The Philadelphia Flyers ended their losing streak at four games in their Ed Snider legacy match with the Calgary Flames with a 3-2 victory. Despite running into a red-hot Flames goaltender, Jacob Markstrom, who stopped 39 of the 42 shots he faced, the Flyers pulled out a win. Moving to 20-13-6 on the season, what were some takeaways from the contest for Philadelphia?
Flyers Finally Generating Offense
Almost as if the hockey gods answered the Flyers’ prayers, the team had arguably its best offensive game since the league’s holiday break began back in December. Getting some chances was the one thing the Orange and Black have not been doing since around the start of that month, and it has hurt their record recently as a result. While them getting that spark back in this contest does not mean it’ll be back for good, it’s an inspiring sign. The scoreboard might not entirely suggest it, but they played a fantastic game offensively. Most nights, what they showed against the Flames will grant them victories.
It’s impossible to understate just how poor the Flyers’ offense has been since about the start of December. It’s been a downward spiral for their generation at 5-on-5, which was one of their strengths in October and November. The regression in that area had been largely responsible for their four-game losing streak entering their contest with Calgary.
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If the Flyers can have some of the offensive prowess that they showed in this game moving forward, perhaps it is too early to count them out of a potential playoff spot. Contending for one seemed incredibly unlikely with how they played during their recent stretch, but the wins should come at a decent enough rate to get them there as long as they have this sort of effort for the rest of the season. Finally, they are getting some looks.
Depth Lines Contributed
Though the Flyers scored four goals in their last two contests prior to this one, not as much as a single point came from either their second, third, or fourth forward lines. Instead, it was the first line that did all the magic during that span — it was clearly unsustainable. In this one, they got a pivotal goal from their depth and numerous scoring opportunities.
After being a healthy scratch in the Flyers’ last game, Morgan Frost came into this one with something to prove. It might have been off a fortunate bounce, but he got on the board, tying the contest at one. As long as the depth can be relied upon for a couple or more goals a game, that’s really all Philadelphia needs.
Frost being scratched wasn’t entirely unjustified. It wasn’t just him, either. Cam Atkinson was in the same predicament, and neither of them was particularly great coming off four consecutive games on the road after the league’s holiday break ended. Even that can’t be limited to just them, as the whole forward core had their struggles. As a whole, the team seemed more active in the offensive zone and was out for blood.
Their relentlessness was a throwback to when the depth was scoring consistently a bit earlier in the season. They only got one goal, but their effort might as well have made that two or three.
Flyers Showing Some Bite
Against the out-of-conference Flames of all teams, the Flyers had their feistiest match of the season. There were physical fights, verbal altercations, shoving contests after whistles, and some big hits — it was nasty. Even though Philadelphia has physical “glue guys” such as Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway, these games haven’t been common for the Flyers. In this one, it might have been their inspiration for victory.
The level of physicality in this one was almost to the Flyers’ detriment. Already down 2-1 to the Flames, defenseman Cam York took a big hit along the boards that sent him to the locker room for a bit. In his defense, Joel Farabee came to the rescue. The only issue with this is that he was assigned not just a five-minute major penalty for fighting and a two-minute minor penalty for roughing, but a ten-minute misconduct. This could have gone extremely poor for the Flyers considering he had four points in his last two games entering this match, but they got away with it anyway. Their chippy style made for an exciting victory.
Power Play Came to Play
The Flyers’ league-worst power play has only gotten worse as time has gone on. When they needed it most, it finally had a great game. Not only did it get on the board, but it had one of its best all-around contests of the season.
One of the main issues with the Flyers’ power play is that they weren’t able to generate much of anything. They were all over an elite Calgary penalty kill in this game, elevating their shot selection, passing, and net-front play. Everything clicked in this game, and it was essential for the Orange and Black.
It shouldn’t be expected that the power play can replicate what they did in this game moving forward, but it would be a huge boost for them if they could. Many of the team’s goal-scoring struggles have come because of their ineffective man advantage, so turning that into one that can score here and there would be massive.
Next up, the Flyers will stay on home ice to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 8. Philadelphia has already taken the first two matches of the season against Pittsburgh, so they’ll be looking to win the season series before they play in their final contest.