FLYERS-BLUES WRAPUP: ANOTHER ONE-POINT SHUTOUT
The 2014-15 season series between the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues was eerily similar to how the 2013-14 season series played out: two closely spaced late-season games that saw the Flyers win on home ice (4-1 last season, 3-1 this year) and then battle the host Blues to a 0-0 tie for 65 minutes before losing in a shootout.
The main difference was the goaltenders in the return game in St. Louis.
On April 1, 2014, the Flyers' Ray Emery (28 saves) dueled former Blues goaltender Ryan Miller (31 saves) to a scoreless deadlock before the Blues scored twice in a three-round skills competition to grab a bonus point from the game. This time around, Steve Mason (35 saves) battled Brian Elliott (28 saves) to a 0-0 tie before the Blues scored twice in two rounds to take the win. Shootout goals by T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko decided the game after Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds were unable to convert their attempts.
For the luckless Mason, Thursday night's game marked the second time during the 2014-15 season in which he was credited with a shutout but did not earn a win. He also had it happen on Nov. 24 in Uniondale against the New York Islanders. Mason has joined Pekka Rinne (2009-10 Nashville Predators) and Marty Turco (2008-09 Dallas Stars) as the third NHL goaltender to have two shutout/shootout loss on his record in the same season.
Mason's road record for the season fell to 1-10-6, despite owning a respectable .913 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average in 20 appearances. At home, he is 12-5-4 with a .936 save percentage, 1.97 GAA, and one shutout in 22 outings.
Entering Thursday's game, the goal support the Flyers have provided Mason this season (a mere 2.19 goals per game) ranked 38th among the 46 NHL goaltenders who have played at least 1,000 minutes this season. Those numbers dropped in getting shut out by the Blues. By contrast, the Flyers have scored an average 2.97 goals per game for Emery, ranking 7th in the NHL among qualifying goalies in goal support per game according to stats.hockeyanalysis.com.
Postgame notes
* The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play against St. Louis, while the Blues went 0-for-2.
* Mason was at his absolute best in the third period, making 17 saves to nurse the game to overtime. Philly limited St. Louis to 16 shots over the first two periods. Overall, in addition to the
28 shots on goal the Flyers generated, they had 23 shot attempts blocked and 12 that missed the net. Voracek had three shots on goal and five attempts that were blocked. The Flyers blocked 16 shot attempts by the Blues.
* St. Louis entered the game tied for the NHL lead in faceoff percentage but the Flyers (ranked in a tie for 9th) won 31 of 58 draws in this game. Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier each won 11 of 18 faceoffs, while Ryan White was 3-for-4. Michael Raffl was 0-for-5.
* Raffl skated a team-low 8:08 of ice time in 13 shifts, with Zac Rinaldo skating 8:21 on 13 shifts. Raffl was also felled by a heavy but clean open-ice check by David Backes. The Austrian forward bounced back to his feet.
* Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock earned his 700th career win. During his tenure as Flyers head coach covering four full seasons and the early portion of the 2006-07 season, the team went 131-94-29 (.614 winning percentage). Hitchcock's Flyers teams went 19-18 in 37 playoff games. Earlier this season, Hitchcock surpassed the late Pat Quinn for fifth place on the all-time NHL head coaching wins list. Quinn, whose coaching career began with the Flyers, went 141-73-48 (.630 winning percentage) in regular season games. During the playoffs, Quinn's Flyers went 22-17 in 39 games.
* Officially, the Flyers were only charged with one giveaway (Vincent Lecavalier) for the game. The Blues were charged with two (Marcel Goc and Tarasenko).
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READER POLL: WHO SHOULD WIN THE ASHBEE TROPHY?
Thank you to the 1,186 readers who voted in
Wednesday's poll on which Flyers player is most deserving of this season's Bobby Clarke Trophy as team most valuable player. Steve Mason (658 votes, 55 percent) was the runaway winner in the fan vote, far outdistancing runner up Jakub Voracek (374 votes, 32 percent). Wayne Simmonds (98 votes, eight percent) finished third, followed by Claude Giroux (36 votes, three percent). Twenty voters (two percent) selected the "other" option.
Today's reader poll looks at which defenseman should win the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team's top blueliner of the 2014-15 season. There are three candidates along with an "other" option.
