Let me start this post with a disclaimer – the Buffalo Sabres stink.

They’re terrible in the worst sort of way. Not only have they been bad for a long time, but their young talent is starting to become disgruntled, their owner is starting to get one of those Dan Snyder reputations in that he brings on new GMs and coaches and then fires them quickly without getting any results, and now they are going to finish out the season likely at the bottom of the East Division, with 10 unrestricted free agents, an additional eight restricted free agents, and, without a true sense of direction, are likely going to be asked by their captain and star player Jack Eichel for a trade out of town.

Simply, they are a mess.

But you didn’t come here to read a post about the worst team in the East. Instead, you came here to read one about a team that could be the best team in the East.

‘Woah, slow your jets Anthony. The Flyers are still in fourth place. Have you forgotten about first place Washington? Or how about that Boston team who has already beaten the Flyers five times in five games this season? Or the third place New York Islanders, who we know from last year’s playoffs really know how to play against these Flyers? Put down the Elmer’s glue, Bud!’

I know, I know. And maybe I’m writing this post too soon. Wining three in a row against division bottom feeders and shutting out the same opponent in consecutive games for the first time this millennium, as they did in identical 3-0 blankings of the Sabres, isn’t necessarily the sign we’ve been waiting for.

Maybe I should wait until after next weekend, after the Flyers play three straight games in Pittsburgh against their arch rival and follow that with a home game against the Caps next Sunday to cap a stretch of six games in nine days.

Maybe they’re headed for a skid from such a tiring schedule. Maybe they are right where they’re supposed to be – behind the Caps and Bruins and battling the Islanders and Penguins for the final two playoff spots in the division.

Here’s the thing… I’m starting to see something that I haven’t seen in nearly a year with this Flyers team, and it was at that time, in early March of last year, in the two weeks before our lives were upended by the pandemic, that I was really starting to believe the Flyers were a Stanley Cup contender.

It was at that time that I was boldly predicting they would catch and pass the Caps and win the Metropolitan Division and would cruise into the Eastern Conference Final, where only a matchup would Tampa Bay would be a bad one.

It was at that time that watching the way the Flyers played at 5-on-5, where they controlled possession of the puck, got contributions from all over the lineup (like the Michael Raffl goal below), fired tons of shots on net and limited chances for the opposition, made you think that they were going to be a very difficult team to defeat four times in seven games:

And for the first time this season, we’re seeing the same thing. Since the debacle in Lake Tahoe a week ago Sunday, the Flyers are 3-0-0, have outscored their opponents 10-3, have out-shot their opponents 116-78, and have dominated play at 5-on-5.

They’ve also gotten excellent goaltending, temporarily stopped the bleeding of a disastrous penalty kill against Buffalo – who somehow had the No. 1 ranked power play in the NHL heading into each game against the Flyers – and although the Flyers’ own power play was just 2-for-13 over those three games, a vast improvement in style and structure – and opportunity – was evident.

This is how the Flyers want to play games, night in and night out, regardless of the opponent.

“We’ve been working since day one on our process and we haven’t shied away from the fact that we were winning games but we could be better,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “I said this last year and I’ll say it again, teams that progress and improve throughout the year are the teams that are able to get into the playoffs and compete for that Stanley Cup. We want to be one of those teams, so we will continue to improve our game.”

Yeah, the division is tight. The Flyers have only played Washington once so far (and beaten them), so that means there are seven more games against them coming. As are six more each with the Penguins and the Islanders and not to mention three more with the Bruins.

That means that 22 of the final 38 games this season are coming against the four teams the Flyers are battling for position with in the division. But here are a few things that should be pointed out:

  1. The Flyers are 11-1-1 this season against teams not from Boston.
  2. The Flyers haven’t played the Bruins with a fully healthy lineup yet.
  3. Oh, and the Flyers are 5-0-0 this season so far against those other three teams (WAS, NYI, PIT).

In fact, expanding on No. 2 above, with the exception of their opening night win against the Penguins, the Flyers have yet to play a game this season with a fully healthy lineup.

