The Philadelphia Flyers have been on fire for the past two weeks, picking up nine straight wins and putting themselves solidly in the playoff race. How they’ve managed to do that is just as impressive.
When the Philadelphia Flyers entered their November 27 game against the Calgary Flames, they were the very definition of a middling team. A 9-10-3 record was good for only 21 points and the optimism that many fans had before the season had started to decline. The 3-2 loss to the Rangers on Black Friday was the most recent punch to the gut; with the Flyers once again outplaying their opponent, but failing to get a result.
Just a few weeks later, the Flyers are rolling.
A 1-0 overtime win over the Red Wings on Sunday gave the Flyers their ninth straight victory, something that they hadn’t done since April of 1995. That streak came in the middle of a lockout shortened season from a Flyers team captained by a 21 year-old Eric Lindros who put up 70 points in just 46 games. And while no one on the Flyers is scoring at a pace quite like that, this season’s streak has been every bit as impressive for a number of reasons.
The Schedule Has Been Brutal
For a streak that the Flyers haven’t seen in more than two decades, it really doesn’t feel like it’s been going on all that long. The first game of the Flyer run came on November 27, just a bit more than two weeks ago. In that 15 day period, the Flyers haven’t had more than a single day off. Nine games in 15 days is just a ridiculous amount of hockey.
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They’ve also had to deal with two back-to-backs in that stretch. In fact, the Flyers have already played eight back-to backs on the season, one of the more unforgiving starts to the schedule around the league. In those eight games on the second half of back-to-back, the Flyers are an impressive 6-1-1, including wins over the Predators and the Red Wings on back to back Sundays to keep their streak going.
Playing that many games in such a short time frame is hard on the body and there are times when it absolutely shows for the Flyers. They’ve already played half of their games for the month of December and it’s only the 12th. They have had long stretches, even entire games when it’s clear how tired they are. They were dominated by the Florida Panthers at one point and looked sluggish at best in both games over the weekend. And yet, they walked away with two points in all of them. It’s never easy winning in the NHL and the schedule certainly hasn’t done them any favors, but the Flyers have answered every question along the way.
They’re Banged Up
Maybe the most surprising part of this winning streak is that the Flyers are doing it without a lot of their important players. Sean Couturier has been out for the duration of it with a knee injury and probably won’t be back any time soon. Matt Read has missed the last four games with an oblique injury an no one seems to know when he’ll be returning. Michael Neuvirth has been out for a long time himself and Shayne Gostisbehere missed the last game with a bone bruise on his right hand.
All of these injuries have forced Dave Hakstol to make some tough calls with his lineup. Pierre-Edouard Bellmare has made the jump the fourth line into Couturier’s role as a shut down center with varying degrees of success. Ivan Provorov has shed some of the rookie rust and is now leading the Flyers in average ice time on a nightly basis as their #1 defenseman. Steve Mason made seven starts in a row at one point and Anthony Stolarz has jumped into the backup goalie slot and grabbed two wins in his first two starts.
It’s hard for a team to overcome one injury to an important player, much less three or four. Just last year, the Flyers had Couturier get injured in Game 1 of their playoff series and struggled to recover after that. It’s a different story so far this year.
They’re Winning in Different Ways Every Night
Raise your hand if you predicted that Anthony Stolarz would be the goalie of record for the Flyers first shutout of the season. Or that the Flyers would find a way to win a nine round shootout when they only scored two goals. Or that they would win two games in a row without scoring a goal at 5-on-5.
This streak has been a strange one, but then, most streaks are. It’s hard to win in the NHL, and the Flyers haven’t done anything like this in more than 20 years, despite having some really good teams during that time. There is a sense of randomness to it, and right now, the Flyers are absolutely the beneficiaries of some good fortune.
But they’re also finding ways to win, new ways pretty much every night. One night, Ivan Provorov is scoring two goals in 31 seconds. The next night, Claude Giroux is going horizontal to score a goal. The next, Brayden Schenn is scoring three goals on the powerplay despite not having the puck on his stick for more than a second or two combined.
There have been three overtime wins, a shootout win, and a win against the Oilers that featured two separate 2-goal comebacks. Wayne Simmonds had consecutive two goal games and Jack Voracek has consecutive four point games. Almost everyone has made a play or two that has contributed in a big way to a win. Typically, that’s how a winning streak happens.
Next: Brayden Schenn has Bounced Back Recently, but has Struggled most of the Season
Philadelphia Flyers Have Needed Every One
The Philadelphia Flyers had 21 points when this streak started 15 days ago. They have 39 now. That’s as impressive a jump as you could hope for and it gives them a nice cushion in the early playoff hunt; nine points clear of where the line would be today. But the Metropolitan is a brutal division.
The Flyers sit in 3rd right now with 39 points but they’re only two points ahead of the fifth place team that would be in the current #2 wild card spot. The Flyers are tied for the fourth most points in the league, and could be looking up at four other teams by the time they play again.
These points have been absolutely crucial for a team looking to make the playoffs. The nine point cushion over teams chasing the wild card is nice, staying in contention for a top 3 spot in the division and an automatic playoff bid is even nicer.
Sadly, this streak is going to end at some point. The Flyers aren’t going to run the table the rest of the way and they’ll probably have a few hiccups as the season goes on. But this has been a fantastic two weeks of hockey that we’ve been able to watch and with a game on Wednesday against a bad Avalanche team, the hope is that it can continue just a bit longer. Enjoy the ride for as long as it goes because as we’ve seen, another streak like this may not come around for a long time.