At roughly one third of the way through the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers (13-13-2) have bounced back from an atrocious 1-7 start to hover at .500 and hold 28 points towards a playoff spot and are tied for third place in the metropolitan division.
Peter Laviolette was the head coach of the Flyers through training camp and preseason. This changed, however, after the team started 0-3 and he was fired. Laviolette was replaced by the assistant head coach, Craig “Chief” Berube. Since the change in coaching, the club has picked up their game.
The coaching change forced the team to focus more on skating and the fundamentals of hockey, according to Berube.
The Flyers made a trade on Oct. 31 that sent center Maxime Talbot to the Colorado Avalanche for right winger Steve Downie. The move was done to boost the Flyer’s offense, but it was just a swap of pretty average players.
The season has been rough as of yet for Captain Claude Giroux. Giroux plays center on the top line, and has been underperforming compared to the standards he set earlier in his career. After playing 28 games so far this season, Giroux, 25, has only scored five goals and totaled 15 assists. The first goal scored by Giroux this season came on Nov. 9 and ended a 21-game scoreless streak.
The entire team has had a rough time scoring this season as they are ranked 27 out of 30 teams in the NHL. The current team leaders for goals are right winger Matt Read and center Vincent Lecavalier (center), who both have nine (9) goals and 15 assists.
Recently center Sean Couturier’s third line has been red hot, seemingly the most productive and hardest playing line for the Flyers in recent games. This is not to discredit the rest of the club, however, who all push for every win they earn.
One of the biggest factors keeping the Flyers alive this season however, has been the Flyer’s goal tending. For the first time in recent memory, the Flyers have not had to worry compulsively about their goal tending situation.
Goal tending this season has been led by Steve Mason, 25. Mason is currently ranked seventh in save percentage, clocking in at .932 save percentage over 20 games. Mason has averaged only 2.14 goals allowed per game, according to flyers.nhl.com.
If Mason’s current play continues, it is highly likely that he will be considered for the Veniza trophy, which denotes the league’s top goalie, at the end of the season.
Ray Emory has been Mason’s relief, and has also been playing solid hockey.
Together, the coaching change and motivation of the team headed by Giroux have pulled the Flyers out of their dismal beginnings.
The Flyers played on Saturday, Dec. 7 in Dallas, and
The Flyers next play on Wednesday Dec. 10 against the Blackhawks in Chicago.