first off...
Chris Pronger's 4 assists vs MTL makes him the oldest Flyer (36) to do that. Mark Recchi (35) held the previous mark.
**
I had the pleasure of covering the 1979-80 Flyers - split the beat - for the Philadelphia Journal.
One of the best teams in any sport, any year, I have covered. Pat Quinn was a pure delight. And the goalie rotation of Phil Myre and Pete Peeters led to many a disagreement between Quinn and myself and the other beats.
Quinn would scream and holler and curse you out during the morning skate, then take you out for beers and a cigar after the game.
I bring '79-80 up because this current club under Pete Laviolette, besides the splitting of the goaltending, shares something else in common with that group of Flyers.
Quinn's team finished with 116 points. Lavy's club is on pace to match that. Only one team finished with more points in Flyers' history: Fred Shero's '75-76 group which amassed 118.
A couple players mentioned to me this week how surprised they were that this team has won games this year playing poorly; won games when the power play should be lethal but isn't; and still doesn't have a shutout.
And yet, the Flyers are No.1 in the NHL.
I think it speaks to depth. Chicago was one of the very few clubs that took out Danny Briere's line the other day, held them to nothing, but ... the Hawks didn't have an answer for anything else.
"We too deep," Ville Leino told me. "You stop our line, we have two more that have great scorers. No one can match us."
He's right.
Sergei Bobrovsky? A month ago, Jeff Reese admitted he was facing his first, true adversity and how he handled it would say a lot about his future the rest of this season.
Since then, BOB has won 6 in a row with a GAA around 1.80 and save percentage around .940.
Wow.
“And he is learning all this on the fly," Laviolette told me before last night's game.
"We should expect some ups and downs … You constantly learn. He is no different and his circumstances may be even more difficult. He’s handled it incredibly. He practices hard, plays hard. He is well-liked and well-respected by his teammates. To this point, he has had a strong year."
One thing I will look at tomorrow on CSNPhilly.com is what happens next. Both Chris Pronger and Sean O'Donnell emphasized that the power play needs to become a weapon again. Until the MTL game, the Flyers were getting chances and doing nothing with them.
The PP was basically a non-factor leaving just the PK as the only special teams fallback position.
“Obviously, your penalty kill is [more important]," Pronger told me. "You can win games without scoring on your power play. You can’t win giving up goals on your penalty kill. So, having said that, they both are extremely important.
“The penalty kill, in my opinion, is a little more important but you gain valuable momentum and a game changer in the power play.
"If you can 25 to 30 percent on your power play, teams are a little hesitant to take penalties and you can bury teams with your power play. That is something we haven’t been able to use much."
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»