It is no secret that the Flyers' blueline corps has been collectively and individually maligned for a variety of flaws -- both real and perceived -- throughout the season. There are no franchise or All-Star caliber defensemen on the squad. For the most part, they are a collection of specialists.
With that said, several Flyers defensemen have done well in their given areas of strength this season. Also keep in mind that someone is going to win the award, so the focus needs to be on who has benefited the team the most in his particular role.
Mark Streit ranks second among NHL defensemen in power play points (25, one behind Keith Yandle) this season. He is tied with Nashville's Shea Weber for 12th in overall points among defensemen (both have 43 points in 69 games, although Weber's 15 goals to Streit's nine put Weber 12th via tiebreaker in the NHL's official rankings). Streit leads all Flyers defensemen in average ice time (22:16) per game. Streit also provides a calming and positive-outcome focused veteran presence to the dressing room but is also very honest about areas where he feels the team needs to improve. While plus-minus is a much-maligned stat, it is worth noting that Streit was plus-nine at the Christmas break and has since gone minus-18.
Within the Flyers organization itself, there is a strong belief that Nick Schultz has been the team's best and most consistent defenseman -- positionally reliable, with good mobility, defensive awareness and underrated first-pass ability -- over the course of the season. He have averaged 19:04 of ice time per game, often against the
toughest competition. Schultz leads the Flyers in blocked shots (133 in 67 games) and ranks 18th in the NHL in that category. He tops the blueline in plus-minus rating at plus-five.
Among the fanbase, there is strong sentiment that Michael Del Zotto has emerged as the team's biggest threat on the blueline after being picked up as an unrestricted free agent off the NHL scrap heap in August. Del Zotto has posted 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in just 54 games while ranking second on the team with an average 21:22 of ice time and is second in blocked shot. He has also been much more physical (125 credited) hits than many expected.
Del Zotto, who is currently out with an upper-body injury, spent a nine-game stint as a healthy scratch earlier in the season after Craig Berube felt the player was starting to go off-system in terms of his level of risk taking. On the flip side, after a rough preseason and opening week of the season, Del Zotto had a very strong stretch of play late from late October to mid-November as well as much of the second half of the season. In the second half of the season, he has by far been the blueline's top offensive threat when joining the rush as a trailer and shooting from the circle.
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LEADERSHIP REQUIRES A GROUP EFFORT
Whenever a team fails to reach its season goals or is otherwise perceived as an underachieving squad, there is a natural tendency for fans and media members to affix the lion's share of the blame to two or more the following: the head coach and/or at least one of his assistants, the general manager, the starting goaltender, the "defense" (specific to the starters on the blueline and not on the bigger picture of team defense), the captain and/or the overall leadership within the dressing room.
In Philadelphia, the greatest heat typically falls on the coach, the goalie, the blueline and captain. The strong overall play of Steve Mason ever since his arrival from Columbus at the 2013 trade deadline has slowly but steadily muted local criticism of the team's starting goaltending (although Mason still has some national critics). The other areas still take a beating on a regular basis.
My own view on "the leadership question" is that it takes a group of leaders with different personalities but a common thread of accountability and competitiveness to make for a good hockey dressing room.
For example, it can be helpful to have a player or two who, while caring deeply about winning, can keep the others on the team loose and relaxed and who also do not it too personally when a coach or general manager gets on his case. This is an area where the Flyers may have missed Scott Hartnell this season because he kept things loose, upbeat and positive while not being too sensitive to criticism. Back during the Ken Hitchcock era, the push-pull relationship between Jeremy Roenick and the head coach as well as Roenick and the media helped deflect focus off those who did not relish such attention.
From a media standpoint, sometimes too much gets made of which players provide good quotes versus reciting safe cliches by rote. A player need not be colorful or expansive in front of the cameras and microphones to be considered a good leader within the room.
Instead, he has to lead by example. Teammates, coaches and scouts look at his preparation to play, his willingness to sacrifice personal goals for team objectives, his on-ice performance (which may or may not be primarily reflected in his point totals in recent games or weeks), his willingness to go the extra mile to help a teammate whether it is on the ice, in meetings or away from the rink and his willingness to be personally accountable within the room when things aren't going well and to hold others to the same standard.
These are the reasons, for example, why Eric Desjardins was always considered a consummate leader during his Flyers career. He was never a colorful talker or flashy in any way but he hit all of the salient points that meet teams' internal definition of leadership. It didn't matter whether the letter on his sweater was a captain's "C", an alternate's "A" or even no letter. He was still regarded by teammates as a good leader.
