The Flyers power play had gone scoreless in the previous 16 attempts entering Saturday's game in Winnipeg. They were beyond due for some success.
Success came in the form of a 2-for-5 night that helped the Flyers defeat the Jets, 3-0, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Finally, it all came together for the Orange and Black.
"We felt like we played pretty good in Calgary and we wanted to build off it and I thought we did that," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "The saves Neuvy made in the first period just gave us a little more confidence and the chance to have the start and first period that we needed."
"That's the way we wanted to end this road trip," Michal Neuvirth said after completing his league-leading third shutout of the season. "It's been a long 10 days. I thought we were getting better each game and it was a great team effort. That's the way we've got to play on the road in this league."
This game seemed very similar to Neuvirth's last win in goal, also a shutout, against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 14. In that game, the Flyers also won 3-0, but more similar than that was how a strong defensive effort set up the rest.
"I think we played a solid game," Wayne Simmonds said. "It started with our goaltender, but I thought we played strong in front of him. We kept it simple and put a couple in the net tonight."
Simmonds was one of the goal scorers on the power play along with Brayden Schenn. With Matt Read's empty-net goal in the final 1:35 of the game, it was the first time the Flyers had scored three goals in regulation since Oct. 21 when they rallied to beat the Boston Bruins, 5-4, in overtime, the Flyers only other road win this season.
"We kind of sensed the other night that it was coming," Hakstol said of the power play's contributions. "Tonight, getting the first one, absolutely. Those guys are working, they're pushing. We need our power play to contribute to wins and tonight it contributed as well as every other part of our game."
"We were getting good movement," Simmonds said. "We try not to get down on ourselves. It came together tonight. We were getting shots through and shots from all angles and it paid off."
The rest of the story, as it has been in almost every game he's started, was Neuvirth. Making 28 saves for his third shutout of the season followed two other stellar performances on the road trip that still resulted in losses. Given his play in the last three games, it's very likely Neuvirth will get some time to start when the Flyers return home for four of the next five games on the schedule starting on Tuesday.
"I'm just going day-by-day and working hard every day," Neuvirth said. "I feel good out there. I'm just focusing on myself and don't worry about the other things."
"He was seeing the puck very well," Hakstol said. "He did a good job for his teammates and his teammates did a good job in front of him. It's got to be that two-way street."
It was a one-way street for Neuvirth in the first two games he started on the road trip — lots of shots against and not much help in the defensive zone or on the scoresheet. Saturday night, it all went right for the Flyers, who have to hope that this is the win that rights the ship.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
