It’s been nearly two weeks since the Flyers were rocked with the news that their teammate Oskar Lindblom had been diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. They were expected to somehow play back-to-back games immediately thereafter, resulting in back-to-back losses as part of a three-game losing streak. It would’ve been easy to let things go fully off the rails and honestly, who could blame such a young team for losing sight of the on-ice results with such a massive blow coming off-ice?

And yet, the Flyers have rebounded in a way very few believed they could. Inspired by an appearance from Oskar Lindblom at the Tuesday morning skate before last week’s game against Anaheim, the team has done exactly what their teammate asked of them: Win. They’ve now done it four times in a row. Monday night’s win was as great of a way to cap off that run and enter the holiday break.

“You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss”

I have to imagine the Flyers knew what they were getting themselves into on Monday night. The Rangers are by no means an Eastern Conference powerhouse, but they did feature the ultimate equalizer: “King” Henrik Lundqvist. Head coach Alain Vigneault and center Kevin Hayes know him all too well, with the former having served as New York’s head coach for five years and the latter a teammate for nearly five seasons. If there’s one bit of advice the team would have to follow, it was that of Omar in The Wire: “You come at the king, you best not miss.”

Lundqvist was an absolute stud for 40 minutes, including stops like this:

But it changed in the third period. The Flyers were relentless and turned this game on its head.

Sanheim Steamroller

Things had gotten away from the Flyers in the second period, including a bad turnover from Ivan Provorov leading to a shorthanded goal by the Rangers. With just seconds remaining in the second period, second-year defenseman Travis Sanheim ripped a wicked wrister with just two seconds remaining to beat the clock:

Sanheim admitted after the game that while he knew time was running out, he didn’t know it was that close to the horn. It was brought up to Alain Vigneault that the Flyers’ record when winning or tied after two is exponentially better than when they trail. AV said of the importance of Sanheim’s goal, “It’s a tough league to come back. I mean if you look at the numbers, there are not many teams that are coming back. There’s no doubt that that goal at the end of the second period momentum wise, energy wise gave us a boost.”

Later in the game, Sanheim kept momentum rolling as he whipped in a shot that broke the sound barrier, probably:

Sanheim was asked after the game if seeing an open net like that made him grip the stick a little tighter, which he said very well might have happened. Regardless, he put the biscuit in the basket and capped off a strong performance.

Kevin Hayes: One of Us

Speaking of strong performances. Former Ranger Kevin Hayes was everywhere on Monday night. Go back and rewatch the first period of this game and you’ll see a guy who clearly got up for this one. About seven and a half minutes into the third period, a recently resurgent James van Riemsdyk led a dangerous attack across the blue line, passed off to Joel Farabee, who dished a cross-ice dime to the stick of Hayes, who did the rest and gave the Flyers a lead they would never relinquish:

That’s as gorgeous of a finish as you’re going to see, going top shelf glove-side on Lundqvist. He added to it about ten minutes later:

That’s a patient, confident play by Hayes.

While Hayes downplayed the importance of the beating his former team, Vigneault admitted the game meant more than Hayes led on:

I’m sure it meant more to him than to me. I mean, he’s been wound up about this game for a while. I don’t know if he told you, maybe he just told it was just another game, but I know that meant a lot to him. He’s a very emotional, young man and scored two really big goals for us tonight.

This morning in our meeting, I definitely looked at him in front of everybody and I said, “This is a big game for me, this must be a big game for you.” And we both smiled. So, without a doubt, the first time you play against a team where you’ve got some good memories, and you were there for quite a bit of time, it’s always an emotional and challenging game.

Major props to Hayes and Vigneault for delivering a win against their former team.

NAK Continuing to Prove He Belongs

Anthony will have a sidebar on Nic Aube-Kubel later today or tomorrow, but he’s been an absolute beast since getting the call-up from the Phantoms. He was one of the very few players former GM Ron Hextall mentioned by name prior to last season when we had him on Snow The Goalie, citing NAK’s value as an internal candidate to fix a previously woeful penalty kill.

He was rewarded on Monday night with an excellent finish, his first in the NHL.

#OskarStrong

Anthony and I had a chance to chat with Kim Parent of Biscuit Tees on Monday’s Snow The Goalie. We knew that her company had raised some significant funds for cancer research through the sale of their Oskar Strong shirts, but she dropped the six-figure number on us: $115,000. That’s amazing. Kudos to the Rangers players who donned the apparel prior to the game:

I know the Flyers are planning to roll out the “Now or Never” and “All or Nothing” campaigns for the second half of the season and – assuming they make it – a playoff run, but if I had a direct line to the marketing department, I’d tell them to scrap it. Stick to #OskarStrong, purple imagery, and charitable donations – both monetary and hundreds thousands of empty seats (originally sold to brokers) to families of cancer patients at local hospitals – rather than continuing the pretty stale three-word slogans.

Home Ice Advantage

If you want to know what’s been the key to the Flyers’ success thus far this season, look no further than home ice advantage. Despite playing in front of some sparse crowds, the Orange & Black have been simply lights out at home:

There’s something brewing at Wells Fargo Center this season. Add in the Sixers’ 15-2 start at home, and the teams have combined for 28 wins in 36 games.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, some other holiday, or nothing at all, the Flyers and Sixers have given plenty of reasons to cheer at home. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

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