Now that the Flyers have gotten into 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division, should they even allow themselves to think about trying to make a run at Pittsburgh?
They would say, 'yes,' but with a 17-point bulge, it's out of the question.
What the Flyers need to do now is focus on retaining second place and at least the 7th overall playoff seed.
The 5-game Western road trip was a huge success with a 4-1 record. Good offensive performances - not great - but good.
Wayne Simmonds with 6 points, including 3 power play goals; Scott Hartnell had six points with one PPG; Brayden Schenn and Claude Giroux each had 5 points with thd G-man getting 2 power play assists.
Tomorrow's game in New Jersey doesn't count for the western part of it and the Flyers can't afford to look past the Devils to coming back onto home ice with two more games this week.
What I liked best about the trip was the Flyers resiliency and their comeback ability in games against Edmonton, Vancouver and Phoenix.
They could not have done that in October or November.
“It was huge wins, we came back in the last minute against Vancouver and if someone had said before the trip we would get eight points, we would have taken it,” said Jakub Voracek, who had 4 points on the trip.
“This was a huge win for us and we moved up in the standings. Now we go back and get ready for New Jersey.”
Before the trip, the Flyers had a poor record against
When this trip began, the Flyers had a losing record against the West. Now they are above .l500 at 8-7-1.
“We played the majority of the teams in the west [earlier] when we were struggling,” Simmonds said. “We’ve gotten a lot of confidence since then. Playing a lot better hockey. We’ve been resilient of late.”
Team captain Claude Giroux, in the words of coach Craig Berube, "grew" more into his captaincy role on this trip. You can actually see the leadership from Giroux now on the ice and its carryover effect on the team.
“We learned the hard way at the start of the year,” Giroux said. “Down a goals if we stayed with the system and way we’re playing, a patient game, and play the way we should, we have chances. It’s about putting it into the net.”
Guys are scoring and making offensive plays and taking pressure off goalie Steve Mason so he doesn't have to be perfect every night.
“They know they can get back in games and they’re scoring more now,” Berube said. “When your skill guys are scoring goals, they feel they can get us back into the hockey game.”
Now the goal has to be to keep second place in the division and not let up.
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