FLYERS-SABRES WRAPUP: INARTISTIC BUT TWO POINTS
The Philadelphia Flyers' 2-1 road win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night may not have aesthetically pleasing but all that mattered at the end of the night was that the Flyers added two points to their season totals. Philadelphia concluded its four-game road trip with a 2-0-2 record to run its current point streak to nine games (6-0-3) dating back to the fight-filled home win over Pittsburgh in the last game before the All-Star break.
When a team is playing catch-up in the playoff race, it is sometimes easier to focus on the wins that got away. The home shootout loss to the Islanders on Feb. 5 and Friday night's overtime loss in Columbus are especially galling. Add in the 2-1 overtime loss in Montreal in which the Flyers were not able to nail down a win when leading 1-0 in the third period, and the Flyers could be two points behind the Boston Bruins in the playoff race instead of five. Boston holds one game in hand on the the Flyers.
Nevertheless, exiting the All-Star break, if someone said the Flyers would take seven of eight possible points on their remaining homestand and then take six of eight possible points out of their subsequent four-game road trip, most in Philly would gladly have taken it.
Taking a wider-range view of the Flyers, the team has fared OK since its 2-8-3 pratfall following a five-night schedule break in November that dropped the team's season record to 9-13-5 through 27 games. In the 29 games that have been played since then, the Flyers are 15-9-5.
A lot of Flyers recent wins have been uneven efforts. However, scoring first and getting good goaltending can go a long way. Those have been two common characteristics of the Flyers' run of late.
Sunday's win over the Sabres was inartistic and forgettable. The Flyers played a good first period, dominating puck possession and outshooting Buffalo, 15-5. However, Philly mustered only an early deflection goal by Matt Read and was unable to build on the lead. Buffalo hung around too long in the game and the second period was plug ugly for Philadelphia.
The weakest team in the NHL took it to Philly in the middle stanza, and tied the game after converting a two-minute-long 5-3 power play on a blast by Nikita Zadorov. Claude Giroux took a pair of penalties in the second period. The Flyers got outshot, 11-9, and they were fortunate that Ray Emery (21 saves on 22 shots) was once again sharp in goal.
The third period wasn't exactly a thrill-a-minute conclusion to the game but the Flyers got their desired result. Michael Raffl scored a wraparound goal past a startled Michal Neuvirth (28 saves on 30 shots) with 7:15 left in the game. That was enough to win. Shots in the final period were 6-6.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play in the game. Buffalo went 1-for-3.
Neither Giroux nor Jakub Voracek showed significant signs of breaking loose from their post-All-Star break slumps; however, the Flyers supporting cast continued its recent run of stepping up to get the job done. Meanwhile, Braydon Coburn (in his return to the lineup after a month-long absence due to left foot injury) skated just 11:27 of ice time in the game and just one shift in the third period.
The Flyers now return home for the next four games, where they are 15-7-4 so far this season. The club will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, Sabres on Thursday (Eric Desjardins induction night into the Flyers' Hall of Fame), Peter Laviolette and the President's Trophy race leading Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon and the Washington Capitals in a nationally televised Sunday afternoon game.
The Flyers will take a complete off-day on Monday. No one, including rehabbing Kimmo Timonen, will be on the ice. As of late last week, Timonen was tentatively slated to skate with the entire team at Tuesday's morning skate before the Columbus game. The next step after that would be to work his way into full practices with his teammates.
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MONDAY QUICK HITS
* Flyers 2013 first-round pick Samuel Morin was suspended two games by the QMJHL for the checking-from-behind incident in the third period of Rimouski's 7-3 win over St. John on Saturday. He served the first game yesterday, as Rimouski downed Rouyn-Noranda, 4-2.
* Flyers 2014 second-round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel remained red hot offensively, contributing two assists to Val-d'Or's 8-7 shootout win over Sherbrooke on Sunday. However, he was unable to convert his shootout attempt. Aube-Kubel has raised his season point total to 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists) in 48 games. In his last 16 games, he has racked up 13 goals, 14 assists and 27 points.
* Congratulations to the Flyers Youth Squirts out of Voorhees, NJ, for winning the NJYHL State Championship on Sunday. Coach Dennis Helkowski's squad went undefeated (17-0) in the regular season and defeated the NJ Stars, 5-1, in the Championship Final.
* A pair of notable former Flyers celebrated birthdays yesterday: Brian Propp (born in 1959) and the still-active Jaromir Jagr (1972). The Flyers Alumni site has an in-depth career retrospective on Propp. Jagr, who spent the 2011-12 season with the Flyers after a three-year absence from the NHL, has called that season the most enjoyable of his legendary career.
* Yesterday also marked the eight-year anniversary of the Flyers' landmark trade with the Nashville Predators that sent Peter Forsberg to the Preds as a rental. With veteran superstar center Forsberg increasingly debilitated by a congenital foot problem (which eventually ends his career) and unable to commit to a contract extension, the Flyers trade him to the Nashville Predators. In return, the Flyers receive speedy and aggressive young winger Scottie Upshall (a former Predators first-round pick), defense prospect Ryan Parent (also a first-round pick) plus the Predators' 2007 first-round pick. The final element proves to be the most important for the Flyers in the long haul.
After the season ends and the Predators are eliminated in the playoffs, the Flyers soon flip the Predators' first-round pick back to Nashville in exchange for the rights to impending free agent defenseman Kimmo Timonen and left winger Scott Hartnell. Immediately upon announcing the trade, the Flyers also announce the signings of Timonen and Hartnell to six-year contracts. The Predators select defenseman Jonathan Blum with the reacquired first-rounder. The Flyers also acquire a 2007 third round pick from Nashville in the original Forsberg trade. That pick is subsequently traded to the Washington Capitals as the Flyers move up in the draft to acquire a second-round pick. With that pick, the Flyers take defenseman Kevin Marshall. The Nashville pick that the Flyers transferred to the Capitals is used on Phil Desimone.
* Today marks the 16th anniversary of the first NHL goal scored by the late Dmitry Tertyshny. Flyers Alumni celebrating Feb. 16 birthdays include Blair Betts (1980), Colin Forbes (1976), Marty Murray (1975) and early 1970s Flyers right winger George Swarbrick (1942). For more, click here.
* The next installment of the Flyers Alumni site's monthly Then and Now feature will profile fiery goaltender Robert Esche, who is now the president of the AHL's Utica Comets.