Maybe I’ve been watching too many episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix, but for the past 36 hours I feel like I’m in the “Upside Down.”

The Eagles looked bad for the first time all season (although I was the only member of the CB team to see that coming).

The Sixers got beat on their home court by a woeful Phoenix Suns team.

And… the Flyers won a game.

Seriously. They won. The 10-game losing streak is over.

Not only that – the Flyers scored five goals and all of them were scored by forwards not known for their ginger hair or beards (when they haven’t shaved them off).

Funny what happens when you have secondary scoring, eh?

The Flyers had more than that though – they had great goaltending from Brian Elliott – which was the real difference in the game. They had some good fortune and had some bounces finally going their way and they did something they haven’t been doing at all for much of the season – they got to the net. Four of their five goals were the result of getting into the dirty area of the ice and cleaning up the trash.

Those are all positives and the right way to finally end a 10-game losing streak.

But there are still a bunch of things to worry about because this team isn’t out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

To the takeaways:

1. A breakup, albeit maybe only temporary

It’s been more than a couple weeks now since I first suggested breaking up the top line. While Dave Hakstol wasn’t keen on the idea then, he needed to lose 10 straight games before he realized his roster was too top-heavy.

So, he finally made the change last night in Calgary.

Now, he didn’t break it up in the same way that I would have – I still think there is a way to spread out the talent even more than he did – but what he tried last night worked, so kudos there.

I’m not sure it’s sustainable, because the Flyers, despite winning by three goals, were dominated by Calgary (more on that later), but enough guys did enough good things to produce the win.

Jake Voracek, the team’s leading scorer mind you, was removed from the top line and replaced by Wayne Simmonds.

Voracek has certainly had his defensive struggles, but he’s the best playmaker on the team, so putting him with some other guys you would hope would score more is not a bad idea. And it worked – as Voracek assisted on three of the Flyers’ five goals.

Actually, his new second line, centered by Valtteri Filppula and with Michael Raffl on the left wing, was really good last night. It wasn’t the best line for the Flyers – although it did produce the most points. Combined, they posted a pair of goals and five assists. That’s a productive night.

Even better though was the new third line of Taylor Leier, Scott Laughton, and Jordan Weal. This trio was flying all night and creating chances. Laughton had a pair of goals to end a 21-game drought and Leier and Weal each added an assist on his second goal.

Now, there was no Flyer with a positive Corsi figure in the game (Laughton was their best player with a CF% of 47.06) But the third line’s CF%Rel was easily the best on the team with Laughton (18.85) and Leier (14.64) No. 1 and No. 2 on the team and Weal (11.69) fourth-best.

Simmonds scored off a nice kick pass from Sean Couturier, but that was a power play goal and, frankly, at 5-on-5, that line didn’t generate much.

This was primarily because Simmonds doesn’t control the puck as well as Voracek does and isn’t a playmaker, meaning others have to drive the play – and they couldn’t against a mediocre Calgary team.

Instead, they were severely outshot by the Flames when they were on the ice. That might be something Hakstol would consider tinkering with.

As for the fourth line of Dale Weise, Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny, they were simply dreadful. Their CF% as a trio on the ice was 10.53%. That means that the Flames had almost 90% of the shots in the seven minutes or less that trio was on the ice.

Not good.

2. Go to the net and good things happen

Let’s look at four Flyers goals here, in order. First, Filppula:

https://twitter.com/CFJastrzembski/status/937874951679479809

Filppula ultimately did get credit, but the important thing here is, look where both Raffl and Filppula are. That’s right, right around the crease to put in a rebound or deflect a shot, or to screen the goalie. This is good positioning.

Next, Laughton’s first goal:

https://twitter.com/CFJastrzembski/status/937883400379207680

Sure looked like Ghost at first, but on super slow mo replay from another angle not available here, Laughton actually tips the puck in front of goalie Mike Smith before slam dunking it behind him (even though the puck was already across the line).

Laughton, who for my money was the best skater in the game, does so much well here. He gets in front of the goalie, makes the deflection and then stays in the crease area to assure the puck goes in the net.

Again – the Flyers need more plays like this every game.

