ANOTHER BIG WIN FOR FLYERS
The Philadelphia Flyers deserve full marks for the way they have approached their last three games against top-notch opposition. The Flyers have shown a lot of two-way commitment, heart and unity. They have also shown character and resiliency when they have faced some adversity.
In some ways, what the Flyers did last night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks was even more impressive than their oft-dominating weekend sweep of an injury depleted and strangely disinterested Pittsburgh Penguins team.
Unlike the Penguins, the Blackhawks came ready to play from the opening faceoff. In contrast to Saturday and Sunday's games, the Flyers quickly fell into a two-goal deficit rather than being the team to jump ahead early by multiple goals.
Philly showed a lot of moxie to battle back from their early 2-0 deficit. Ray Emery deserves credit for shaking off Duncan Keith's stoppable goal and then going the rest of the way without yielding another goal of any kind. The team in front of him deserves credit for not sagging and for staying with the program.
Scott Hartnell's fluky bank shot goal off Marcus Kruger and goalie Antti Raanta put Philly back in the game, and the Flyers were the better team for the majority of game thereafter.
"Stay with it" was the theme of the night last night, even apart from the two Hartnell goals that tied the game before the end of the first period.
The second Hartnell goal was the product of hustle and hard work that got rewarded at the end of a long shift. All five Philadelphia players on the ice contributed something positive. Apart from a great shot by goal scorer Hartnell and a perfect set up pass from Claude Giroux, the other three players on the ice helped. Board-battle winner Matt Read, defenseman Nicklas Grossmann (who had joined a rush and then rotated back to the point) and defenseman Braydon Coburn (who aided the breakout to Read that produced the shift in the Chicago end) each did something to chip in on the shift before the goal was scored.
The Flyers went 0-for-5 on the power play against a Chicago team whose lone glaring weakness has been on the penalty kill. Philly had many good looks at the net on four of the five advantages but just could not pot one. Nevertheless, the Flyers stayed with it and kept battling.
Chicago stepped up its game for much of the second period. The Hawks outshots the Flyers by an 11-6 margin. The Flyers bent but didn't break, against a team that entered the game with a staggering 88-60 goal differential in their favor in second periods this season. Getting the game to the third period still tied at 2-2 put Philly in a good position.
Over the course of the game, Chicago's fearsome power play went to work three times. The Flyers' penalty killers weathered the storm each time.
Likewise, the Flyers hit goal posts with no fewer than five shot attempts last night, including at least three where Raanta (34 saves) was beaten cleanly on the play and it wasn't a case where the post was the only thing at which to shoot. The Flyers stuck with it.
The final 20 minutes of regulation were dominated by the Flyers. But Chicago did make a push on a few shifts, and Emery had to come up big a few times. Along the way, the Flyers came up just short on a host of their own scoring chances.
Raanta denied Vincent Lecavalier on a third period breakaway. A few minutes later, the Flyers had a would-be goal correctly disallowed because Lecavalier played the puck with a high stick before Brayden Schenn tucked the loose puck in the net.
The reason was it was not a reviewable play for the "Situation Room" in Toronto is that it was a dead puck as soon as Schenn touched the puck without a Chicago player touching the puck before him. If Lecavalier had played the puck into the net with a high stick, it would have been reviewable to see if it was played above the height of the crossbar. If the referee had ruled a Chicago player had played it before the puck went to Schenn, the goal would have counted and there would have been no need for a review in that instance, either.
Everything had been going the Flyers way leading up to the disallowed goal. I asked Matt Read after the game if a situation like that can take a shift or two thereafter to get refocused and start rebuilding the momentum. He agreed, and said that people on the bench were staying positive and reminding each other to just keep doing what they'd been doing.
As for Claude Giroux's goal in the final four-plus seconds of overtime, what can you say about it except that it was a superstar's goal? The goal, hammered through the legs of defenseman Keith and past Raanta -- all while being shot as the puck was not laying flat -- was beyond belief. Giroux said after the game that he wasn't aiming for a spot. He was just shooting as hard as he could and trying to get it on net.
Something else that was extremely impressive about last night's win and should not be overlooked: the Flyers' skating and puck-movement.
People who say over and over again that the Flyers are a slow team should watch last night's game. Chicago is arguably the fastest team in the NHL, but the Flyers were able to keep up with them.
Why? It's because the Flyers kept their feet moving. They controlled the gaps between the forwards and defensemen. They got numbers on the Hawks on many occasions and, when they couldn't, kept one-on-one situations manageable. The puck management was good after some shaky early play. The backchecking support was consistent and the forechecking pressure was outstanding. All because the Flyers skated, skated and skated some more.
When the Flyers do that, lack of speed is not an issue. That they could do it and outshoot Chicago by a 37-25 margin with long segments of territorial control in the first and third periods shows that the Flyers needn't be outskated by any team in the league so long as the teamwide commitment to two-way hockey is in place.
Playing -- and beating -- Chicago is ideal preparation for the Flyers next opponent. The Dallas Stars are another speed-based team that thrives off puck possession and generating off the rush. However, apart from their dominating top line (which utterly dismantled the Flyers in the second period of the team's Dec. 7 meeting in Dallas), the Stars do not have the offensive arsenal of Chicago. The Dallas team defense is also not of the same caliber as the Hawks.
From a Flyers' standpoint, I do worry a bit about a "trap game" effect with the Stars game sandwiched between the marquee Pittsburgh/Chicago three-in-four and Saturday's matinee against President's Trophy leading St. Louis. The Stars have not played very well in their last few games, and got taken apart last night in Pittsburgh. If the Flyers are not careful, that could result in Dallas (which has fallen out of a playoff spot) being the hungrier team come tomorrow.
Sean Couturier and Matt Read did a marvelous job at both ends of the ice in the weekend home-and-home matchup with Sidney Crosby's line and last night's showdown against the Jonathan Toews line. They will have their hands full tomorrow against Dallas' line with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. If Philly can get the better of that matchup, too, the Flyers will have a strong chance of continuing their winning ways.
The Flyers have an optional 11:30 a.m. skate at the Skate Zone in Voorhees today.
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