Friction and pressure are very much part of hockey life. No one gets along all the time. Every hockey team that has ever existed has had internal squabbles, personality clashes, griping about the coach by certain players, internal talk about which media members can and cannot be "trusted", and the assorted brushfires that arise when things aren't going well on the ice. Sometimes things get said that are not very gentle -- and perhaps not even fair -- but a good leadership group is able to circle the wagons in bad times.
Very little of the real-life dynamic ever plays out in the public eye or within earshot of those who cover the team. It's when the internal grumbling leaks out or when the leadership group is unable to get buy-in for team goals that there is real reason for concern.
From my experiences in dealing with active players and talking to former players, most of them approach things from a perspective of looking ahead at ways to build on strengths and improve rather than negatively focusing back on something that is over and done. Coaches tend to be very process-focused, whereas players are opportunity-minded.
My own view of the Flyers current leadership group is that this has been a transitional season. There is a new GM at the helm, who is trying to slowly but steadily remake the veteran mix on the team while also developing prospects to eventually take over NHL roster spots. I think all three of team captain Claude Giroux and alternates Wayne Simmonds and Mark Streit are good leaders by example with a strong internal competitive drive.
Perhaps they could use a little additional help from those who do not wear letters. The real issue with the current team, however, does not seem to be one of leadership. Rather, it's that the overall mix needs fixing and there are upgrades needed on the upper half of the blueline and within the top-nine forward group.
With so much parity in the NHL, it is not inconceivable for a team similar to the Flyers to get into the playoffs in a given season (such as 2013-14) if it gets hot at the right times and shows resiliency in tough times. I do not think the Flyers of the last two seasons have lacked resiliency or character.
Last season, the Flyers overcame a hideous start to make the playoffs and push a very good Rangers team to seven games. They got through an early-season coaching change. They set a new franchise record for third-period comeback wins (a very difficult feat to duplicate). They excelled in a stretch-drive run that featured one of the most difficult schedules in the entire NHL.
Even this season, the Flyers have not been lacking in bounceback ability. They pulled together enough to be 15 seconds away from closing to within two points of Boston in the playoff race last Saturday after being considered dead and buried by early January. They've pieced things together through Steve Mason's injuries. They never had a single game with Kimmo Timonen in the lineup before he was ultimately traded to Chicago to take one final run at a Stanley Cup.
The resiliency level of a team is a very clear indicator of whether there is a good central leadership core. However, consistency is also paramount and the current Flyers have been a dreadfully inconsistent club. That suggests more roster building is in order. Decisions will have to be made who requires more patience, who needs more pushing from the coaches and team leaders and who can be moved out and brought in to improve the overall mix.
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FLYERS ALUMNI UPDATES
Since the Flyers Alumni Association was created in 1984, the combined efforts of retired former Flyers players have
helped raise approximately $3.5 million for various Delaware Valley-based charities and community organizations.
In the most recent benefit event, held March 7 at the Joe Rust Ice Arena on the University of Delaware campus, the Flyers Alumni
raised $125,000 for Junior Achievement of Delaware.
With some of the recent changes in the Flyers Alumni Association -- geared toward bringing some of the younger Alumni who played on the team in the 1990s and 2000s into leadership positions alongside the founding members from the 1970s and 1980s eras -- there is a lot of promise for keeping the organization healthy and continuing to do a lot of good work in the community for many years to come.
On April 4, the Alumni will have a benefit at The Rink at Lehigh Valley in Whitehall, PA for the benefit of You Too Animal Rescue. On April 12, the Alumni will be at the Northeast Philadelphia Skate Zone for a benefit event on behalf of NHS Human Services. In upcoming weeks, I will have stories on these events and how the Alumni became involved in the specific causes they benefit.
Additionally, throughout the rest of the year, the
FlyersAlumni.org website will continue to feature fresh daily "Today in Flyers History" content, along with commemorations of birthdays of Flyers players from the entire history of the franchise, in memoriam features on dates that coincide with the death dates of deceased Alumni and a variety of regular news and feature articles. The next segment of the monthly Then and Now feature will trace the Flyers career of 1990s era fan favorite left winger Shjon Podein and catch up with what he's doing now.
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