Morning After: Defense keys Flyers weekend sweep of Penguins

Wayne Simmonds scores his second goal of Sunday's 4-3 win over the Penguins. (Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com)

The two games the Flyers played against the Pittsburgh Penguins were very different. At home on Saturday, the Flyers cruised behind a raucous home crowd to a 4-0 win.

Steve Mason was lightly tested. The Flyers scored on the power play, penalty kill and at even strength. It was simply a game of control.

Sunday's game featured its share of tense moments right down to the final play of the game, a last-second shot by Sidney Crosby that rattled off the post in the Flyers 4-3 win at Consol Energy Center.

After Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers had played 125 minutes without a goal from a forward. In the weekend sweep of the Penguins, Matt Read scored three goals, Wayne Simmonds scored two and Vincent Lecavalier, Scott Hartnell and Brayden Schenn helped tally goals as well. Perhaps the best part of that – not one goal from Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek.

Of course, Giroux and Voracek had their share of helpers in the pair of wins. Giroux increased his team-leading points total to 69 on the season with four assists against the Penguins. Voracek added one assist on the weekend, but was on the ice for several goals.

"It doesn't matter who's on the ice," Giroux said. "You've got to worry about your job and what you have to do on the ice."

Defensively, the Flyers may have played their best two games of the season. Even in allowing three goals, Mason made some critical saves. Mason faced 25 shots in Saturday's win. He faced just 23 on Sunday, but many more quality chances. One of those chances was Crosby's last second connection with iron.

"I think that's all I gave him," Mason said. "It's part of the equipment."

The Flyers six defensemen had one common element to the game on Saturday that translated for most of Sunday's game. The passing and shooting lanes were limited for Pittsburgh.

The outlet skating and passing was as good as ever. The Flyers took away many chances with blocked shots. The physical presence was strong.

Defense also led to offense for the Flyers. Two short-handed goals by Read capped off an excellent weekend for the penalty kill unit, holding the league's top power play scoreless in nine chances. Defensemen also amassed four points on the weekend, including two assists by Luke Schenn.

Ultimately, it helped the Flyers hold Crosby and Evgeni Malkin off the board for the entire weekend. Two of Pittsburgh's goals were scored by defensemen on Sunday.

"It proves we're a good hockey team," Mason said. "We already knew that but coming up with four points against the Penguins in back-to-back afternoons, it's two big victories for us."

"It’s huge,” Simmonds said. "They’re one of the better teams in the league. For us to come in and get two points on top of the other two points, it’s huge and we have to keep building on it."

Sunday's win was not as crisp as Saturday's. The Flyers managed to get away with a down period in the second with a 4-3 lead. It was a strong third period defensively that earned another two points for the Flyers.

"We did a lot of good things," Giroux said. "I think yesterday we did a better job playing 60 minutes. Today we had a couple mistakes that usually we wouldn't do. We can't just be satisfied with where we are now. The teams that we have to play coming up, they're the best teams in the league so we've got to be ready to go."

The Flyers road of 12 straight games against teams with a higher record started with four points and vaulted them into second place in the Metropolitan Division. It was a sign of potential. Saturday showed what a 60-minute effort can do. Sunday showed that in back-to-back situations, the Flyers can still bring out the worst in an opponent with hard work and gritty play.

"From fourth line to first line, everybody played extremely well this weekend," "We realized the importance of these two games and the guys were rewarded for hard work. This is exactly what we needed."

Next up for the Flyers is the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. As exciting as a pair of weekend victories against an arch-rival can be, the Flyers will be quick to turn the page on the season.

"Our team will get confidence from this," head coach Craig Berube said. "Any time you can come in and beat Pittsburgh twice it's a big boost. That's a very good team over there. It's good but it's overwith now."

Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.