Whether it was Sean Couturier missing three weeks with an injury, Phil Myers missing a few games with an injury, or seven regulars in the lineup missing time from being on the COVID-19 protocol list, the Flyers have put together a record tied for the the fewest regulation losses in the NHL (four – with Toronto and Vegas) and are only behind those two teams for fewest total losses.

Sure, there was a 10-day pause in their season, but it’s not like they’ve played a ton fewer games than the rest of the league. Dallas and New Jersey have played fewer. Minnesota, Colorado, and San Jose have played the same amount. In the East Division, Only Washington and the Isles have played as many as three more games than the Flyers – and after the next week, things are going to be much more even.

All of this early season success for the Flyers has happened despite the injuries/COVID-19 protocols already outlined, but also with a defensive lineup that is seemingly a different six defensemen every game, Carter Hart struggling a little bit, and special teams being mediocre at best, and… well, far from mediocre at worst.

Travis Konecny, the last of the Flyers players to be on the COVID-19 protocol list, finally was removed Sunday. The Flyers don’t practice Monday, so it’s unlikely he will play in Pittsburgh Tuesday, but he’s probably going to get in enough skating in the next three days to rejoin the lineup Thursday.

Barring any other injuries, it’ll be the first time coach Vigneault will have the chance to have the 20 players he wants in uniform for a game since the opener. That, of course, is good news. Combine that with the way they are playing hockey all of the sudden, and we could see the Flyers go on 38-game run to close this season similar to the final 38 games before the pandemic hit last season (24-12-2).

And if they do that, they’ll win this division. Heck, as close as this division is, they might not even need to be that good. But if they are, we could be looking at a lot of hockey this summer.

Some things to note from the weekend in Buffalo

1. Both Brian Elliott and Carter Hart played superb. As bad as Buffalo is, shutting out a team on back to back nights in their own building is a very difficult thing to do. The Flyers played excellent team defense, but both Elliott and Hart had to come up with some big saves at key moments in the games to keep the Sabres off the board and keep the Flyers in a strong position to win:

2. The Flyers recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time since October, 2015. It was the first time they shut out the same opponent in consecutive games since 1999. And it was the first time in franchise history they had back-to-back shutouts in consecutive road games. All told, the Flyers have now shut out the Sabres the last three times they played them, running the shutout streak to 181 minutes, 11 seconds. The next time the two teams meet will be next Tuesday, March 9, at Wells Fargo Center.

3. Sean Couturier has a six-game point streak, matching the longest of his career. He scored a goal in each of the two games against Buffalo, continuing to show just how important a player he is to the Flyers and their success. His goal Sunday was an incredible individual effort, from using his body to protect the puck, to the one-hand pass, to Joel Farabee to getting in position for the rebound. In fact, the only game Couturier doesn’t have at least one point this season is the second game of the season against Pittsburgh in which he only played one shift before getting hurt and missing three weeks:

4. James van Riemsdyk keeps on plugging away. He had a goal and an assist on Sunday and now has at least one point in 11 of the last 12 games (current point streak is four). He has registered at least one point in 14 of the Flyers 18 games this season. He has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points, which has him tied for seventh in the NHL in scoring.

5. As often as people want to criticize the Flyers’ defensive group, they’ve been excellent, on the whole, of late. No matter what combination Vigneault goes with, it seems to work. Justin Braun has been really good since returning from the COVID-19 protocol, and his new pairing with Travis Sanheim really worked well for the Flyers, but it’s been Shayne Gostisbehere who has been the revelation recently, and it’s because he had a revelation of his own.

“I’m realizing more and more as I get older that less is more,” Gostisbehere said. “You can do the same thing by doing the easy thing… I took a step in the right direction defensively. That was my main focus. If I was going to play with Provy I needed to focus on the defensive side.”

6. Vigneault earned his 700th career win Sunday, tying him with Mike Babcock for eighth place all-time among NHL coaches. He said he’s been fortunate to coach great organizations with excellent GMs who gave him great rosters to work with and he’s also been fortunate to be able to pick his assistant coaches who are a huge help. But he finished his answer by saying “there’s one win I still don’t have that I still want to get.” Until that happens, winning 700 is still martini-worthy. Cheers.

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