Flyers make progress in playoff race as hot start to homestand continues
At the end of the day, the margin is still three points. But only because the Flyers forced the Pittsburgh Penguins to answer.
A 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes continued a great start to a crucial six-game homestand that may be their last stand in the playoff race.
By virtue of two straight wins, the Flyers are now looking down on seven other teams, jumping the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils. When they look up in the standings at the teams ahead, the two holding wildcard spots sit waiting.
The Flyers may not have gained any points on Pittsburgh, but they did make significant progress, capitalizing on the first two games at home.
"It’s all we can do to win our games," Mark Streit said. "I think everyone chipped in and for the most part, I think we played really well. In the second period, we got a little sloppy and a little careless with the puck. But Neuvy kept us in the game and it’s obviously a huge two points for us."
You could say that this game had the Flyers in the opposite position as they were in Carolina. While they generated their share of shots on goal, the Coyotes peppered the Flyers goal with shot attempts. 31 were on goal. 32 were blocked. Michal Neuvirth made 29 saves in another winning effort.
"I’m feeling good. I’m just going game by game," Neuvirth said. "Enjoying hockey right now. I feel like the team, they believe in me. That’s a good feeling. I’m just trying to give my best each night and we’ll see what happens."
For the 12th straight game, the Flyers were without one of their top forwards. Sean Couturier was playing in his third game since returning from an injury suffered on Feb. 4. Claude Giroux also made his return to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury. This time, Jake Voracek was out of the lineup.
So the Flyers relied on and received contributions from others down the line. Scott Laughton scored his sixth goal of the season on a breakaway to open the scoring. It was his fifth point in five games.
Sam Gagner also scored in the first, with assists to Couturier and Streit, for his third goal in four games.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare capped the scoring with a late insurance goal in the third, his second in as many games after going 30 games without a goal.
Giroux also added a goal for his 500th NHL point on the power play. Streit, who assisted on all three first-period goals, registered his 400th NHL point.
The milestones capped off a day where many stepped up in the scoring.
"Everybody’s got to chip in a little bit," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "That’s the importance of Scotty Laughton tonight scoring a goal. Gagner got another one tonight. You have to have that at this time of year. Whether it’s through injuries or other things you have to have some depth and balance in all areas of the game."
"Coots was out, I was out, and now Jake’s out. We have somebody stepping up every night," Giroux said. "The lines were pretty good tonight getting some chemistry. We had four lines going tonight and everybody is playing well."
For a few hours on Saturday, the margin to the final playoff spot was down to one. The Penguins answered with a 4-1 win of their own to restore the three-point lead. But with three games remaining this season against the cross-state rivals, the main accomplishment here is a win that jumped two teams in the standings and now has the Flyers doing less scoreboard watching.
Trying to focus on and exercise wishful thinking on results for three, four or five teams is almost unrealistic, especially when so many of them play each other at this time of year. With the Flyers able to focus on one for the playoffs, the task at hand isn't about what Pittsburgh does. It is simply to keep the line moving.
"We’re playing as a team," Giroux said. "We have structure, we’re playing the right way, and we have everybody playing. When the whole team is on the same page it just makes everybody’s just much easier. Right now we’re playing some good hockey cause we’re playing hard, we’re playing the right way. We need to keep playing like this."
"We got a good win today. Turn the page," Hakstol said. "It’s in the books. We got a lot of work in front of us. We got a day off tomorrow to rest up a little bit and then get right back at it."
They are indeed right back at it on Monday night for the third of six on home ice, when they host the Calgary Flames.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
