In this week’s column of two Ups and two Downs, we look at two players, a prospect and the team’s playoff chances from last Thursday’s game against the Capitals to last night’s loss to the Canadiens.
Up
James van Riemsdyk
How nice was it watching a Flyer burn his former team rather than the other way around? Of course, last Friday night’s game against the Maple Leafs ended in a very Flyers-esque way, but none of that was due to James van Riemsdyk.
The American forward scored three goals, one tying the game, one giving the Flyers a lead and the other bringing the team within one goal. That gave him 24 goals for the season, but he wasn’t done there for the week.
JvR scored the game-tying goal against the Penguins with 19 seconds left that ultimately let the Flyers win the game. It gave the 29-year-old his 25th of the season.
van Riemsdyk has quietly had a strong year for the orange and black. If he didn’t miss time with an injury early in the season he’d be at the 30-goal mark by this point, but it’s nice to see him finish out the year strong.
Shayne Gostisbehere
Gostisbehere has slowly been working his way back from a disappointing first half of the season, but I thought most of those improvements came from the defensive end. That’s not a bad thing, but for the Florida native, you want him to be an offensive dynamo.
I think he started to show that more this week. Gostisbehere didn’t light up the stat sheet but did post three assists (two primary, one on the game-winner over the Pens) and hit the post against the Canadiens on a point shot.
On the ice, the 25-year-old is playing with much more confidence. Gostisbehere’s making moves at the blueline more frequently and lugging the puck up-ice even more.
After his sophomore season, Gostisbehere admitted that confidence issues were plaguing his game. Hopefully, that’s not an issue this year.
Down
Playoff Chances
This one’s pretty obvious. The Flyers’ playoff hopes took a huge hit this week as the team lost three of four games. But it’s what happened in those games that hurts even more.
Against the Capitals, the Flyers were just clearly outmatched. That’s not good for a team with playoff hopes even if it was missing one of its top players in Jake Voracek.
Then on Friday, Philly had a three-goal lead that was easily erased by the Maple Leafs. That might go down as one of the worst losses of the season.
And then Tuesday, it was too little, too late and a lack of energy that cost the Flyers the game — and probably — the season against the Canadiens.
Even in the team’s lone win in the past week, the Flyers never led the Penguins and were 19 seconds away from being handed another loss. Philly did not look like a playoff team this week and the results are ultimately what the team deserved.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Justin Bailey has spent a lot of time on the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Allentown and Philadelphia, but I bet there are plenty of Phantoms that wouldn’t mind switching spots. One of them has to be Nicolas Aube-Kubel.
Aube-Kubel was a candidate to make the Flyers’ roster in training camp in September but fell short. Still, he was able to get into nine NHL games in late October and early November.
But since Bailey was acquired from the Sabres in the middle of January, the Buffalo native has been the popular recall and 13th forward option. That spot likely would have been Aube-Kubel’s had Bailey never been acquired.
Maybe it’s just trying to learn who the new guy is or thinking Bailey can better replace Wayne Simmonds’ now-missing grit, but the Flyers were in a playoff race and every game has mattered. General manager Chuck Fletcher has clearly favored Bailey, the player he acquired.
I don’t believe that means Aube-Kubel is in bad standing with the team; just has been passed on the depth chart. That likely means making the team next year will be even tougher for the 2014 second-round pick.