Whodathunk?
The Flyers took 4 of 6 points on their West Coast swing.
It was an impressive trip because they played consistently good the entire trip, even during the one loss in Anaheim.
Tight checking. Puck support, They skated. They competed. They had solid goaltending from Steve Mason.
“It was a great, overall trip,” Mason told me. “Even the game in Anaheim, I thought we played better than the score indicated. Being able to go in LA and get a big win there, overall, I thought tonight was a great game, start to finish.”
Sharks coach Todd McLellan warned his team at the morning skate that the Flyers were capable oif erupting for goals.
Which is precisely what happened with their 4-goal outburst in the third period to overcome a 2-1 deficit.
Now here’s the rub. Because of the extreme tightness in the standings, particularly within the Metropolitan Division.
In fact, that one loss to Anaheim saw the Flyers slip in the standings. They come back to Philly in 4th place and 9th overall after having been 3rd and 7th respectively, the day the trip began.
“It was a good trip,” Flyers coach Craig Berube said. “We battled hard against all three teams. We got results.”
Monday’s 5-2 win at San Jose was a franchise-record 10th third period comeback win for the Flyers this season, breaking their previous record of nine set in 1996-97.
It was also the Flyers first win in Northern California since Nov. 5, 1999 back in the Lindros Era.
“We won more battles, we were competitive, it was like we wanted [the game] more,” Claude Giroux said. “We played the last two games against good teams. When you struggle and play good teams, that is when you get your confidence back.
“You have a good period, you start playing better and we had two big wins against San Jose and LA and go back home here with more confidence than when we [began] the road trip.”
Too many Eastern club go out west and pretty much die in the sun. The Flyers thrived and were it not for a costly shorthanded goal during a key power play against the Ducks, maybe the Flyers get that game to overtime and salvage a point.
What we know now and didn’t that game was that Kimmo Timonen’s left foot was bothering him so badly, it likely played a huge role in his miscue with the puck.
“Someone referred to it as the Bermuda Triangle coming into California,” Wayne Simmonds said. “But I think we played pretty well. We had a high compete level all three games. Four points out of six is pretty nice.”
Now the trick is to get some more points from Colorado and Calgary before the Flyers go into the Olympic break.
Their confidence to come back in games and score goals is back. They showed that against the Sharks who had a 26-1-2 record when leading after two periods until the Flyers game.
To a man, the Flyers said they knew they would win the third period because they had come so close to denting Niemi in the second period and the momentum of the game had shifted to them.
“We stayed calm, it was awesome,” Simmonds said. “We knew we had ‘em. We were playing great. Tonight was one of our best games of the year, start to finish. Everyone was going, lines one through four.
“Our defensemen were going, Mase [Steve Mason] played great. The third period we had a little outburst there but that was because we stuck with the program.”
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