MELTZER'S MUSINGS: NOVEMBER 29, 2015

1) It is funny sometimes how quickly a team's outlook can change in hockey. While no one on the Flyers would deem the now-completed November portion of the schedule to be a success, the team closed out the month with a 4-2-2 record over their final eight games to end the month with a 5-6-3 record after starting out 1-4-1.

On paper, the three-in-four Thanksgiving weekend gauntlet of playing the New York Islanders (away), Nashville Predators (home) and New York Rangers (away) had the potential to bury the Flyers in the standings even before the calendar flipped to December. However, the Flyers still seem to play their best games against top opponents.

As it is, Philly is still four points and a tiebreaker disadvantage behind the Detroit Red Wings (with the Wings holding one game in hand) for the lower wildcard spot and five points and a tiebreaker disadvantage behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (who also hold one game in hand) for the third-place berth in the Metropolitan Division.

2) The last two games against Nashville and the Rangers were a comforting reminder that goaltending is not among the ongoing concerns of this Flyers' team. Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason were both outstanding in their respective starts over the holiday weekend. While it's true that the majority of NHL teams nowadays feature solid starting goaltending -- and many even have starter-caliber backups -- it is good to know that the Flyers are keeping pace at least in that regard.

Throw away Steve Mason's disastrous second start of the season in Florida and he has a .919 save percentage for the season with a 2.51 goals against average even if games such as the ones against Washington and Ottawa where he wa repeatedly hung out to dry figure into his totals. Meanwhile, Neuvirth has been stellar all season to date: 2.05 GAA, .939 save percentage, three shutouts in 10 starts plus a relief appearance in the second game of the season.

For the month of November, Mason finished with a 2.30 GAA, one shutout (plus a regulation shutout in an OT loss to San Jose) and .920 save percentage in eight starts: a severe lack of goal support and repeated major defensive breakdowns in the Washington and Ottawa games were the reasons who he had a 2-4-2 record to show for it. Neuvirth went 3-2-1 in six November starts, posting one shutout, a 2.14 goals against average and the same overall .939 save percentage he had in five October performances.

3) Wayne Simmonds has always been a player who, despite unquestionable work ethic on a game-in and game-out basis, tends to be streaky offensively. He'll score in bunches for stretches of multiple games and then go through droughts on either end of the hot streaks. Simmonds had been knocking on the door of a breakthrough for several games before finally generating his two goal (breakaway and empty net) and one assist game in New York yesterday.

Actually, the whole Flyers second line has been playing well of late in terms of keeping other teams hemmed in their own end of the ice, but they came away night after night with offensive goose eggs to show for it. Very quietly, Matt Read has strung together his best week of all-around hockey all season -- and possibly his best week of hockey since the 2013-14 campaign. That needs to continue in the games to game.

Meanwhile, Sean Couturier finally scored his second goal of the season in Friday's game because he got himself to the net for a rebound. For all the excellent things he does defensively and puck possession wise, Couturier is still far too often a perimeter player in the offfensive zone. That is the most valid criticism of his game; he doesn't score much because he doesn't do the things that will enable him to score. A player doesn't need to have great speed (which he lacks) or even great hands to find some success around the net. It takes hockey sense, an attacking mentality and a whole lot of determination. The type of goal he scored in Saturday's game is exactly what the Flyers need him to do more.

4) One thing the Flyers have been doing much better of late is sticking up for one another. It all started with Sam Gagner fighting the much larger Alex Chiasson in Ottawa to answer for a hit from behind that knocked Scott Laughton out of the game. Ever since then, the Flyers have been coming to teammates' defense on virtually a nightly basis.

What hockey fighting critics do not understand is that these are the sorts of moments that build cohesion and unity on a team, and it doesn't even matter who wins or loses the fight or even the game in question. Defending a teammate is something that a club can rally around -- and tends to be remembered long after a staged fight is forgotten. It's not really about how often a team fights, it's about when and why.

