Another game, another shootout victory.
After vanquishing their former teammate Ilya Bryzgalov, now an Edmonton Oiler, in a shootout victory late Saturday evening, the Flyers decided once wasn’t enough and repeated the feat two days later against the Vancouver Canucks, perhaps the hottest team in the NHL right now.
Vancouver had been on a December stretch of 10-1-1, nothing to scoff at by any means. They were without starting all world goalie Roberto Luongo, although backup goalie Eddie Lack has developed a nice game, so it wasn’t as if the Canucks weren’t in good hands in net. It definitely didn’t appear the Canucks had much of a drop off, considering they spent most of the game swarming Flyers goalie Steve Mason, who made a slew of astonishing saves to keep the Flyers defense out of trouble.
The first period saw a bit of that with the Canucks pushing hard on the Flyers leaky blue line unit, and with the exception of youngster Michael Raffl working hard to drive to the net setting up a Mark Streit goal, the first was all Canucks. I witnessed an interesting tactic being applied by the Canucks shooters, mostly star Daniel Sedin, in which they would shoot off angled shots towards Mason in hopes of getting him to over commit to one side of the net, thereby exposing an opening. Mason did have some slight trouble handling rebounds a couple of times, and that is when this tactic paid off.
Even though the Flyers possessed a 1-0 first period lead, they were outshot nearly 2-1.
The second was where most of the action happened, when the Canucks tied the game using that gameplan of off angle rebounds to finally put one past Mason, thanks to former Flyer (you know, that expression gets used a lot more than I am comfortable with, but is a testament to how well the Flyers do scout talent) Tom Sestito. Dan Hamhuis slapped a shot fron the blue line near the boards, creating that 45 degree angle. Mason dropped down, stopping the shot, but could not control the rebound, and Sestito closed in, potting a puck easily.
This strategy would give the Canucks their first lead of the game later in the period when the Sedins utilized it by driving in, at which point Henrik passed to Jannick Hansen, who kicked it back to Daniel at the faceoff circle, who passed it on a weird angle after convincing Mason he would attempt a shot, and Jannick Hansen capitalized. It was a brilliant give and go, but made possible by all the shots Daniel had attempted before from the same spot he suddenly passed from, almost akin to a play action pass in football.
At this stage the Flyers could have bowed out, but the team that began the season is clearly not this team nowadays, and a lot of that credit belongs to the Flyers Captain Claude Giroux simply refusing to quit. Giroux tied the game at 2 all a minute later on his second highlight reel worthy goal of the season, one I think is better than the miracle backhand in Columbus. He dragged two Canucks defenders along with him, keeping the puck steady and in front of him, all the way in front of Lack, and then slotted the puck five hole for the score. A goal that is now very symbolic of these new Flyers, the kind who have now found some decent chemistry, and are committed to a full 60 minutes worth of hockey. These last two games have defined this, and has made life very fun for Flyers fans.
As if the full 60 mentality wasn’t evident enough through two period, the third really put this mindset on display.
In a situation all too familiar with the Flyers and their fans, they kept things even until that dreaded late goal against them dropped in to say hello. With three minutes left to play and a goal down, this scenario used to rear a losing a result.
Not these Flyers, who pulled Mason, went to a 6 on 5 and it paid off when Scott Hartnell deftly passed the puck across the crease after drawing Lack to him, allowing Brayden Schenn to bury the puck smoothly. Even though this club had been outshot all three periods, relied on Mason to make some spectacular saves, with two huge ones coming in the third on a breakaway and a two on one, they didn’t have the look of a deflated team at any time.
Instead they appear determined, as if to say “sure, they got one, now let’s go get one ourselves.” Avoiding the cataclysms that plagued them during that horrible 1-7 stretch, the new version of the Flyers demonstrate resolve, and as someone who has watched all of these games, the tension one normally gets with their team down, well…it just isn’t there lately. Giroux and Co. have managed to erase the fear of losing, even if they happen to lose.
There is not further proof of this than the shoot out, once the bane of Philadelphia’s existence. When Flyers fans hear that word, they cringe.
The past two games however, have left no doubt that this is indeed a different club, and I actually felt sort of bad for Bryzgalov in the Edmonton game, and worse for Lack. Mason has become the Anti-Bryz in shoot outs, he forces the incoming player to commit to where Mason can make the save. He doesn’t follow the puck, he cuts off the player instead. The Canucks couldn’t manage one goal in last night’s shoot out, with the Flyers not even needing their third shooter to take the ice. That’s how different things are for the Flyers now, Craig Berube has them believing in each other, he didn’t shift the lines nonstop, he gave them his faith, and they are rewarding him with consistency.
Such an underrated word.
*Photo courtesy of NHL.com
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