A Northern Vancouver native, Martin Jones returned home to take on the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday evening. A place he has had plenty of success in, Jones backstopped the Flyers to their second win of the road trip. An integral part of the victory, Jones’ success in his hometown goes far beyond just this one game.
A member of the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, Jones had plenty of opportunity to see the Canucks. A Western Conference opponent, Jones has only come up on the losing end twice in eights games, holding a 6-1-1 record in Vancouver. He has played the team a total of 14 times and won 10 of those matchups.
It is something about his hometown that brings out the best in him. Being a part of the Eastern Conference for the first time, Jones won’t see the Canucks as much as he is used to. In fact, the Flyers have already finished up their season series with Vancouver in their first six games. So the biggest thing will be about transferring that success to other teams in the league.
There was concern when Jones was first brought in as he had some rough seasons in San Jose. He put a lot of that to bed last night. The Canucks took it to the Flyers in the second and parts of the third period, reminiscent to their opening night game. After outshooting Vancouver 15-4 in the first, the Flyers were promptly outshot 16-5 in the following period.
But it was the play of Martin Jones who helped them squeeze out a narrow 2-1 victory. After giving up a goal on the first shot he saw, Jones was lights out for the rest of the game. And he was no slouch when he took on the Boston Bruins either. Despite giving up three goals in that game, he also made 37 saves and was again a big reason Philadelphia was able to use a big third period push to come out with the 6-3 victory.
It’s too early to make any declarations as Jones has only appeared in two games thus far. But there is a notable difference in the Flyers’ crease during the first six games. The goaltending has looked noticeably sharper and has played a large role in where the teams stands at the moment.
Carter Hart has been no slouch either. He’s given up some tough goals, but the biggest difference is that he isn’t deflating in net because of them. That was one of the biggest issues before. Hart was noticeably frustrated and sometimes in his own head, causing his performance to suffer. He was noticeably down in interviews as well and seemed like a goaltender with not much confidence.
In four games, Hart has a modest 2.73 GAA and a solid .915 SV%. Philadelphia has already shown to be a dangerous offensive team. They’ve scored five goals in three of their four wins, topping out at six goals against Seattle and Boston. The defense has looked more stable after the additions of Ryan Ellis and Keith Yandle, even with the former being out for the last few games.
Hart and Jones are proving that getting solid goaltending can do wonders for this team. If the two of them can continue to play the way they are, or even stay above average, the Flyers can make a lot of noise this season.