On this day of giving thanks for the family and friends you have there is also a lot of eating. You go for seconds and thirds, and in my house – where the eating begins at noon and doesn’t stop until about 11 p.m. – there are fourths and fifths.

Which reminds me – my family should have patented the “Thanksgiving sandwich” idea years ago. You can now get “the Pilgrim” or “the Gobbler” or whatever fancy name they call it in many places, but for 40 years the SanFilippo clan has been slathering turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing with a little mayo on a sandwich as a late evening snack on Thanksgiving. Before there was a third NFL game on Thanksgiving, there was always a college game, so, at halftime, we’d all venture from the living room to the kitchen and get our sandwich. I’m sure I’ll do it tonight too. Sigh.

Anyway…

My whole lame attempt to the lead-in to this Flyers story was that our local hockey team kicked off the Thanksgiving celebration with a series of firsts, before we get our seconds and thirds today.

(rimshot)

Okay, I know. Don’t quit the day job.

But it’s true. Between debuts and goals and losing streaks and Eastern Conference opponents and Metropolitan Division opponents there were a lot of things that happened for the first time last night, or the first time in a while.

But one thing happened that’s been happening frequently lately – the Flyers still lost.

Oh this one was in overtime, so they got a point (celebrate!) but it was their sixth consecutive loss, and if you really want to look how bad it’s gotten, it’s their 12th loss in their last 16 games (4-7-5). Yeah, getting five points in overtime or shootout doesn’t make it seem as bad – but it is. They’ve only won consecutive games once all season.

So, when you tell everyone what you’re thankful for today, it’s a pretty safe assumption one item on the list is not going to be your favorite hockey team.

They did play their first game against an Eastern Conference Team since Oct. 21 and their first Metropolitan foe since the home opener, but it didn’t change things, and the Flyers are still a last place team in what is starting to feel like a lost season.

But, as is always the case, there are things to take away from this game – and here they are:

1. The best fourth line in hockey that isn’t even a line any more

I’m sorry, I can’t let that moniker go ever since it was bestowed upon Taylor Leier, Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl by a scout talking to SportsNet.ca’s Elliotte Friedman last month.

I get the sentiment – because the three of them are incredibly hard-working, never take a shift off, provide great energy and are reliable every time on the ice.

But lets not blow their impact out of proportion. You have to score goals in hockey and the trio, entering last night, had a combined two goals – both scored by Laughton.

In recent games, Raffl had been moved off the line onto a third line and Leier and Laughton had been stuck with Jori Lehtera. And just because the line was alliterative didn’t mean they were getting a nickname – because with Lehtera in the mix, it was sure to be an undesirable handle.

But, last night, Leier and Laughton were joined by a struggling Jordan Weal as Lehtera was benched in favor of Danick Martel, who was called up from the Phantoms to make his NHL debut (more on him in a bit).

The change in the lineup may be temporary, or it may be permanent after last night – who knows –  but they finally had a scoring bite in a game – doubling their season output in goals last night to four.

First it was Leier, getting his first goal in 25 games, dating back to last season:

By the way… we’re starting to see a little more of this out of Sanheim with each game. He’s starting to get more confident in his ability to drive the play offensively.

But this isn’t about him! This is about Leier, who finally got into the scoring column after so many great chances this season.

I won’t say he’s snakebitten – although there were a few unfortunate outcomes on chances he had. No, Leier, like any other player who gets a decent amount of ice time needs to find a way to score more than once every 25 games.

But he’s been a guy I’ve enjoyed watching play the game the right way on a night-in, night-out basis. He’s definitely a cerebral hockey fan’s type of player. He doesn’t show up on the score sheet all that often, but he does little things that aren’t measured statistically so well, that you want to see him on the ice even more.

The other goal broke an even longer drought:

It was Raffl’s first goal in 43 games. He hasn’t even had an assist in that amount of time either. And yet, like Leier, he’s a guy you don’t mind seeing out on the ice because he’s positionally sound.

Again, does he need to score more? Yes. Absolutely. to have just one point through 22 games isn’t acceptable.

But that’s likely the only check mark on the negative side of Raffl’s ledger.

He does a lot of other things well and he’s a responsible player. Not to mention, he’s one of the most well-liked guys on the team:

And they truly are ecstatic for the guy. It’s not the most important thing in sports, but locker room chemistry is more paramount in hockey than any other sport and Raffl is a glue guy in the Flyers’ room.

My favorite part of the Raffl goal though occurred on radio.

I was in the car during intermission and because of holiday traffic, I had to take in the first five minutes of the second period on the radio.

Just before the second period started, Steve Coates predicted that with the way Raffl played in the first period that he would score a goal in the game.

Well, 42 seconds later, Raffl’s goal happened.

After Tim Saunders finished his goal call, Coatesy, in all his broadcasting glory, yelled, “I’m going to the track!”

It was pretty comical that it happened so soon after Coatesy’s clairvoyant prediction.

But Coatesy did take it too far.

“Once he gets one, they’ll start coming in bunches,” he said.

Not sure he wants to take that one to the track – or the bank.

2. Danick Martel and Sam Morin

Continuing the concept of firsts – these two guys played their first game of the season for the Flyers and for Martel it was his first game in the NHL.

Fans have been clamoring for Morin for a long time now – and it’s likely he would have been up sooner had he not had a groin injury – but the 22-year-old is still a work in progress.

