Shayne Gostisbehere
Finally, the Flyers are at a spot where there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Four more players returned to the lineup on Saturday afternoon and with those players back, plus another excellent goaltending performance, the nearly full-strength Flyers showed what may have been missing from their recent games.
Brian Elliott was on point, making 23 saves to secure his second shutout of the season, both coming against the Sabres, once again in a 3-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Claude Giroux had three assists as the Flyers struck for two goals in the first and second periods, holding off the Rangers in a 4-3 win on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers were back on Tuesday for practice with a limited group and more players are expected to rejoin the team on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s game against the New York Rangers. The Flyers also had five games rescheduled by the NHL in the wake of COVID-19 caused postponements.
The Flyers game on Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals has also been postponed, in addition to their games on Thursday and Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, as a result of ongoing COVID-19 issues with the Flyers.
The problem is that the Boston Bruins are a good team too, so if you are going to live by the mantra that good teams find a way to win, better teams find a way to exploit that. The Flyers finally paid for their flaws this season, and now it is on them to learn from it.
David Pastrnak had a hat trick, scoring his third with 14.9 seconds left in the third to tie the game, then set up Patrice Bergeron for the win in overtime to hand the Flyers a 4-3 loss on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
After a few rocky days of hockey, the Flyers are lacking some of their talent, but more importantly seem to lack their “killer instinct.” With no fans in the majority of NHL arenas for the time being, the mental side of the game has grown exponentially. It’s up to the players themselves to bring their own motivation day in and day out until each team’s faithful followers can make long-awaited returns to the stands.
The Flyers lost both defenseman Phil Myers and forward Morgan Frost during Tuesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, and were able to provide an update on both players on Thursday morning. Myers is considered week-to-week with a fractured rib. Frost suffered a dislocated shoulder and is out indefinitely.
The Flyers got an outstanding performance from Brian Elliott in goal. They got clutch goals when they needed them the most to take control of the game on the scoreboard. They lost two more players due to injury, and await the update on both, but saw players step up in big situations. Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s 3-0 Flyers win over the Sabres.
