Flyers Complete The Comeback To Sweep Season Series Against St. Louis
Flyers 4, Blues 3 | (15-12-7)
As has been the case with seemingly every Flyers game so far this season, the first period was a complete mess. If you’re the coach of a young team and want to show your kids exactly how to not play the game, just show them some first period Flyers hockey. Because this team has no idea how to jump out of the gate. They were out shot officially 15-8 (though it seemed a little more lopsided than that). They were out scored 2-0 and they were completely dominated in every facet of the game. A bunch of costly turnovers, a bunch of bad penalties, and midway through the 2nd period, the Flyers had already dug themselves a nice little 3-goal hole. However, these aren’t your Flyers of last year. Hell, these aren’t even your Flyers of just a couple months ago. This is a new team. A team that is now 6-2-2 in the month of December and sit just 2 points out of a wild card spot. A team that is 10-4-4 since the call up of Shayne Gostisbehere. This is a team that fights and a team that doesn’t give up. They’re a Dave Hakstol team and it showed last night after Chris VandeVelde went to the nearest Wawa and got himself a Shorti out of the garbage to spark the comeback.
The Flyers had just given up that 3rd goal to St. Louis and immediately following the goal, they took another penalty. It looked to be game over for the Flyers at that point but this is where the momentum started to swing. A beautiful move from Bellemare, who has been getting extremely unlucky the past couple of games, and a gritty put away from Chris VandeVelde. It may not be pretty, it may not get played over and over again on the NHL Network, but that’s the type of play that gives a team life and sparks a 3-goal comeback against one of the best teams in the west.
Best Friends Doing Best Friend Things
The Flyers, like most teams, manage to screw up more 2-on-1 opportunities by forcing a pass that’s not there than I care to count. But this one was drawn up to perfection. Great decision making by Simmonds to put the puck on Voracek’s stick and allow him to make the play on this one, and just a picture perfect pass from Jake back to Simmer. It’s fun watching this Flyers team do the things that good teams do very well. And that Voracek-Couturier-Simmonds line continues to be the best line as of late. The offensive production is there and most importantly, they hardly ever spend any time in their own zone. If the Flyers can keep this level of play going through April and somehow manage to backdoor their way into that 8th and final spot in the playoffs, that’s the line that’s going to get it done.
A Little Bit More On Jake
Okay so Voracek got the shot off right away on this 2nd Wayne Simmonds goal of the night and it worked out well for the Flyers. Jake had a couple of really good chances earlier in the game but just couldn’t find a way to hit the net. A lot of people on Twitter are complaining that rather than shooting the puck right away when he gets it near the faceoff dot, Voracek holds on to the puck too long and tries to take the shot more toward the middle of the slot. Well I’m just here to tell you that those people are all a bunch of fucking idiots. I mean yeah, when you’re Steven Stamkos or Alex Ovechkin, a one-timer from the faceoff dots are your bread and butter. But for Voracek, I have absolutely no problem with him trying to take that shot more toward the center of the ice. It increases the angle and you have a much better shot to work with. Jake has just been getting unlucky with it but I’d rather see him make the gutsy play to increase the angle than just keep firing off shots from the dots that get eaten up like a bag of popcorn.
Comeback Complete
Beautiful shot from Evgeny Medvedev here and he deserves a ton of credit and everything but HOLY SHIT THAT PASS FROM RYAN WHITE. He commanded the attention of not 1, not 2, but 3 St. Louis Blues and then somehow managed to stick the backhanded pass right on Medvedev’s tape who had all the world in the room thanks to Ryan White drawing everyone away from the slot. That’s not a play that a 4th line enforcer is supposed to make. Unreal.
The Other Guys
– This is obviously a big Dave Hakstol win. I know that he has a ton of leadership to work with in the locker room but to get the team to buy in enough to pull off this comeback win is something. The Flyers were completely out matched and out classed in the first period. Then they went on to control most of the rest of the game, out shooting the Blues 23-14 in the rest of the game. He’s got a bunch of lines clicking away, he’s got 2 competent goaltenders to work with, and he has a couple of guys on the blueline who are playing much better than expected as of late. These aren’t your Craig Berube’s Flyers.
– I could watch Shayne Gostisbehere skate with the puck until the cows come up.
He’s just so goddamn smooth out there. Through his 18 games with the team so far this year, he is only 1 point behind Colton Parayko for the league lead among rookie defensemen with 14. Keep in mind that Parayko has played 33 games so far this year soooooo yeah, Ghost is an animal. Also, he looked great defensively last night as well. He had a couple of so-so games in a row lately but he finally looked to be figuring out that left side last night and made a few big time break ups in the defensive zone. A great night in his own zone and his first multi-assist game of his career. Not a bad night for the Ghost Bear.
– Every Flyers registered at least 1 shot last night. Not the first time that’s happened so far this year but it’s great to see everyone getting involved out there.
– I’m hoping to see Sam Gagner come back in for RJ Umberger after the holiday break. I know Umby had a decent game last night but Gagner playing alongside of Laughton and Read will just be so much more productive than Umberger can be.
Obviously Mason didn’t get a ton of help early on in the game and was left hanging out to dry for those 3 goals against. But he made a few key saves to keep the team in the game once the Flyers decided to turn it on. Not a spectacular night by any means but coming back from down 3 goals only to give up a late one to lose would have been a total heart breaker. So shoutout to Mase for not letting that happen. There are very few goalie tandems in the league right now that I’d rather have than Mason and Neuvirth.
– Flyers doing a great thing and bringing the Spicer family together for the holidays. Thanks for all your service, Josh.
Advertisement
– Only 2 points away from a playoff spot. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.