne Gostisbehere will be ready to go on Saturday against the New York Rangers. He’s missed the past two games with a lower-body injury.
Quotes to know
Nick Schultz on reaching 1,000 games: “I feel fortunate to be able to play that long and to be healthy for a majority of my career. I got a chance to play that long and stick around. It feels good, feels very fortunate to be able to play that long.”
Wayne Simmonds on the first line’s recent success: “Felt like a weight was lifted off our shoulders.”
Steve Mason on the team’s resolve: “When things aren’t going well eventually they will turn in your favor. Guys are starting to see results for it.”
What’s ahead
The Flyers have another 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday, this time with the Rangers. Right after that they head up to Detroit for a Sunday showdown with the Red Wings. These are two huge games for the team. At worst, a split will be essential just so they don’t lose too much ground. They return home on Tuesday when Toronto comes into town before their first meeting of the season (seriously) with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.