In Saturday's game, Luke Schenn absolutely did the right thing by jumping to Nick Schultz's defense after he got steamrolled by Dylan McIlrath; a play that knocked Schultz out of the game with an upper-body injury. Unfortunately, it left the Flyers in a quandry: It put them down to four defenseman for 17 minutes. Radko Gudas did the wrong thing with a needless unsportsmanlike conduct -- and then risking additional penalties, which went uncalled -- late in the first period.

However, the Flyers surviving the two penalty kills, getting back to four and then five defensemen was absolutely a turning point and a big emotional rallying spot for Philadelphia. Other players had to step up, and they did.

5) Evgeny Medvedev (25:52 of ice time) and Michael Del Zotto (who logged 29:20 of ice time) were nothing short of stellar in their peformances in Saturday's game. While the Flyers' blueline is frequently maligned, and the criticism is often legitimate, credit should also be given when it is due. The Flyers could not have asked for blueliners to elevate their games and make much more of a positive impact than two did at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

6) On Saturday evening, after the Flyers-Rangers matinee, I headed to Allentown along with longtime friend and colleague Anthony Mingioni to cover the Phantoms game against the Providence Bruins. Unfortunately, it was a dog of a game and not just because the Phantoms lost by a 3-0 score and got outshot by a 32-18 margin. Neither team had much energy or gusto to their games, especially not the Phantoms.

In fairness, both teams were at the end of brutally tough segments of their schedules. In Lehigh Valley's case, the Phantoms had just gone through OT and a shootout in their 6-5 win over Hershey on Friday. It was also the injury-depleted and callup-depleted Phantoms' third game in four night and fifth in eight nights. That said, even a fatigued club needs to grit out a better performance than the one the Phantoms did on Saturday. There was no period or even a significant segment within a period in which Lehigh Valley was the better team. It also wasn't like the struggling Bruins were doing all that much to dominate the game on merit.

7) One of the few Phantoms' players to put forth a solid performance in Saturday's game was left winger Taylor Leier. Time after time, he showed the hockey sense, speed and tenacity (for example, despite being a bit undersized he often plays as a net-front presence for coach Scott Gordon's team) that recently earned the second-year pro his first NHL callup.

Among Leier's top shifts from Saturday's game: During an early first-period power play, he was robbed by Malcolm Subban (one of the few tough stops Subban had to make in his 18-save shutout) as he stepped out in front of the net and got off a good chance. During the Phantoms' first penalty kill, Leier intercepted a puck and cleared it to safety. Later in the game, Leier sacrificed himself to block a shot (hobbling off after painfully taking the puck off his left foot and then shaking off the effects back at the bench). In one shift, cut made a strong cut in from the right circle and narrowly missed the long side. In another, Leier fought off two checkers and snapped shot from up high on net. It was not a tough save for Subban but the Phantoms got and offensive zone draw out of it.

When the Flyers returned Leier to the AHL on Thanksgiving Day, the message he received from the organization was simply to not change a thing he was already doing. Dave Hakstol said on Friday that the player's reassignment to the Phantoms after a six-game NHL stint had nothing to do with Leier's play in limited ice time.

On Saturday, Gordon said that he was glad to have Leier back, because he's a player the team relies heavily on whatever the manpower or the score of the game.

"He's one of our smartest players, very consistent," Gordon said. "He always seems to make the right play. That's bottom line. We can use him in every situation; penalty kill, power play, whatever."

For his part, Leier said he had a great experience during his first NHL callup, and also absorbed a lot of information on the ice and in practices that he feels will benefit his game both immediately and in the future.

"I feel an extra boost from when I left; a little more confident," Leier said. "Now that I've played at the next level and experienced it up there, I think I've figured out what it takes to get there, how good the guys are up there, and what I need to do to get back up there again."

Rather than going through a post-reassignment letdown, which is common for young players, Leier responded with a strong game (including a goal and an assist) in Friday's win over Hershey.