I mean, you have to love this:

and here’s another angle:

That’s what he brings. He also mixed it up with veteran Andrew Ladd in this game, and the two had to be separated before the fists flew (lucky for Ladd). And he did a nice job clearing the front of the net when he was on the ice.

But Morin took two penalties – and one led to a power play goal for the Islanders – so there’s going to be some taking the good with the bad with Morin for a bit.

But Flyers fans should be happy – as Morin, Sanheim, Gostisbehere, Provorov and Hagg were all in the lineup on defense for the first time last night. It’s the future of the blue line. It’s going to be a while before it matures as a group – but it’s an exciting glimpse into the future.

As for Martel, he’s come out of nowhere.

Well, not completely out of nowhere. I did suggest after this game a month ago to give the kid a chance.

(Not sure why you’d read anyone else!)

But, Martel wasn’t even on the radar as a top Flyers prospect. And why should he have been? He was signed as an undrafted free agent a few years back and has toiled mostly in obscurity in the AHL since.

Yeah, he scores at that level, but the fact is he’s small. I mean, really small. He’s listed at 5-9, but that’s if he’s on skates. He’s listed at 170 pounds – but that’s with soaking wet clothes on.

Yeah, he’s diminutive.

But, there have been small players who made a pretty good living in this sport – just look at Danny Briere’s career.

Martel has that Briere-like scoring ability. And he can skate – boy can he skate. Check out this breakaway chance from last night for evidence:

He ended up with six shot attempts, three on goal, and blocked four shots in 12:07 of ice time. His four blocks led the team.

Martel played predominantly on the second line as a left wing to Nolan Patrick and Wayne Simmonds.

He was given the chance by the Flyers instead of Mike Vecchionne for two reasons:

  1. the Flyers needed help on the wing more than down the middle.
  2. the Flyers needed goal scoring help.

Martel was leading the AHL in goals at the time of his call-up.

All said, it was an excellent first game for Martel – one that probably will keep him in the mix here with the big club for awhile anyway.

3. So if Martel sticks, what happens elsewhere to the roster?

O.K. so, this isn’t a takeaway from the game, but it’s an intriguing question nonetheless.

The simple thought is the Flyers waive either Dale Weise or Jori Lehtera, both of whom are dead weight on this roster – and neither will be claimed, meaning they could send one down to the Phantoms.

But here’s an interesting thought – what if they play Lehtera or Weise for a few games and scratch Jordan Weal?

I doubt they would place Weal on waivers. They already took that gamble once last season and were fortunate he wasn’t claimed. But I’m told they are worried Weal isn’t right, right now. Maybe it’s the two concussions he’s suffered this year. Maybe he’s just struggling to gain his footing in this lineup as it’s currently situated, but Weal was expected to be more productive a player, and right now, he’s not.

His ice time has been dipping further and further with each passing game and last night he played a season-low eight minutes.

From the folks I’ve spoken to around the team, it just seems like right now he’s the 12th forward, and he’s barely clinging to that spot.

Weal needs to find his game again, and sometimes sitting out 2-3 games helps a player do that.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the scratch list sooner rather than later.

4. The penalty kill sucks.

I can’t put it more bluntly than that. Right now, the penalty kill is as bad as I’ve ever seen a penalty kill be in Philadelphia.

Yes, they aren’t worst in the league, but they are 28th out of 31 teams and giving up a power play goal 25% of the time.

That’s dreadful.

Compounding that number, the Flyers have allowed eight power play goals against in the last four games and have been beaten on seven of the past 12 shorthanded opportunities.

What’s going on here?

Well, for one, the Flyers miss a couple of oft-maligned defensemen – Andrew MacDonald and Radko Gudas.

For as much as fans despise their games, this is definitely one area of strength for both. It’s also why the Flyers have brought Morin into the mix – hoping to stabilize this.

MacDonald should be back soon and Gudas has to miss seven more games. It should be interesting to see which way the Flyers ultimately go with their young defensemen once those things happen – because a log jam is coming assuming no one else gets injured.

But the forwards haven’t been great either. I’m not sure why they are making Wayne Simmonds kill penalties. He’s never been a staunch penalty killer, and now he’s out there with Sean Couturier and he’s having a hard enough time skating as it is with his groin issues. That one’s befuddling me.

All told, the Flyers might need a new approach here – because obviously, whatever they’ve been doing to this point isn’t working. At all.

5. Ghost continues to struggle

Dave Hakstol should just put Shayne Gostisbehere back with Robert Hagg and let the other defensemen figure it out.

Ever since MacDonald’s injury, when Ghost and Hagg were separated, Ghost has been a different player. He’s made mistakes – too many of them. He lacks confidence. He turns the puck over.

Before the MacDonald injury, Ghost was playing his best hockey – maybe ever. He looked great. He told me playing with Hagg helped him significantly.

But ever since, well, we have plays like this:

In the ridiculous 3-on-3 overtime, it’s a game of man-to-man defense. And while Couturier busted his rear end to cover John Tavares, Ghost decided he wasn’t going to play man-to-man at all, and, well, Josh Bailey won the game for the Islanders.

That cannot happen.

You aren’t going to pull Ghost from the lineup, but the least the coach can do is get him back playing with a partner who makes him play with the confidence needed.

They should never have been separated. They need to be reunited. Tomorrow.