(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Fortier, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
To this point in the season, the Flyers have been a much better offensive team, scoring at a much higher rate than they achieved last season. One of the contributing factors to that incremental scoring is the contribution of the Flyers defensemen to the offensive production.
The Flyers defense corps lead the NHL in scoring going into Thursday's game with 49 points. They were seven points ahead of the next best team, Montreal, with 43 points.
The Flyers blueliners added five more points in Thursday's 5-2 win over Winnipeg to their league-best total, bringing them to 54 points. They are on pace to chip in 246 points on the season. That would be up 110 points from last season for an increase of 81 percent.
The team was on pace for a really poor performance last season until Shayne Gostisbehere was called up from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in November. Ghost chipped in 46 of the 136 points from the defense in 2015-16, 34 percent of the total.
Injuries to Mark Streit early on and Michael Del Zotto later in the season compounded the scoring woes for the defense in 2015. In 2014, Streit tallied 52 points and Del Zotto scored 32 points. Last season they scored 23 and 13 respectively.
Mark Streit has returned to his pre-injury form in 2016, on pace for 51 points. While missing the first 12 games due to injury, Del Zotto has four points in six games since returning.
Adding to the improved offense, rookie Ivan Provorov is on pace for 28 points this year. Brandon Manning is having a breakout performance, already setting a career-high points total of nine through 17 games and is on pace for 43 points in 2016-17. Radko Gudas is also on pace for a career-high scoring total of 41 points.
Overall the much-improved performance of the Flyers defensemen should help them as they progress through the season. The additional offense from the blueline should make it easier to win those one-goal games the Flyers are known for regularly participating in.
Additionally, since back-to-back 5-4 losses closed out their home schedule in October, the Flyers have been cutting back on the number of goals allowed. While they still allowed five goals to Montreal on Nov. 5 and six to Toronto last Friday, they have also allowed just two goals apiece in five of their last seven games.
As bad as the breakdowns may look on some of their goals allowed and while turnovers still haunt them defensively, the Flyers are starting to cut back on those mistakes and making plays in the defensive zone. That has helped them to a 4-2-2 record so far in November.
For a stretch, part of that was also goaltender. If the tandem of Steve Mason and Michael Neuvirth, once he returns from injury, are able to find their pre-2016 form and their goals against average comes close to their 2015 totals, they could have a very strong second half to their season and possibly longer.
Mason has taken a step in the right direction in the last three games in that category as well.
With increased offensive production from the defense and signs of improved play in the defensive zone, the Flyers may just be starting to turn things around as a team when it comes to blue line play.
