Sean Couturier
For the first time in a long time, the Flyers were in a position to be able to add at the trade deadline and Chuck Fletcher got active in trying to improve one area: experience.
In years past, it was a statement of needing to be better and finding a way to lose. Now the Flyers are, in their eyes, still looking for the consistency in their play that will make them a true contender, and they are doing it while evolving into a contender in front of the eyes of everyone else.
The Flyers had not had a winning streak of three games or more since before the holiday break, but they extended their current run to three games with a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers next matchup comes on Saturday afternoon, when they face the Winnipeg Jets, as they look for a third straight win and another chance to continue their climb in the standings in the final game before Monday’s trade deadline.
In overtime, it was Kevin Hayes playing hero, scoring the game-winning goal with 1:09 remaining to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Just as they did with Florida a week ago, the Flyers have a chance to create some separation with Columbus when they face each other again on Thursday night, as the Flyers look to complete a season sweep of the Blue Jackets on the road.
When the dust settled from Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the scoreboard read 5-1 in favor of the Flyers. It hardly felt like a game that the Flyers had won by four goals in rather convincing fashion.
Claude Giroux became the Flyers all-time leader in power-play assists with 235, getting the record-breaker on a Jake Voracek power-play goal to cap the scoring in a 5-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Flyers currently hold the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with 71 points. That is just one point behind the opponent for the next two games, the Columbus Blue Jackets, who technically hold the first wildcard spot with 72 points though they are tied for third in the division with the Islanders.
In Saturday’s game against the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers fell behind early and fell into a 3-0 hole again. Instead of erasing the deficit, the Flyers were down by two in the third and challenging to cut into the deficit further before they made the one mistake that did them in. The Flyers got two goals in short order after falling behind 4-1 with under eight minutes to play in the third, but were not able to complete the comeback in a 5-3 loss to the Lightning.
