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In the movie Major League a cardboard cutout of fictitious, yet hated, Cleveland Indians owner Rachel Phelps was propped up in the clubhouse as a motivational tool.

With each game the team won, they would strip off a piece of clothing with the goal to expose her embarrassingly if they were able to win the American League Eastern Division.

The Flyers have no such prop motivating their play of late. They just keep winning – securing their seventh victory in a row by defeating the division-leading Washington Capitals 5-2 Wednesday to climb within a point of first place with 16 games to go.

The team is 17-5-1 since January 8, which ironically, is the same time the St. Louis Blues started their unexpected march to a Stanley Cup last season by playing “Gloria” after each win following a night out at a South Philly Mummer’s club celebrating the Eagles “double doink” playoff win over the Chicago Bears.

And yet, despite the Flyers steamrolling through their opponents, they are a plus-30 in goals in those 23 games, the only thing that motivates them is the desire to be the best team in the NHL.

That said, it’s hard to fathom that local media pundits – especially those in sports talk radio – aren’t feeling a bit like Rachel Phelps right about now.

They’re being forced to talk about a sport and a team they mostly don’t like or don’t really know anything about, no matter what nonsense they try to portray over the airwaves.

And while there are some who can make their way through it because they actually like hockey, or watch the games, or pay close enough attention to get by on some high level conversation, there are others who are squirming at the notion of any kind of real conversation that fans who call in might want to engage.

So, today, I thought I’d be of help. I’m a big fan of being charitable, so I thought I’d provide a 2019-2020 Flyers for Dummies post to kind of help the uninitiated be able to speak with a little more confidence about a team that is going to be more at the center of attention for the next couple months, at least, maybe longer.

I’m willing to help because frankly, I’m tired of the fake hockey conversation. I’m not bemused by the ancient trope that Flyers fans are insecure or that they don’t really know hockey, that they only know the Flyers – as if that’s a smart approach to talking about this team in 2020, when fans of a sport have more access to information and opportunities to pay attention to the rest of the league than ever before.

This Flyers team has been playing so well for so long now, that they not only deserve recognition and attention, but they deserve everyone knowing why they are playing this well.

So, insecure radio hosts, even those of you who pretend to not know I exist, this primer is for you.

It is also for those of you who are regular readers of Crossing Broad, but may not have embraced the sport of hockey to this point. It’s cool. I get it. I’m not bemoaning the fact that you don’t like hockey – to each his own – but, if you now want to get caught up in the Flyers fervor, then this is a good place to start.

So, without further ado…

Success Starts at the top

I’ve written this countless times, but for the uninitiated, the Flyers have a tremendous coaching staff that is new to the organization this year. Alain Vigneault (or, as everyone calls him, “AV”) is the head coach. He’s a button-pushing, martini drinking, Stanley Cup chasing son of a gun. He’s 10th on the all-time coaching wins list in the NHL and has taken two different teams to the Stanley Cup Final (Vancouver and the New York Rangers) but he has never won the Cup.

He’s had most of his success as a coach early in his tenures with the teams he’s coached (he’s also coached Montreal) as he is a demanding coach who gets his players to buy in to what he’s preaching early and often. And while that approach has a tendency to wear thin if it doesn’t result in winning, when it does, it manifests itself into a team that operates like a well-oiled machine that rarely falters, and when it does, self-corrects itself quickly.

The assistant coaches are Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo, both former head coaches. Yeo has gotten the penalty kill back to respectability and has them playing an aggressive style that actually leads to offensive chances despite being shorthanded. They have eight shorthanded goals, which is tied for sixth-best in the NHL.

Therrien has rejuvenated a once inconsistent power play, which is now absolutely on fire. On the season they are clicking at 21.6 percent, which is tied for ninth best in the NHL, but just in the last nine games the Flyers are 11-for-28 (39.3 percent). They have scored in eight of those nine games, and it’s not a surprise that they are 8-1-0 in those nine games as well.

