Two seasons ago, the Philadelphia Flyers exuded resilience. The club could scarcely have faced more in-season adversity and battled through it successfully.
That year, the Flyers established a new franchise record for comeback victories after trailing at some point within the third period. The club won 11 such games. Correspondingly, the club pulled off the rare feat of digging out of a 1-7-0 hole at the start of the season to finish with 94 points and a playoff spot.
Simultaneously, the team ended up with seven different 20-goal scorers for the season after the team scored just 22 goals through its first 15 games.
While many of the players who gave the 2013-14 Flyers the leadership character and backbone to repeatedly beat the odds are still with the team — including the likes of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Steve Mason and Mark Streit — the team lost some of its key leadership group members who helped shape the never-say-die identity the club developed. The likes of the now-retired Kimmo Timonen and the traded Scott Hartnell are no longer around, and their galvanizing presence has arguably been missed as much in the dressing room as on the ice.
Over the last season-plus, one of the challenges faced by the Flyers' leadership group has been to establish a similar ability to battle through adversity and find ways to come away with a win — or at least one point in the standings — at the end of the night. That is why the club found encouragement in its last two games.
On Saturday, the Flyers trailed the host Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 and were held to a mere seven shots on goal through two periods. The team buckled down, turning a lucky goal by Luke Schenn in the second period into a jump-off point to dominate the final stanza and eventually skate off with a 3-2 victory in overtime.
Three nights later, the Flyers put forth a much better all-around effort for 65 minutes in a 3-2 shootout defeat to the visiting Los Angeles Kings. While Philadelphia had to settle for one point, there was much to like about the effort.
Importantly, the team did not panic or give in to frustration after Los Angeles scored a power play goal that bounced in off the stick of Luke Schenn nor did their performance drop after a would-be go-ahead goal by Brayden Schenn was disallowed upon video review. The Flyers went ahead again in the third period, courtesy of a Giroux goal and excellent goaltending by Mason, and even had the better of the scoring chances during 3-on-3 overtime immediately after the Kings scored a tying goal on the rebound of a double-deflected shot that hit the post and was finally put in the net by Milan Lucic.
"That’s been something we’ve been struggling with. Something doesn’t go our way and we change the way we play. But we stayed focused, and when they scored that power play goal, too, we stayed focused and put it behind us," Giroux said.
The game against the Kings was a notable contrast to the Nov. 12 game against Washington. In that tilt, the Flyers also took a pair of short-lived one-goal leads and were still right in the thick of the game as it passed the halfway mark. However, the latter portion of the second period saw the Flyers deflate after penalty killing failures and trailed 4-2 entering the third period. The team had opportunities to get back within a goal, but then suffered another costly breakdown.
The Flyers' response after the Washington game was the right one under the circumstances: they were angry with themselves. They were upset at having left Mason — who, despite yielding five goals, actually played well and stopped everything he had a reasonable chance to stop — hung out to dry repeatedly throughout the game. They were peeved at themselves for allowing numerous odd-man rush opportunities of their own go awry. Lastly, they were aggravated that they could not regroup against the dangerous Washington team until they were behind by multiple goals after a good start.
In the two games since then, the Flyers did more than pay lip service to showing better bounce-back ability. They actually did something about it on the ice, taking three of four possible points when they could easily have ended up with zero if they hadn't pushed back in the face of adversity.
Certainly, it is a very small sample size; especially for a club that still has a 6-8-4 record and an uphill climb ahead. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity to build off the last couple games and start to forge a self-identity as a team that does not fold when the going gets tough.
After Thursday's morning skate, Flyers head coach coach Dave Hakstol elaborated on the mentality he wants to see his team evolve.
"It's all about doing what we need to do. It shouldn't change, especially early in games, if things don't go well. You've just got to stick with it," Hakstol said.
"Maybe you have to sharpen your attention to detail and simplicity. I think our group has done that, and that's a credit to these guys. We went through a tough stretch there, where it was tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel on some nights. Our team stuck with it. Same thing in the last couple of hockey games. You are going to hit some adversity, no matter whether it's early, middle or late in a hockey game. Just keep doing the things that gave you success."
Hakstol used Sean Couturier, a player who has struggled to produce offensively and missed time with a concussion, as someone who has been setting an example of how to deal with adversity the right way.
"The bottom line in terms of Sean's play is… he's done a good job. He's producing opportunities, he's playing good two-way hockey and he's bringing a competitive leadership to his line," Hakstol said.
In the last two games, the Flyers have also benefited from a jolt of speed, skill and youthful energy from callup defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. Although his work in his own end of the ice remains a work in progress, he has made some good plays — especially when able to use his fleet feet and quick stick — to counteract some of his not-so-good plays. Offensively, there was never a question about Gostisbehere's ability, and he has given the club a lift with his first NHL goal and assist.
"His skill level with the puck is obvious and he's a very good skater, but what impresses me is that he has the mindset to improve and work on his total game," Hakstol said. "We just need to continue building all the areas of his game. He's had a couple of pretty good games overall, and we want to build and expand on that."
Gostisbehere, who missed most of his rookie pro season after sustaining a torn ACL, has shown no loss of speed. He used the time off the ice to add 15 pounds of muscle during his lengthy rehabilitation. It took him a few AHL regular season games to regain his timing but was trending in the right direction even before the Flyers' recalled him due to a serious injury that will keep Streit, a power play stalwart and one of the team's alternate captains, sidelined for at least six weeks.
For rookie defenseman Gostisbehere and his veteran teammates, two games is barely a blip on the radar screen. The 2015-16 Flyers have a long way to go to show they have the right mentality to take a roster that has some flaws yet to make it into a cohesive-enough squad to come away with points on nights where the game can just as easily slip through their grasp.
Bill Meltzer is a columnist for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @billmeltzer.
