By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
It was safe to say coming into Thursday night's game that there wasn't much confidence that the Flyers would pull out a win or even a point in the game.
Down another defenseman and off a 3-0 shutout loss to Chicago, the Flyers were facing a strong St. Louis Blues team with a third straight loss looming.
But the Flyers played determined, and that helped them secure a 2-0 shutout win of their own.
Here is the Postgame Review.
Postgame Points
- You have to start with the guy between the pipes. This was Michal Neuvirth's first start since last Thursday's wild loss to the Ottawa Senators, a game where Neuvirth was not very good. His other three starts to this point in the season had been solid, but with the defense in front of him that was down three regulars, who knows what Neuvirth would see?
It was dicey at times, no doubt, but Neuvirth stood tall in a lot of situations and kept his cool throughout the game. His positioning was good. His poise was good. And he was rock solid in goal. Totalling 33 saves isn't bad either.
It's just the second win of the season for Neuvirth, but it's a well-earned one.
- Maybe from here on out, we'll just reserve one of these points for Ivan Provorov and babble on about his insane consistency and toughness.
Provorov was stellar. He's been in the spotlight for several games now, and did play a little less in this game than Wednesday's loss. But in 27:08, still a hefty workload, Provorov blocked 10 shots, tying a franchise single-game record, and did all of the little things that make him such a valuable defenseman.
If Wednesday's game didn't prove how much of a No. 1 defenseman Provorov is, this game should have. This was like a coming of age party, and Provorov handled himself so well, it's easy to forget he's just 20 years old.
- In this game, the entire defense needs a ton of credit. This was very much a makeshift defense. Yes, there was Provorov at the top and Brandon Manning and Robert Hagg have been lineup regulars. But Hagg has just 14 games of experience. Travis Sanheim is also a rookie. So is Mark Alt. Will O'Neil, though 29 years old, was making his NHL debut.
All four of them were tremendous. The pairing of Alt and O'Neil was solid in taking up minutes that the top defensemen needed to recover. Hagg continues to show his hockey sense and poise with each game. This might have been his most impressive game to date. Sanheim continues to get better with each game.
On a night when the Flyers needed all six defensemen to step up, they got key contributions across the board on the blue line.
- Provorov accounted for 10 of the Flyers 20 blocked shots, but seven more of the blocked shots were by Flyers forwards. This was a night when team defense was crucial, and it was clear that the entire lineup focused on a 200-foot game.
- Sean Couturier may be the Flyers most valuable player and certainly is the most valuable forward so far this season. So it was an even scarier moment in the second period when Couturier was leveled with a blindside hit late by Brayden Schenn.
First off, the former Flyer didn't hold back on drilling his former teammate. It probably should have been a major, as it was the kind of hit the NHL is trying to see less of nowadays.
Couturier did return to the game, and that certainly was a good sign for a team battling a number of injuries at the moment. Couturier also assisted on both goals, continuing to be as productive as ever in his career.
Quotable
"I think everybody battled hard. The boys played for each other and played smart." – Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov
Play of the Game
Michal Neuvirth silenced his former teammate Brayden Schenn with a great glove save midway through the game.
By the Numbers
If the Flyers deserved a better fate on Wednesday, they managed to survive on Thursday. The Blues peppered the Flyers with shot attempts, and many of them high-quality chances. In the third period, the Flyers had just eight shot attempts, including three with the net empty, giving St. Louis a 76 CF% in the final 20 minutes, all played at even strength. The second period, where the Flyers got the game's only goal until the closing seconds, was even in shot attempts at even strength, 12-12.
Stat of the Game
This one is simple: it's Ivan Provorov's stat line. 27:08 of ice time, 10 blocked shots, fives hits, two shots, two penalty minutes and a plus-1. All in a day's work. And on the second end of a back-to-back no less.
