First they win. Then they lose. Then they win. Aaaaand then they lose again. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2013 Philadelphia Flyers.
Last Thursday, the Flyers faced the Florida Panthers, a team that has had the Flyers number of recent times. To make things worse, a player that has been rather effective against the Panthers, Matt Read, is out for six weeks with torn chest muscles, the team announced on Thursday. Peter Mueller and Jonathan Huberdeau scored two goals in the Flyers 5-2 defeat to Florida, after a particularly weak first period by Philadelphia saw them go into the second down 3-0.
Next the Flyers managed to turn it around against the Winnipeg Jets, defeating them 5-3 with two goals from the on-the-rise Brayden Schenn and three assists from Jakub Voracek (more on him later). The other Flyers goals were scored by Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, and Zac Rinaldo.
Finally, the Flyers stayed home to welcome in the Toronto Maple Leafs and former Flyer James van Riemsdyk. The Flyers actually played very well in this game, but certain lines and defense pairings simply weren’t up to task, and a couple of mistakes (The Leafs second goal was particularly soft, one of the few goals that I blame Bryzgalov for) led to a 4-2 Leafs victory.
One player who has performed extraordinarily well as of late is Czech right winger Jakub Voracek, who leads the team with 22 points, 19 of which were scored in February. Voracek is quick becoming one of my and many other Flyers fans favorite players. Perhaps a reason why his game has elevated his game as of late is his being moved up to the Flyers top line of Voracek on the right wing, Scott Hartnell on the left, and Claude Giroux centering it.
Next up: Capitals @ Flyers, Wednesday, 7:30 pm
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