Umberger's 1st relaxes team in blowout win as Flyers look to build on momentum
If the Flyers were looking to make a statement following a rather lackluster loss on Tuesday, then mission accomplished. A four-goal second period paced the Flyers to a dominant 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
In a stretch where the Flyers really needed to set an identity for themselves, that identity remains a mystery. Thursday was a good opening remark, but there are still three games through next Tuesday all with great meaning.
But in that first game, a rare game against a team lower than the Flyers in the standings, the Flyers proved why they are still in the playoff hunt and not talking Top-5 draft pick. They took a must-win game and grabbed it by the horns.
There haven't been many games where the Flyers were able to play with a comfortable lead. From R.J. Umberger's first goal of the season — and first in 51 games — not only set the tone for a big second period, but relaxed the rest of his teammates.
"It was a big goal for our hockey team, number one," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "Everybody obviously was excited for him. Not a lot of things have bounced his way. He’s been out of the lineup for a couple of nights here in a row, so it’s nice for him to come in and be able to get a first one for him tonight. Like you saw, guys on the bench were fired up for him."
"It was a great feeling. Definitely can give you some jump and feel good," Umberger said. "It’s been a crazy 50 games not scoring. It became a mental challenge. It can really get the best of you. I think the best part of it was just how excited the teammates were for me; probably more excited than I was. That was pretty cool."
That set off the floodgates for a host of secondary players netting goals. Brayden Schenn scored seconds later at even strength. Wayne Simmonds also scored while at five-on-five. Michael Raffl buried a goal top shelf on a breakaway later in the period.
In the third, Nick Cousins also added his first NHL goal.
"You always remember your first one," Cousins said. "I started pressing next to that guy, I wasn’t even trying to block it, it just sort of hit me and I got the puck and took my open shot. I’ll remember it for a while."
"I think even going back to last year when he was here, he had some good opportunities," Hakstol said. "But he’s had good opportunities each game that he’s played with us here this year. You know, the assist that he had was a good play and it’s nice to see him get the first one. And it’s a little bit of a goal scorer’s goal, shooting from a good spot, and he found a little bit of room between the pads."
In addition, Shayne Gostisbehere continued his points streak, tying a Flyers rookie record with a point in a 10th straight game.
"If you were telling me I was going to do this going into the season I would have told you that you were crazy," Gostisbehere said. "It is a complement to my teammates, all the coaching staff for putting me in these situations. My teammates, just like tonight, Simmonds buries a goal and gives me an assist. It is everyone pulling together and it is a good team game."
"Kudos to Gostisbehere," Cousins said. "He’s on a hell of a run. One of the best young d-men I’ve seen in a while, plays with confidence. He’s fun to watch out there so we’re lucky to have him on our team."
To mark another positive, the Flyers did not rely on their top line for offense. Simmonds' goal, assisted by Gostisbehere and Jake Voracek, were the only points from the top line.
The only real blemish on the night were the Flyers overall lack of discipline. They took six penalties, two by Mark Streit and two by Radko Gudas, who closed out the game by receiving a five-minute charging major that will likely get reviewed by the league.
This time, the Flyers penalty kill bailed them out, with no one coming up bigger than Steve Mason, who made 41 saves in the win.
"I think the biggest thing tonight was our penalty kill," Mason said. "Again, I think it was a huge reason of why we came out on top. We got to cut down on the penalties that we are taking, but the guys that are on the penalty killing unit are doing a great job. That’s all we can ask of them."
The Flyers now move on to the next three games on a crucial four-game swing, now trailing in the standings by four points. The next challenge is a game against one of the three teams they are chasing in the standings, the New Jersey Devils.
"I don’t think anyone on our team was pretty happy with that effort Tuesday and if you play like that we’re not going to win too many games in this league," Cousins said. "It’s a hard league to play in, if you play like tonight all three periods pretty solid, all three lines contributed so we have to keep going and play the same way."
"I think the biggest thing for us is to try and maintain a level of consistency," Mason said. "That’s the biggest thing. You keep saying and saying it. It is hard to do because it is a difficult league, but in order for us to get into the playoff picture we have to find consistency in our game. That’s got to start with me and move on out from our defense to our forwards. The way our team is we need everybody going. Tonight it was nice to get some goals from our supporting cast. Just looking at the remainder of the month we have to put together a nice stretch here to take advantage of what little games we have left."
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