Next, Simmonds goal:

https://twitter.com/CFJastrzembski/status/937884787297193984

This actually capped off a wild barrage of three goals in 1:11 for the Flyers – and it came on a lucky power play after Couturier was clipped by a high stick belonging to his teammate Andrew MacDonald that the refs inexplicably whistled on Calgary’s Michael Frolik.

Regardless, the Flyers took advantage with two guys who, to be fair, have been going to the net all season (and in Simmonds case, his entire career).

Couturier gets into good scoring position and kicks the puck to Simmonds who is in his office and scores easily.

This 1:11 stretch, which also included this beauty of a goal by Raffl –

https://twitter.com/CFJastrzembski/status/937884272324726784

– was the difference in the game, for sure. Because, aside from this 1:11, the Flyers were pretty much outplayed.

However, they did get one more goal in the third period from Laughton that did secure the win:

https://twitter.com/CFJastrzembski/status/937896435768492032

Again, crashing the net. These videos should be on repeat in the Flyers meeting rooms. Just show them over and over until it is ingrained in these players that that’s how they have to score.

Because if not, they can’t win. Plain and simple. Unless…

3. Brian Elliott steals one

You knew this game was going to have some meaning for Elliott. He played for the Flames last year and it was his first game back in Calgary.

He had already lost a heartbreaker in overtime to the Flames a couple weeks ago at the Wells Fargo Center, but it’s always different against a former team in the old barn.

Elliott, who has been really good for the Flyers despite the awful run, was excellent again.

He was under constant duress in this game and kept the Flyers in it from the jump. Calgary’s first goal was a bad rebound by Elliott, but aside from that he stopped almost everything. The Flames fired 80 shots. (80!) Of those, 45 were on net and Elliott stopped 43 (a .956 save percentage).

That’s good. Really good. So good, in fact, that it snapped the losing streak pretty much all by itself.

The TV crew correctly named Elliott the star of the game.

And he wasn’t flashy. Not in the least. But he was sound. He was positionally on point. He was calm, cool and collected.

He was Moose:

The problem is, he’s going to have to be that a lot more often because…

4. The Flyers were outmatched… again

I keep harping on the fact that this has to be systemic. It has to. These Flyers players can’t be so dumb to constantly be caught in the same mistakes time after time.

And it’s not just mistakes that lead to goals, but mistakes that lead to odd-man rushes. Constant odd-man rushes. Calgary had a bunch last night. It’s unreal.

Sure, sometimes it’s the result of a bad pass, or an inability to get a puck in deep, but other times it’s simply positioning, and if the Flyers aren’t positioned properly, most of the time it’s because that’s how they are being coached to play.

And the fact that it keeps happening is indicative that other teams see it on film and look to exploit it.

Look at the game flow:

That’s all Calgary. From the opening faceoff to the final whistle.

The Flyers can’t play this way and expect to win with any consistency. Instead, this is a formula for losing more often than not. This outcome is definitely an exception to the rule.

A look at the heat map may explain why:

You see the Flyers didn’t get many chances, but the ones they did were from in close, as we pointed out already. Meanwhile, Calgary was shooting from everywhere. However, to the Flyers credit, they didn’t let the Flames get to the front of the net all that much.

They took most of their shots from the right circle but couldn’t generate much from Elliott’s kitchen.

That was a benefit to the Flyers, and likely why this game didn’t turn into a track meet.

5. Loose Pucks

  • Dale Weise playing less than seven minutes doesn’t concern me, but Patrick and Konecny do. I know neither have earned much with their play of late, but these are two of the most important pieces of this Flyers rebuild. Please recognize this as a rebuild and get the young kids more time.
  • I have to think, as well as Elliott is playing, that Michal Neuvirth will get one of the next two starts either in Edmonton or in Vancouver. Edmonton is really struggling, so, maybe he gets the nod there and Elliott goes in Vancouver before the Flyers get a four-day break.
  • This hit on Weise earned Travis Hamonic a match penalty. I think that’s borderline for a match penalty and I don’t expect a suspension:

https://twitter.com/CFJastrzembski/status/937897054835281922