The Philadelphia Flyers took one step closer to reaching the .500 mark, defeating the Buffalo Sabres by a 4-1 count at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. The Flyer have won five of their last six games (5-0-1) and have improved their season record to 9-10-2 after stumbling out of the blocks to a 1-7-0 start.
Matt Read scored a pair of goals for the Flyers, assisted by linemates Steve Downie and Sean Couturier. Vincent Lecavalier added a third-period insurance goal on the power play and Scott Hartnell put an exclamation mark on the win with an empty net goal.
Ray Emery stopped 29 of 30 shots for the Flyers. Ryan Miller, who has grown all too accustomed to having his net under siege, turned back 42 of 45 shots.
This was a tilt that had "trap game" written all over it before the opening faceoff. The Sabres have the worst record in the NHL but, in November, have knocked off several opponents (San Jose, LA and Toronto) who have taken them too lightly.
Buffalo entered the game having been outscored in first periods by a margin of 31-4 margin but only 21-19 in second periods and 19-16 in third periods. That's why I felt it was important for the Flyers to jump on Buffalo early and not to let the Sabres hang around with a sniff of an opportunity to win.
That's not what happened. Instead, the game followed a classic trap game scenario. The Flyers were unable to capitalize on several early power play opportunities, and Miller made 12 stops in the opening stanza to keep Philly scoreless. Meanwhile, the Flyers were sloppy with their own puck management and coverages, and their recently stumbling penalty kill suffered a letdown late in the first period.
At the 18:28 mark of the first period, the Sabres scored a power play goal after the Flyers were unable to clear the zone and their coverage got disorganized. A pinching Tyler Myers put the puck in the net from the doorstep, although it intially looked like ex-Flyer Ville Leino scored the goal off a centering feed from Tyler Ennis.
For the first time this season, Buffalo exited a first period with a lead. Meanwhile, the Flyers put themselves in a position of trying to capture their first win of the season after an opponent scored the first goal of a game.
If this scenario had happened earlier in the season, the Flyers may have wilted under the adversity. Instead, the team remained calm, stayed with the program and pretty much dominated the rest of the game from a territorial standpoint, even after they were unable to convert their second 5-on-3 power play opportunity of the game.
Finally, at the 14:09 mark, the Flyers broke through against Miller. Strong work on the boards by Couturier and a perfect centering pass from Downie to Read (who got himself into good shooting position between the circles) created a scoring chance. Read found the back of the net with the shot to knot the game at 1-1.
The tally was Read's fifth goal of the season. He did not have to wait long for number six.
At 15:49, the third line struck again. This time Read beat Miller from closer range, elevating the puck over the Sabres goaltender to forge a 2-1 lead.
The one-goal advantage held til midway through the third period. Philly finally notched a power play goal, as Lecavalier wired home a one-timer from one of his favorite shooting spots on the right side. Mark Streit and Claude Giroux earned the assists.
The Flyers took a few icings late in the game, including one by Read as he came close to completing a hat trick into an empty net. With 11 seconds left on the clock, Hartnell found the vacated cage. Adam Hall, who scored his first goal of the season on an empty netter on Tuesday earned his first assist of the year on Hartnell's goal.
The Flyers conclude their three-game homestand on Saturday when the New York Islanders come to town. After that, the team will spend most of the remaining calendar year on the road, with just five games at the Wells Fargo Center until Jan. 8.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* The Flyers have not allowed a single even-strength goal against in the last five games and just one in the last six. As attested to by last season -- when the Flyers ranked in the NHL's top five in both special teams categories and yet missed the playoffs -- the mark of a winning team in today's NHL is its ability to get the better of even strength play and avoid losing games on special teams. It is no coincidence that the Flyers, despite their recent downturn on the penalty kill, are 5-0-1 over that six-game span.
