The Philadelphia Flyers' bench celebrates as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 4-2 at the Wells Fargo Center. Image c/o Amy Irvin of 38Photography.
With nine games remaining, the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 85 points. After their win on Friday, the Flyers have 85 points to the New York Rangers’ 86 with two games in hand. Philadelphia will be playing two of the top teams in the league in three of their next four games and a desperate team in Columbus who is still fighting for a playoff berth.
This week saw the team go 1-2-0, losing out on points in a game on Monday against the Los Angeles Kings where the Flyers battled back in the third period, erasing a 2-0 deficit only to be defeated in regulation by a score of 3-2 on Dwight King’s 13th goal of the year. They then lost their next game against the Rangers in a lackluster effort by a score of 3-2 before beating the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time this year 4-2.
Claude Giroux is coming off a three-point effort in Toronto and is in sole possession of third place in scoring in the NHL with 78 points behind only Sidney Crosby (97 points) and Ryan Getzlaf (81 points). Vincent Lecavalier scored a power play goal on a one-time shot last game, and despite being moved to center the fourth line, he had one of his strongest games of the season as he generated three shots on goal in 13:32 and won 57.1% of his faceoffs. The Flyers will need Giroux to continue being his elite, big-game-self and if Lecavalier can start contributing regularly, that will be a huge boost to the team down the stretch.
This week the Flyers have four games and none of them will be an easy two points. They face the Boston Bruins twice, once today in Philadelphia and again on Saturday in Boston. The Flyers will play the St. Louis Blues in St. Louis on Tuesday and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday in Philadelphia. You can purchase tickets to all Philadelphia Flyers games through tiqiq.com.
Boston Bruins on 03.30.2014 at 12:30 PM in Philadelphia and 04.05.2014 at 1:00 PM in Boston
The Boston Bruins are the number one team in the NHL right now with 108 points. They sport the league’s best goal differential as they have scored 237 goals while allowing just 155, the lowest total of any team in the NHL. The Bruins are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games and have a 22-10-3 record away from TD Garden. In the first meeting between these two clubs, the Bruins shellacked the Flyers 6-1 in Philadelphia. Boston received goals from Reilly Smith, Patrice Bergeron, while Zdeno Chara and Jarome Iginla both scored twice, and Tuukka Rask stopped 25 of 26 shots fired his way.
The Bruins are a deep team. They have no players on a point per game pace, but have 10 players with 30 or more points, and eight with 15 or more goals. David Krejci leads Boston with 62 points (16 goals, 46 assists), while Jarome Iginla has 60 points (30 goals, 30 assists). Patrice Bergeron has 55 points (25 goals, 29 assists) and Milan Lucic has 54 points (21 goals, 33 assists). Rookie Reilly Smith has 47 points (19 goals, 28 assists), Carl Soderberg has 45 points (15 goals, 30 assists), while the pesky Brad Marchand has 44 points (22 goals, 22 assists). As for guys with 30 or more points, Torey Krug has 37 points (14 goals, 23 assists), Zdeno Chara has 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists), and Loui Eriksson rounds out the list with 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) in 53 games.
Much of the Bruins’ success can be attributed to their goaltending. Tuukka Rask has a 33-14-5 record with a 2.01 goals against average, a .931 save percentage, and a league-best seven shutouts. His backup Chad Johnson is 17-3-1, with a 2.04 goals against average, a .926 save percentage, and two shutouts.
The Flyers will have their hands full this week as they play the Bruins twice and will likely need to win one of those two games in order to leap ahead of the Rangers for the second spot in the Metropolitan Division. If the Flyers can find a way to keep Giroux away from Bergeron and get scoring up and down four lines, they’ll have a shot at getting at least one win against the top team in the NHL this week.
St. Louis Blues on 04.01.2014 at 8:00 PM in St. Louis
The St. Louis Blues are one points behind the Bruins for the top spot in the entire league. They are 6-3-1 in their last 10 and, like Boston, are a very deep team despite having no bonafide superstar players. In the first of two games between the Flyers and Blues, the Flyers allowed Jaden Schwartz to score a shorthanded goal on a a nice feed from defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk in the first period, but then it was all Philadelphia. Scott Hartnell and Jake Voracek each notched their 19th goals of the year, while Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds also scored, helping the Flyers to a 4-1 victory. Claude Giroux had two points in the game and Steve Mason stymied St. Louis as he stopped 32 of 33 shots.
The Blues are led by both Alexander Steen (33 goals, 27 assists) and T.J. Oshie (21 goals, 39 assists) in points as they both have 60 on the year. David Backes has 56 points (27 goals, 29 assists), rookie Jaden Schwartz has 53 points (23 goals, 30 assists), while defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has 50 points (eight goals, 42 assists). Kevin Shattenkirk has 44 points (nine goals, 35 assists), Vladeimir Tarasenko has 43 points (21 goals, 22 assists). The Blues also have four other players in Derek Roy (nine goals, 28 assists) Jay Bouwmeester (four goals, 32 assists), Patrik Berglund (14 goals, 18 assists), and Vladimir Sobotka (eight goals, 22 assists).
In net, the Blues have two very good goaltenders in Ryan Miller and Brian Elliot. Miller has a 9-3-1 record, with a 2.18 goals against average, and a .912 save percentage with the Blues, but on the season he is 24-25-4, with a 2.59 goals against average, and a .921 save percentage. Elliot is 17-5-2, with a 1.97 goals against average, a .921 save percentage, and four shutouts.
The Blues will looking to avenge their loss in the previous game between these teams. The Flyers will need to match their intensity level to have any chance at winning this game.
Columbus Blue Jackets on 04.03.2014 at 7:00 PM in Philadelphia
The Columbus Blue Jackets currently hold one of the two Eastern Conference Wild Card slots with 82 points. They are 5-4-1 in their last 10. The Blue Jackets have the lead in the season series 2-1 and probably would have had a shot at a sweep this game if they wouldn’t have blown a 4-0 lead in the third period in the first game these clubs played as divisional rivals. The Flyers took that game on Claude Giroux’s four-point night by a score of 5-4 in regulation. The Blue Jackets’ two wins came by scores of 6-3 and 5-2 respectively.
The Blue Jackets are led by Ryan Johansen who has 55 points (30 goals, 25 assists). James Wisniewski (six goals, 38 assists) and Brandon Dubinsky (15 goals, 29 assists) each have 44 points. Nick Foligno has 38 points (18 goals, 20 assists), Artem Anisimov (20 goals, 15 assists) and Cam Atkinson (19 goals, 16 assists) each have 35 points, and once-Flyer RJ Umberger has 33 points (18 goals, 15 assists).
The Blue Jackets have two goaltenders who have played well this year in former-Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney. Bobrovsky is 27-19-4, with a 2.47 goals against average, a .919 save percentage, and three shutouts to his credit. McElhinney is 10-10-1, with a 2.68 goals against average, a .910 save percentage, and two shutouts.
If the Flyers want to win this game, they should try to do so by virtue of their special teams as Columbus has the 14th overall penalty kill with an 82.2% kill rate and the 17th ranked power play which has just a 17.8% conversion rate. The Flyers are in the top 10 in both power play (9th overall, 19.9%) and penalty kill (5th overall, 85.1%).
