The Flyers have been putting together a nice little thing lately. After defeating the Canadiens the Flyers were going into Nashville with a tiny little question hanging above them; are they good enough to make the playoffs? Well if tonight is any indicator then it certainly seems the Flyers believe that they can.
The first period started off pretty back and forth for the most part. That was until Radko Gudas took a double minor high sticking call. Would the Flyers be up for the challenge of facing four minutes against a power play with a Shea Weber slapshot…….actually yes. They manage to kill off the penalty, but not without some phenomenal help from Steve Mason. Mason was outstanding all night and a huge part of this win can be attributed to him as he made a lot of key saves when the game was close. Some time after the penalty kill, Scott Laughton fed a pass to Matt Read who brought it right up the neutral zone and made a nice move and just squeaked one by Pekka Rinne. Nick Schultz also picked up an assist so good for him….I guess. 1-0 Flyers.
Just about 2 minutes later Sam Gagner made a nice play in the offense zone to keep the puck in near the blue line. He also got wrecked from a hit by defensemen Barret Jackman but the puck was picked up by none other than the missing piece to our hearts, Sean Couturier! Coots made a great play around a Nashville defender and got it to Brayden Schenn who just had to tip it past Rinne. 2-0 Flyers.
Ahhhh the dreaded 2 goal lead. By this point I was a few cold ones in and had zero confidence once the second period started. Annnnnnd the Flyers were just….just awful for the first 5 minutes of that period. Eventually it bit them in the rear end and Ryan Johansen made them pay. He was able to get a nice shot in low right above Mason’s blocker. 2-1 Flyers.
I guess the Flyers had enough of watching 2-0 games go down the drain. At close to the halfway mark of the second Scott Laughton made a pass from the d zone all the way up to Wayne Simmonds near the offensive blue line. It’s really great to see Laughton make plays that aren’t to R.J. Umberger by the way. Good ol’ Wayne Train brought it in and took a shot which was saved initially but Simmonds picked up the huge rebound laying there for him and threaded it through Rinne’s skate and the post. I mean look at this. phewwwww, I can’t breath!
#WayneTrain’s barreling through Smashville #PHIvsNSH pic.twitter.com/FCRgVBbIF5
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 5, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js3-1 Flyers! They weren’t done yet though. Claude Giroux fed Jake Voracek who brought it through the neutral zone and fed it back to G in the offensive zone. Giroux made no mistake and one timed right past Rinne. Giroux picked up his 15th of the year and was so excited about it he celebrated with a Nashville player! Oh Claude. 4-1 Flyers! Nashville wanted to keep things interesting however and got one back. Calle Jarnkrok was able to scoop up a rebound right in front near the end of the second. 4-2 Flyers. The third period saw the Flyers holding onto a 2 goal lead, oh that dangerous 2 goal lead. Later though Radko Gudas took another high sticking minor, not a double though which didn’t really matter since the Fly Guys left ex-flyer but not really Shea Weber WIDE open for a one timer and I mean, it really isn’t even fair at that point. 4-3 Flyers. Didn’t take long for the Flyers to get another one back though. Giroux fed Shayne Gostisbehere who blasted a shot from the point that Simmonds got his stick on for his 18th of the year. Ghost continues to stay red hot as he’ll need to if the Flyers plan on making a playoff push. 5-3 Flyers. Later Claude Giroux was able to top off a pretty similar play to his goal earlier. Voracek picks up yet another assist on that play and Simmonds gets one also. 6-3 Flyers.
Touchdown #Flyers #PHIvsNSH pic.twitter.com/3KGYHGs2Vq — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 5, 2016
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That would do it for the game. Nashville didn’t even decide to pull Rinne as I guess Lavy felt it was pointless. And guess what. It was! Flyers take this one and scored 6 goals on get this, 19 shots! Rinne has been struggling all year and tonight the Flyers took full advantage of that. Mason on the other hand was red hot. Making 37 saves on 40 shots all while stopping PLENTY of high danger chances.
Goals:
Read (9)
Simmonds (17, 18)
Giroux (15, 16)
Schenn (14)
Assists:
Laughton (9, 10)
Shultz (9)
Couturier (15)
Gagner (4)
Voracek (32, 33)
Gostisbehere (16)
Giroux (27)
Simmonds (16)
Special Teams
Flyers PK was a hot 6 kills for 7 attempts although seeing the Flyers take THAT many penalties was….well gross.
Powerplay went 1 for 2.
Special teams have been heating up lately which is especially good this time of year. The Flyers are really gonna have to push to make the playoffs and the better special teams are, the greater chance they have.
Player of the game: It’s a hard one this time, Wayne Simmonds had a great game, Voracek and Giroux pulled off a great performance. But for me, Steve Mason takes this one. Mason made some crucial saves when they were most important and kept the Flyers pushing all night. Plus he gets some bonus points for that mask he displayed earlier today.
#PHIvsNSH pic.twitter.com/ltiTriWRvb
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 5, 2016
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This morning we unveiled Steve Mason’s new mask live on BOB. Check out the video here: https://t.co/FEVupLX33f pic.twitter.com/6vtfTYRR51
— Breakfast On Broad (@BOBonTCN) February 4, 2016
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Sidenote: Sean Couturier was injured during the game and did not return. I’ll be honest I wasn’t fully aware until closer to the end of the game since I was out watching the game but I’m hoping it’s not anything long term as we literally JUST got him back.
You can follow Ryan at @flywalker1975 on Twitter.
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