MONTREAL — After weeks of great opportunities that led to nothing, the Flyers finally broke it open and found the back of the net, helping them to beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-3, and avoid tying their franchise history record for most losses in a season.
Oskar Lindblom, who has been on a 13-game goalless skid, scored his first since March 22. Travis Konecny, who has had five goalless skids of five games or more, including a 19-game one, scored his second in four games. Ivan Provorov, who went 25 games without a goal and was on a five-game skid coming into Thursday, has been one of the team’s most prolific shooters recently and finally scored on one. Morgan Frost scored his first in 11 games and also had a 26-game goalless skid.
James van Riemsdyk, meanwhile, has scored recently but has also been dealing with a streaky season. He had 11-game and eight-game goalless streaks but has now scored in back-to-back games. His two-goal performance tied him with Cam Atkinson, who is out with injury, as the team’s leading goal-scorer.
Together, these players helped the Flyers score six for the first time since their Dec. 14th 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.
While the Flyers won the game, they by no means dominated. The teams traded the puck back and forth for much of the game. Goalie Martin Jones played a big role in keeping the team in it, making saves on breakaways. He also made a big save on the first goal of the game, but the puck slid away from him, keeping the play alive. Brendan Gallagher grabbed the puck and pushed it towards Brendan Hoffman to record a questionable goal.
The call did not matter in the end, and the Flyers emerged victorious, snapping a six-game skid. With the win, the team avoided tying franchise history for most losses in a season. The 2006-2007 team had 48 losses. The current team is at 43 with only four games left.
Tired kids dig deep
Over the course of six months, Noah Cates’ team played 42 college hockey games, Ronnie Attard’s played 39 and Bobby Brink’s played 41. Now, in less than a month, Cates has played 11, Attard has played 10 and Brink has played five. As can be expected, the college kids look tired.
Yet even through their exhaustion, the three of them found a way to give Flyers fans something positive to focus on. Attard had a perfect pass to Konecny to set him up for a breakaway goal, and Brink recorded two assists. Cates continued to make smart plays, and while he hasn’t been as effective on the forecheck as he was to start, the team has continued to demonstrate it trusts him. He also recorded an assist.
Disappearing defense
The past few weeks have been a study in what not to do on defense, with the most notable moment coming during Connor Sheary’s wide-open goal in the Washington Capitals game. The Flyers have done a great job of leaving players open or letting them get between them and the goal, and the Canadiens received a similar gift.
In the first period alone, the Canadiens rushed the net four times. Each time, they would have had a great, wide-open look at the net if they connected on the pass. Luckily for the Flyers, the Canadiens bailed them out by missing the connection each time.
Blacked out
The Flyers may have had three power plays, but it did not look like it. Their power play has been bad all season, but Thursday night, it was so bad, it was like it didn’t exist.
Instead of getting set up in the offensive zone and passing the puck around looking for good shots, the Flyers and the Canadiens traded breakaways. While the Canadiens didn’t score on any of their short-handed attempts, they were able to use the momentum to score not long after. The Flyers had one shot on goal on the first power play. They improved to four on the second but then had none on the third.