* Last night's 2-1 lead at the second intermission marked the 20th time in the season's 21 games that the Flyers have entered the third period leading, tied or down by only one goal. Above all else, that is a testament to the outstanding goaltending the Flyers have received from Steve Mason and Ray Emery as well as the much-improved team defense the club has exhibited since Craig Berube became the head coach.
* Jakub Voracek, who saw a five-game point streak snapped last night, sat on the bench for much of the latter half of the third period. Berube said after the game that he wanted to get two centers on the ice because of all the faceoffs and stoppages of play. Voracek finished the game with four shots on goal and was credited with a takeaway in 14:03 of ice time.
* The Flyers blocked 15 shots as a team last night, led by four apiece from Braydon Coburn (who was also credited with three hits, four shots on goal and was plus-two in 23:29 of ice time) and Nicklas Grossmann (21:34 of ice time).
* This game marked the fifth straight game the Flyers have scored a power play goal. On the downside, it also marked the fifth game in the last six that the club has yielded at least one goal on the penalty kill. However, for much of last night, the Flyers' power play was unable to come through when it had a chance to put the team in control of the game. That all changed when Lecavalier gave the Flyers breathing room with his man-advantage tally in the third period. Meanwhile, the PK seemed to settle in and the Flyers wound up killing four of five penalties. That's a start toward getting that facet of the game back on track.
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THE VALUE OF STEVE DOWNIE
Before the season started, many people (including myself) felt that the Flyers needed to add a gritty top-nine winger who could help them win in the trenches and also had enough skill to put some points up on the board. This was especially needed on the third line to add an element to the combination of Sean Couturier and Matt Read that could elevate them from "just" a defensively responsible unit to more of a scoring threat.
There is an old saying in hockey that is just as true now as it was bygone eras: Games are won along the boards and the money is at the net. Steve Downie brings those things.
When the Flyers were mired in a deep offensive funk that saw the team average less than one-a-half goals per game through the first 15 games of the season, the team often failed to do the sorts of things that lead to quality scoring chances. Players didn't keep their feet moving, so they couldn't break out of their own zone cleanly and they couldn't generate sufficient puck pursuit and forechecking pressure.
One way you can always separate someone with actual hockey knowledge from a puffed-up pretender is their level of awareness and understanding that, in order to score goals, a line usually needs someone who may not have eye-popping scoring totals but who does the grunt work to create space for his teammates.
Downie does those things also also offers the bonus of having rather underrated hands and passing ability on top of it. The downside (no pun intended) with him has been a tendency to play out of control and take bad penalties. However, as a player who lacks great size or blazing speed, he pretty much HAS to be someone who pushes the envelope in order to be successful. He just needs to be intelligent about picking his spots. Downie still has slip-ups but they are not nearly as frequent as when he was a younger player.
In last night's game, it was rather fun to watch Downie and Steve Ott do battle. Ott is just about the prototype for the type of agitating, forechecking forward who pushes the envelope but can be a big asset to his team (regardless of his goal totals) when he walks the discipline line successfully.
Even apart from the two nice goals that Read scored last night and Couturier's lucky goal on Tuesday, there is a lot to like about the chemistry of the three-man unit with Downie. Read brings the speed, two-way awareness and some finishing ability. Couturier bring size and shutdown defensive ability (and I still think he will eventually score goals in the NHL with more frequency than in his second and third seasons to date). Downie brings the tenacity on the walls, a bit of overlooked playmaking skill and an agitating presence that throws opposing teams off their games.
In the meanwhile, the Flyers second line with Vincent Lecavalier, Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds has also shown signs of developing good chemistry. The top line of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Scott Hartnell has not dominated on a regular basis yet but things are going much better than they were a few weeks ago.
The common denominator: Each line has at least one guy whose main job it is to be good in trenches, one guy with above-average speed and at least one with some creativity to his game (Read is the most creative of the players on the third line).
In the last six games, the Flyers' scoring potential has finally started to be unlocked. It's all about depth and getting the right blend of talents on each line. Frankly, I will take that every day over having a single dominant line with three other lines that can't score.
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