8) Samuel Morin was another player who had a commendable overall game against Providence. It wasn't error-free but the good outweighed the bad.

In one sequence, the rookie defenseman made a good defensive play down low in the defensive zone, angling his check of behind the net and then cleanly deposited him on the seat of his pants behind the net. In another, Morin saved the team a potential slam-dunk goal by tying up the attacker's stick on a cross-ice feed with Phantoms' goalie Martin Ouellette committed to the other side. Perhaps Morin's best play of the night came when he won a puck battle on wall, recognized he had room to skate the puck to safety himself and then passed it up ice.

Morin took the Phantoms' first penalty of the game on an unnecessary cross-checking minor. On a subsequent Phantoms' penalty kill, Morin got away with a risky pinch into the offensive zone. The 6-foot-7 defenseman's long reach enabled him -- just barely -- to hold in a puck before it got poked past him for what would have been a 2-on-1. On the final Providence goal, with partner Robert Hägg (who did not have a particularly good game) caught up ice, Morin hurriedly tried to clear a loose puck from behind Ouellette (who was several feet out from the crease) but instead put it right off the goalie's leg and right to a Bruins player for a turnover and a virtual empty-netter for Anton Blidh.

After the game, Morin said that the message he constantly gets from Gordon and from Flyers development coach Kjell Samuelsson -- and has tried to put into practice -- is to keep his game as simple as possible and let his size, reach, and straight ahead skating ability work for him.

"I'm a big guy and can skate. I just need to keep it simple, make a good first pass. My defensive game is my priority," Morin said. "If you look at the good big defensemen in the NHL, like Kjell in his good years, he made simple plays. Or even [Shea] Weber. He makes some points because of his shot but he keeps the game really simple. When you're big like this, you need to keep it simple.

"I think I've improved a lot. I skate a lot more with the puck, and I think I've made some good plays. I'm happy with my progress."

9) The Phantoms had to play on Friday and Saturday without the services of goaltenders Anthony Stolarz and Jason LaBarbera, so ECHL recalls Ouellette and Connor Knapp split the two games in goal.

Second-year pro Stolarz, who has been one of the team's brightest lights this season so far, suffered a lower-body injury that forced him out of his last start after the first period. He underwent an MRI, which did not reveal anything of significance. Both he and LaBarbera are now considered day-to-day. Both reportedly skated on their own in the morning skate prior to the game against Providence.

10) On Thursday, I will write my next full Farm Report update on all Flyers' prospects in junior, collegiate and European pro hockey. Four immediate items of note:

* Flyers 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim is now back in the Calgary Hitmen (WHL) lineup after an upper-body injury forced him to miss three regular season games plus the two matches Team WHL played against the Russian Under-20 game as part of the annual CHL-Russia series. Sanheim marked his return to the Hitmen lineup with the game-tying goal in the final minute plust an earlier power play assist in an overtime 4-3 loss to the Regina Pats on Friday. The Hitmen return to action on Wednesay in Lethbridge.

* Flyers 2015 first-round pick Travis Konecny continues to lead the Ontario Hockey League in assists. On Saturday, the Ottawa 67's captain added his 32nd and 33rd assists of the season in a 4-1 home win over the Guelph Storm. Overall, Konecny has 39 points (tied for 9th in the league)
through his first 25 games. After a slow start in the goal-scoring department, he now has six tallies, including one in Friday's 4-1 home win over the Sarnia Sting.

* Flyers 2013 sixth-round pick Merrick Madsen is off to an excellent start to his sophomore season at Harvard University. The 20-year-old goaltender recorded a 31-save shutout on Saturday; his third in five starts this season. Overall, the 6-foot-5 netminder is 5-0-0 with a 0.60 goals against average and .979 save percentage this season after appearing in only one game during his freshman year.

* Flyers 2014 third-round pick Mark Friedman is on a hot streak at Bowling Green. The mobile defenseman has points in five straight games, including goals in back-to-back matches on Friday and Saturday.

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