Debunking a misleading take

You may hear people say that one of the reasons the Flyers are winning now is because they have finally embraced the way the game is played in the new NHL and gave up size and strength to become a smaller and faster team.

This is not true at all. So stop saying it.

Are the Flyers a little faster than last year? Yeah, sure. But when you look at the additions this season from last season, you don’t automatically think “speed.”

Matt Niskanen. Justin Braun. Kevin Hayes. Tyler Pitlick. Derek Grant. Nate Thompson. Robert Hagg replacing Shayne Gostisbehere. These aren’t speed upgrades at all.

Now, it may seem like the Flyers look fast, but that’s because of the system and style they play. What they are, instead of fast, is uber-aggressive. They hunt the puck. They come after you. They don’t stop skating. They take away your time and space and force quick decisions. They turn pucks over. They are opportunistic. This is the part that’s fun to watch, because it never stops. They keep coming and coming. That’s because AV is able to utilize four lines and three defensive pairs without issue. They all play a lot. It keeps the better players fresh. There is less wear and tear. Oh, and they are well-conditioned.

That’s a huge improvement. The Flyers seem to get stronger as games go on. That’s because they often have more left in their tank than their opponent. Their team conditioning is the best it’s been in a long time – maybe ever. This is where the analytics department has been incredibly helpful – analyzing data on player energy, sweat studies, rest, workout intensity – you name it, this is an unheralded spot where differences are being made. The Flyers aren’t practicing as much. Vigneault gives them a lot of time off the ice to recover and be fresh and ready for the next game.

But the Flyers are still big and strong too. Hayes and Sean Couturier are bigger-bodied centers who protect and possess the puck really well. Voracek has some size to him on the wing. the additions of Grant and Thompson bring size and physicality down the middle. Although he got hurt against Washington (more on that coming), James van Riemsdyk is tough to move once he anchors himself into a position.

On defense, although he’s a smooth skater for his size, Phil Myers brings it physically. Ditto Braun and Hagg.

None of these guys are winning speed skating competitions. Heck, the Flyers fastest skater is Travis Konecny and he came in next-to-last at the fastest skater competition at the All-Star weekend festivities.

Even guys like Scott Laughton, Tyler Pitlick, Michael Raffl, and Nick Aube-Kubel who are hybrid types, aren’t necessarily fast, it is just that no one out-works them, so it’s their energy and desire that makes them look faster than they are.

Here’s proof. Just look at the effort on this game-winning goal by Pitlick (and Hayes to set him up):

Don’t mistake determination, conditioning, style and structure for speed. It’s definitely not the same thing.

The best players play like the best players

Another fallacy is that the Flyers are doing this without guys like Claude Giroux and Voracek and van Riemsdyk having good enough seasons.

Hogwash.

Giroux’s point totals are down, for sure. But, he’s still on pace for 62 points, which would mark the eighth time in his career that he eclipses the 60-point plateau. He’s also one goal away from 20, which will also happen for the eighth time.

And, he’s been a lot more productive since being shifted back to the left wing from center since he’s more comfortable on the wing.

There’s been a noticeable difference in Giroux’s play the past two months from the first three. Not just in productivity either. He’s been more aggressive. He’s had dominant shifts. He’s looked like a former Hart Trophy finalist at times and not like an aging veteran who might be dealing form the wear-and-tear of playing in every game for the past four seasons and having missed only five games in the last seven seasons.

As for Voracek, while he got off to a slow start this season, he has ramped it up since December and is now on pace for 66 points, which would match last season’s output and tie his third-best scoring season of his career.

He’s also a guy who never gets hurt, having missed just 22 games in his entire 12-year career.

And, he has the veteran savvy to make a play like this:

That’s the dagger in a huge win over the Capitals. To have the wherewithal to stop and wait patiently for something to develop and see the fourth man charging up ice (Ivan Provorov) as his best option and then putting the puck on his stick in stride is something special.

