Will the real Philadelphia Flyers please stand up? For real now…we’re waiting. Losers of five in a row the orange and black are trying to rewrite the script with rallying for a team victory over the Winnipeg Jets at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Flyers are searching for more consistency. From a ten game losing streak, to a six game winning streak. Now it’s a five game losing streak. There are multiple reasons for this losing streak. Most notably the leaky defense and the horrid penalty killing. It might be a tough stretch with some playoff caliber teams, but they have to find a way to close out games with a full 60 minute complete team effort.
“It just happens, you’re gonna win some games, you’re gonna lose some games,” Voracek said following the 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. “We should have walked away with two points in Tampa, we didn’t, we let it slip away. In Florida, we got outplayed. In my opinion, we’re playing good teams right now that are on top of the standings, with a lot of experience so sometimes it shows that we are not there yet. Like I said, we are still in the hunt for a spot, obviously it was a big game today, but we’re still not there, so we gotta make sure we find a way around some points.”
Whatever the rhyme or reason for the extra jump in the Flyers legs. The orange and black were just flat-out dominant against a Jets team that currently sits second in the Central Division. Petr Mrazek was tabbed as the starter between the pipes for the Flyers, and he was really sharp in this one. Mrazek backstopped 27 saves to preserve the orange and black’s 2-1 victory. The victory ends the Flyers five game losing streak. Without further delay, here are our three observations from a Flyers big win.
Flyers Pre-Game News:
Travis Sanheim was recalled for emergency purposes, due to an injury to Robert Hagg. Hagg is out for two weeks with a lower body injury. Johnny Oduya is also day to day.
Flyers Lineup:
Giroux-Couturier-Konecny
Lindblom-Patrick-Voracek
Raffl-Filppula-Simmonds
Lehtera-Laughton-Read
Defense:
Ghost-Provorov
Manning-Gudas
Sanheim-Macdonald
Net:
Mrazek
Scoring:
1st period- None
2nd Period-
Giroux (24) 5:40- assists Filppula, Simmonds
Macdonald (5) 8:01- assists Patrick, Voracek
3rd Period-
WPG- PPG Laine (40) 8:58- assists Wheeler, Stasny
How about Sanheim
Sanheim worked hard when he was sent down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, in hopes of possibly getting recalled back to the big club. Even though, this stint is for emergency purposes Sanheim wanted to make sure it counted. Sanheim tallied 1goal, 15 assists, and was a whopping plus 14 for the Phantoms.
This young stud in Sanheim was electric from the drop of the puck, to the end of game. He’s so fast, but his vision of the ice is impeccable. Sanheim had a great outlet pass to Travis Konecny in the first period that lead to a malfunctioned 2-on-1. Moreover, Sanheim had a great stick on an end around behind the Flyers net early in the second period, that spelt trouble with one jet open in the slot. He just looks more defensively sound this go around.
Power Outage
The Flyers power play, or power outage continued today against the Jets. They were 0-2 on the PP with just two shots on net. This makes their once illustrious power play 1 for its last 21. It appears the players clutch their sticks, or try to look for that great pass that isn’t there. One suggestion to reignite this power play is to just shoot the biscuit on net. Take the shot when its afforded. You never know what could happen.
“Stats say 0-2 but we actually got a big goal with the extra attacker, with the goalie pulled.” Head Coach Dave Hakstol said. “You can stretch however you like, but you have to give the other teams penalty killing some credit. I thought we did some good things today while on the PP, so I have full confidence in this group.”
Petr Mrazek
Mrazek entered the day with his cards stacked against him to perform up to the standards of beating a power house in the Jets. However, he was flat-out dialed in from the start. During the pre-game warm ups, the Flyers forwards and defense fired about 10 shots to the glove side of Mrazek. Practicing with his glove hand paid off in a big way, as Mrazek made about seven saves with his glove hand throughout the course of the game.
The steady netminder in Mrazek entered the game with a paltry 3-3-1 Flyers record, 3.08 GAA, and .889 Save Percentage. He had to be a factor in today’s contest in order for the Flyers to break their six game skid. Well, Mrazek did just that back stopping 27 big saves to preserve the Flyers victory.
Let’s hope the Flyers are able to build off this game, as they welcome another tough team in the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Monday with a 7 pm tilt. One thing is certain Flyers fans, the future is bright in Flyer land.
Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
