10 In A Row.
Final Score: Flyers 4, Avalanche 3 | (19-10-3)
10 games up. 10 games down. And the Philadelphia Flyers have come out on top of all of them. And the thing with this team isn’t that they’re going out there and dominating teams. They’re not beating anybody into submission. But the scrap and they grind for 60+ minutes and find a way to come out on top. I mean sure, it would be great if the Flyers could head into Colorado and make light work out of a team that is clearly struggling to find any semblance of an identity. But that’s not the Flyers. They’re never going to make things easy on themselves. But that’s the way we like it and actually, it’s better that way. The Flyers are essentially playing playoff hockey in December. Now some people may see that as the Flyers peaking too early but let me tell you all a little something.This team hasn’t even begun to peak. And when they do peak, you’ll know. Because this team is going to peak so hard that everybody in Philadelphia is gonna feel it (Reynolds, Dennis 2007).
The only problem with the Flyers’ current win streak is that fucking EVERYBODY in the Metro Division keeps winning. It’s insanity.
That’s 10 in a row for the Flyers. 7 for the Pens. 7 for the Blue Jackets and 5 for the Caps. The good news is that it’s almost a guarantee at this point the Metro will take both wild card spots for the playoffs. And the Flyers are 9 points ahead of Tampa who is on the outside looking in. But it’s crazy to think the Flyers can go on a 10-game win streak and still be 3rd in the metro. Anyway, let’s get to the game.
THIS Is Flyers Hockey
In my very humble/unbiased/expert opinion, the Flyers have 3 of the best puck-moving defensemen on their roster. Karlsson and Brent Burns probably round out the top 5. But between Ghost, Provorov and Del Zotto, the Flyers then transition from defense to offense quicker than you can say “Dave’s Bald Spot”. So here you have a defenseman starting the breakout, staying with the rush down the ice, Giroux doing Giroux things with that pass reception, and it ends up in the back of the net. It took Del Zotto less than 10 seconds to go from behind his own net to putting the puck in the back of the other net. Under 10 seconds. That’s what you get when you have guys on your blueline who can wheel. And life is only going to get better for the Flyers once guys like Sanheim and Myers are up in the lineup.
Speaking Of Giroux, The Top Line Was Garbage In Their Own Zone…
The Colorado Avalanche are a bad hockey team. As a collective unit together, they are bad. But that doesn’t mean that guys like Landeskog, MacKinnon and Duchene still aren’t going to make your life miserable when they’re on offense. And they exposed the Flyers’ top line a little bit last night. First of all–I thought the Avalanche were supposed to trade Duchene like 3 seasons ago. So I’m pretty pissed he stuck around to pot home 2 against the Flyers last night and would very much like to have a word with them about trading him to Philly. Second of all–it was uncharacteristic of the Giroux line but still not a great sign. They can usually hold their own defensively if they have to, but they’re usually spending more time in the offensive zone. A few more games for them like they had last night and they’ll be the easy target for home teams to match up their top line against. That’s enough of the negative talk though because do you guys hear that?
It sounds like… OH MY GOD IT’S A TRAIN HEADING STRAIGHT TOWARDS US!!!!
Colorado scored with 3:26 left in the 2nd period to go up 2-1. If you let them go into the 2nd intermission with a lead, maybe this is a different outcome we’re talking about this morning. They have a little momentum, you’ve already won 9 games in a row and the streak is starting to take it’s toll. But instead, the Flyers go out on the next shift and score 23 seconds later to make sure those sons of bitches don’t even get a taste of momentum. Beauty of a look from Gudas (who is a good hockey player and not a bad hockey player), and Wayne Train there to do what he does best. A goal from Simmer last night. An assist each from Giroux and Voracek. And the Flyers continue to have one of the deadliest trios in all of the land.
But outside of the top 3 guys…
‘Cause I’m Out Here Grindin’
Meaty, meaty, meaty testicles on this goal. That’s hustle. That’s heart. That’s the definition of grit. And now what I want you to do here is watch Bellemare from start to finish. In the beginning of the clip, he finds himself down low. But then he realizes that there are already 2 other white jerseys below the goalline so he backs off and hangs high. When the Avalanche come away with the puck on his side, he’s in a position to block that breakout lane and turn them back behind their own net. So when it comes out the other side, he’s there to make a play on the puck, forces the turnover and Lyubimov is there to let the clap bomb fly. It’s textbook forechecking done to perfection. I love these fuckers.
That’s What You’re Paid For, Brayden
I’ve been seeing a lot of Schenn trade chatter here lately. And I get it. He’s a streaky player and you want to strike when the iron is hot. 5 goals in 3 games and in your magical little fairytale land, that instantly shoots his trade value through the roof and you want to trade when his value is the hottest. I get it. I do. But what you fucking nerds don’t understand is chemistry in the locker room. Everything is going right for the Flyers right now. I know that won’t be the case forever, but it’s clear that Brayden Schenn means a little more to this team than just whatever you see on the scoresheet. ESPECIALLY on the powerplay. Because here’s the thing, idiots. The Flyers already have 4 studs on the powerplay who are there to get their touches and their points. You don’t need to wheel out a powerplay with 5 legitimate studs because there’s such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. Giroux, Voracek, Ghost and Simmonds are more than capable enough to run a powerplay by themselves and then Schenn is there as a role guy/outlet guy. So everybody can shut the fuck up about trading Brayden Schenn because even though he may not bring consistency to this lineup like you wished he did when the Flyers traded for him, he’s earning his keep around here and I don’t understand the obsession with making a huge blockbuster trade every season that all you people have. (BTW, if you think that Brayden Schenn gets you Galchenyuk straight up, then you are high).
The Other Guys
– Turns out I can hold my breath for 1 minute and 53 seconds. Or at least that’s how long I forgot to breath at the end of that game last night. Again, the Flyers had to defend Landeskog, MacKinnon, Duchene AND Iginla in that final push with the net empty for Colorado. Obviously they were going to be throwing everything they had at the Flyers to get a late tying goal and it looked like they probably should have scored at least 3 different times. But credit to the Flyers and especially credit to Steve Mason there at the end. Bend don’t break. And as for the failed clear attempt from Bellemare, he was using Wayne Simmonds’ righty stick as a lefty so yeah, that’s pretty difficult.
– Rough night for the powerplay last night and I think we’ll see more teams go with that max-aggressive penalty kill that Colorado was going with. If you let the Flyers powerplay set up against you, then you’re dead. It’s risky to go on the all-out attack mode like the Avs were in last night but clearly it worked. So now the Flyers have to figure out how to combat that since they’ll be seeing it a lot more often.
– Some thoughts on the Voracek fight.
Now we all know that fighting is down in the NHL. But the trend these days is that a fight usually ends up breaking out after a huge hit like this, even if the hit was clean. Now personally, I love Voracek sticking up for Raffl here. It’s good to know that Jake still has that sicko mentality and he’s being a great teammate here which the boys respond. As for the hit itself… well again, it was clean. It definitely looks like Landeskog launched himself into the hit a little bit which made it look worse than it actually was. And Landeskog is a shitty captain so if anything, fighting helps his case with the rest of his team. I’m going to say this fight was warranted but I would see why Landeskog would be frustrated after a huge clean hit ends up costing him 5 minutes in the box for fighting.
– “Haters make me famous” – Andrew MacDonald, who is just showing off at this point.
Dallas. Saturday. Wooooooooo.