Van Riemsdyk has been a quality player on the bottom six for the Flyers with 19 goals this season. It’s probably not where you expected a $7 million player to be located in your lineup, but it’s a role that suits him. And, at 30-years-old, he’s also rounded out his game to make some really great passes to set up teammates for goals, has played more physical, and became more of a 200-foot player when his reputation prior to this season had been that of an offense-only guy.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, this happened against Washington:

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1235371307954515968

That’s a broken right hand. That’s gonna take at least a month to heal. The Flyers will hope to get him back by the playoffs. Until then….

Acquaint yourself with Joel Farabee

Flyers fans know about this budding prospect, a guy drafted with one of the two first round picks acquired when the Flyers shipped Brayden Schenn to St. Louis.

Farabee is smart, skilled and mature beyond his 20 years.

He’s had good moments this season for the Flyers and posted 20 points in his first 49 games in the NHL, all of them as a teenager (He’s been 20 for all of nine days).

But Farabee was prone to making rookie mistakes and hitting the proverbial rookie wall at times. It was one of the reasons the Flyers went out and got Grant at the trade deadline. Farabee is going to be a huge part of this organizations future – maybe even a star player in the league at some point. But if the Flyers were going to make a run, they needed more veteran know-how.

Well, with JVR’s injury, Farabee needs to provide instant help now.

Thrusting him smack dab in the middle of a chase for the division crown where each game will be more and more intense, might help. It’ll get the adrenaline going and might get Farabee playing at a level he played at times this season. There’s no doubt he was the best option to recall at this point, and he could be a difference maker.

Speaking of difference makers –

The goalie tandem

There were a lot of people who questioned AV’s decision to start Brian Elliott in Washington Wednesday and save Carter Hart for Thursday’s home game against Carolina. But, there was a good reason for that.

The pair were going to split the games anyway. Elliott had success the last time in Washington against the Capitals (a 7-2 Flyers win) and Hart has been almost flawless on home ice this season.

And, as big as the game against Washington was on Wednesday – and it definitely had  playoff-like feel, there’s a difference playing a game against a team who knows they’re going to be in the playoffs as opposed to a team that’s still desperately trying to get into the playoffs, as the Hurricanes are trying to do.

Carolina is going to bring a different kind of intensity to the game Friday. One that Hart should experience more and more as the playoffs near. And although fans want to see Hart succeed on the road, where he’s been less than stellar this season, this setup for the back-to-backs makes sense.

Hart will get more starts on the road this season – and in a couple of big games I imagine – so there’s still time for fans to “see” that. And there’s no doubt he’s going to be the guy in the playoffs. But as far as managing the team and putting them in the best possible shape to accumulate standings points, AV handled this beautifully.

Finally – who is the team’s best player?

Career-wise it’s still Giroux, and it’s not even close. He’s a Hall-of-Famer. Lock it in. But this season, there’s been a debate between Konecny and Couturier.

It’s a good debate. Both are deserving candidates.

Konecny leads the team in scoring with a career-best 61 points including this goal that tied the score at 1-1 with Washington:

He’s a little Danny Briere. A little Brad Marchand. And a lot to like in Philadelphia with his mentality on the ice. There’s no doubt he’s the engine of this team right now.

But Couturier means the most. He’s the top line center. He’s second in scoring behind Konecny with 58 points. He plays against the best players on the opposition all night, every game (Alex Ovechkin in four games against the Flyers this year had zero points. Think about that for a second and let it sink in). He is the ultimate 200-foot player. He plays in all situations. He’s probably going to win his first Selke award as the best defensive forward in the NHL.

He’s the most invaluable player to this lineup. No doubt. He means more to the Flyers at this point than anyone. More than Giroux. More than Voracek. More than Konecny. More than Hayes. More than Provorov and yes, more than Hart.

He’s the most valuable commodity on the Flyers. If you say otherwise, I’ll know you didn’t read this primer.

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