Philadelphia Flyers: Depth has team looking like a true contender

The Flyers top stars may not have scored, but the depth has them looking ready to make some postseason noise.

With the matchups set for the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers find themselves looking down at the rest of the Eastern Conference. They locked up the top seed with their victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The team dominated the round robin, sweeping the field and out scoring teams 11-3 overall. They did that with a power play that couldn’t hit and stars that weren’t scoring. It was the depth that truly shined during the three games.

Players like Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes were held off the goal sheet. The latter two still performed well as part of a dynamic second line. Couturier was his normal dominant self on the defensive end. And Giroux has some opportunities as well.

But none of them saw their names pop up on the goal sheet. That would normally be a cause for concern. But the Flyers are rolling all four lines with ease right now. And they are still getting the scoring, just from other places.

Now with the first round on the horizon, the top end talent will likely need to find the scoresheet. A seven game series is a lot different than three round robin games. Especially against a team that shocked everyone by taking down the Pittsburgh Penguins during the play-in series.

The Flyers are the favorites in this series by a large margin. But they still can’t take Montreal lightly. They will need a collective effort from all players. Not that it’s been a problem for them to find contributions.

The team leader in goals has been the red-hot Scott Laughton. He is no longer thought of as a depth piece. He is now an important part of this lineup. And he’s proven time and time again that he is ready to step up to the challenge. Laughton has followed up a career season with a scorching start to the postseason.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel, with his two goal effort against Tampa, finds himself second on the list. He has improved greatly as the season has gone on. And he appeared to be getting better as each round robin game past. Once a forgotten piece of the puzzle, Aube-Kubel is making sure everyone knows his name.

The rest of the list has Michael Raffl, Nate Thompson, Travis Sanheim, Philippe Myers and Tyler Pitlick all with one goal thus far.

The Flyers have gotten other contributions as well. Only five players come in with no points as of right now. Some of the names on the list aren’t a surprise, while there is one big name left. Giroux does not have a single point after the three seeding games.

That doesn’t mean there is a cause for concern necessarily. Giroux has gotten his chances and is still driving play incredibly well. It just so happens that nothing has gone in the net for him. However, he has slowed down in past postseasons so it could be something to keep an eye on.

But if the depth players continue to score, it may not turn out to be too big of an issue. It would be nice to see players like Giroux get on the scoresheet, though. It would make this team even more dangerous than they already are.