The NHL's first All-Star Weekend in three years was a fun event for the league, fans and players. With the league's best players all in one city, there's all sorts of fun that can be had. It's certainly been one of the most fun sports months for the city of Columbus in recent history, and All-Star weekend played a nice hand in that.
Sure, from an pure hockey standpoint, All-Star games aren't very fun to watch. Between offensive explosions, a lack of defense, backchecking that only Alex Ovechkin could love and players not wanting to put themselves at injury risks (can you blame them?), it's easy to not enjoy the actual game from a purist's standpoint. Perhaps the most egregious sin of all was Fall Out Boy's first-intermission performance.
It was pretty fun watching Jakub Voracek record a hat trick as part of a leading six-point effort for the victorious Team Toews, as well as his unique way of helping Johnny Gaudreau in the Skills Competition. Claude Giroux's goal and three points for Team Foligno were pretty fun as well.
But now, the fun and festivities are over, and it's time for the Flyers to move on. They'll get their first opportunity to do so on Tuesday night when they play host to the Arizona Coyotes — their first game in a week.
Their last game — their pugilistic 2-1 overtime win against Pittsburgh — was a win that ordinarily would allow for plenty of momentum. But with a week's layoff between games, it's easy for most (or all) of that momentum to fade away.
Whatever momentum the Flyers can take away from that spirited win is critical. With 34 games to go and a 19-22-7 record, there's no denying how long the Winged P's shot is at a playoff berth. They currently sit 12 points out of the nearest playoff spot — certainly manageable, but coming at a premium. Have stranger things happened before? Absolutely.
Of the Flyers' 34 remaining games, 11 are against teams that currently also maintain sub-.500 records. Of course though, the Flyers have lost to losing teams and beat winning teams on multiple occasions this season, so it's still tough to speculate how tough the Orange and Black's competition will be.
What's more fun than an All-Star Game? The chance to compete in the playoffs. The Flyers will now focus on that goal, as hard as it promises to be.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
