Rasputin. Blackbeard. Trotsky. The Black Knight. Jason Voorhees. Cockroaches. The 2020-21 Philadelphia Flyers. What do they all have in common?

They’re all really difficult to kill off.

The Flyers hung around to fight another day again Saturday with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. The regulation victory had the Flyers leapfrog the New York Rangers back into 5th place in the East Division and closed the gap with the Bruins to four points in the race for the final playoff spot. Keep in mind the Bruins also still have two games in hand.

Nevertheless, this Flyers team, one that with their play much of this season shouldn’t be applying for inclusion in the Mensa society, has finally decided it’s time to play hockey the right way.

They probably waited far too long to get their heads on straight, as making up a four-point deficit with just 16 games to go, while not impossible, is difficult in the NHL. But for all the times they’ve been put on blast, and deservedly so, this group has strung together five very strong performances in a row.

They are only 2-1-2 in those five games, and the one game where they lost in regulation and didn’t even earn a single point was the 4-2 loss to these same Bruins last Tuesday that really put a major crimp in the Flyers playoff aspirations. Still, it is easily their best five-game-stretch of hockey this season.

In terms of points, they actually had better five-game outcomes than this one three times this season – they were 3-1-1 to start the season, went 4-0-1 in late January and had a 4-1-0 mark right before the March swoon occurred, but it’s safe to say that even during those clumps of games, their play was wildly inconsistent.

In the past five games, all against quality opposition, the Flyers have played really well at 5-on-5, have gotten very good goaltending, have had their dormant penalty kill come to life, and although it could have been better, the power play even contributed a little bit.

And they still believe they can pull this off, even if very few people outside of their bubble agree with them.

But, things can get interesting on Sunday – the Flyers host Buffalo, who despite giving the Flyers fits, still stink. Meanwhile, Boston had to travel to Washington, and they play the Caps today down three defensemen and two goalies.

So, by the time Sunday dinner rolls around, the Flyers could be within two points of the Bruins, which is crazy. Not that the Flyers think it’s crazy. When I asked Travis Konecny the same question I asked Jake Voracek after the shootout loss to the Islanders Thursday — if they believed they could win five-or-six in a row and get back into a playoff spot, I got a similar response:

“Yeah, of course. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about gaining momentum and confidence and trying to string together those segments where you’re winning a lot of games. As far as how we’ve been playing, we’re not super surprised. It’s how we’ve been wanting to play all year and how we know we can play and now it’s just coming together, and things are starting to happen for us. We just got to stick to the same way we’ve been playing, the same plan and regroup and come back and be ready to play again.”

Well, that’s one down, four-or-five more to go.

It’s a long shot, but if these Flyers are going to make their own version of a Disney sports movie and make these playoffs, they’re going to have to do it the way they did it Saturday:

Great penalty killing

I never thought I’d write those three words in that order when talking about this season’s version of the Flyers, and yet… there it is.

The Bruins power play was clicking at 50% against the Flyers this season entering Saturday’s game. The Flyers response? Shut them down on all four opportunities including a pair of kills in the third period when the Flyers were protecting their one-goal lead. Coach Alain Vigneault, who I asked about the improved play of the PK after the Islanders loss, knew this was coming, and credited the penalty kill for making the difference in such a crucial game for the team.

“There’s no doubt that their power play has been a big weapon against us this year. Our PK, especially those two kills in the third there, got some saves. Guys did a real good job, especially on that last one there. They’re going to be going on all cylinders and our PK guys did a great job. Our D and Moose made some big saves.”

The Flyers have now killed off eight consecutive penalties over the course of three games, including a five-minute major. They’ve also stopped 20-of-24 of their last eight-plus games, for a kill rate of 83.3%, which would have them ranked in the top 10 in the NHL if they had played like this all season.

“I think just our attention to detail,” goalie Brian Elliott said about what’s been better on the PK of late. “Just ability to get in lanes, have good sticks and force them to plays that they don’t really want to make. I thought we were really strong in that area tonight. It’s something we’ve been stressing for a while now. I think we’ve been getting better and better and tonight was another good one.”

Speaking of Elliott:

STrong goaltending

The Flyers aren’t making any kind of miracle playoff run without good goaltending, and they’re going to need both Elliott and Carter Hart to come through in spades.

While Hart has made three strong starts in a row and gets a shot at a fourth against Buffalo Sunday, Elliott was charged with winning the most important game of the season for the Flyers up until that point and came up huge.

Elliott finished with 30 saves, and although like Hart he went through a rough patch in March, has now won 4-of-5 games, including the Flyers only two wins of the season against Boston.

I asked AV about Elliott’s play in this game and of late:

“There’s no doubt. Goaltending is such a huge part of the game. Like I’ve mentioned before, when Moose is fresh, he’s been outstanding. He’s been making big saves at big times. He’s been a real force for us in goal. That was a big two points. Now we have to get ready for tomorrow. It’s going to be our fifth game in seven nights. We’re going need all our players to be on top of their game.”

You know what else there’s been no doubt about? AV’s praise of Elliott has been effusive. His praise of Hart? Quite unenthusiastic. The dichotomy between coach and player in these instances is pretty incredible. We’ll see if AV has more to say about Hart if he strings together a fourth good game in a row.

But Vigneault has not been wrong about Elliott. In his last four wins he has a 1.98 GAA and a .932 SvPct. The key word in Vigneault’s comment is “fresh.” Meaning, you can’t lean on Moose for too many games in a row. There’s no doubt he trusts him more than Hart right now, even if that shouldn’t be the case.

Expect them to split time over these final 16 games unless one of them gets really hot in goal.

TK Resurgence

Konecny hasn’t had the greatest of seasons, but he’s been playing really well of late. he is averaging a point per game over his last 10 games, but really, these last five games he has been a standout with two goals and five assists for seven points.

But it’s not just his scoring. He’s gotten back to being a real agitator on the ice. He gets under the opponent’s skin. He drew a penalty in the first period against Boston on Jeremy Lauzon and then on the ensuing power play set up Shayne Gostisbehere for a goal.

Konecny has really stepped up his game since being put on a line with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek. It’s pretty much become the Flyers de facto top scoring line of late. AV thinks that TK playing with Giroux has no choice but to match the captain’s effort and will to win every shift when he is playing with him.

“I do think playing with G right now. G’s been playing so hard every game, every shift. Trying to play a full 200-foot game and he’s really battling. I do think that’s rubbed off on TK a little bit. Anytime TK’s moving his feet, moving the puck and going into those tough areas, he’s a hard player to play against. We need him to continue.”

TK also scored the first goal of the game, following up a juicy rebound of a Robert Hagg shot simply by skating hard and going to the net:

Konecny is back on his game for sure. And when he is, he’s a point-producing pest. But one thing he wants you to know, that despite his chirping and his occasional after-the-whistle antics, he still respects the game.

Miscellaneous observations:

  • Robert Hagg had a really nice game for the Flyers. He had the primary assist on TK’s goal but he was also a physical presence playing on the second pairing with Travis Sanheim. Raise your hand if you had Hagg as the stabilizing force this defense needed to get itself right?
  • James van Riemsdyk may be in a goal-scoring drought, but he picked up a pair of assists in the game for his 10th multi-point game of the season, four of which came against the Bruins.
  • After the game, the Flyers recalled Tanner Laczynski and Wade Allison to the taxi squad. I’m wondering if the Flyers want to make a change on their fourth line. Nolan Patrick continues to struggle and was used for a team-low 8:58 Saturday. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both enter the lineup and Patrick and either Nicolas Aube-Kubel or Michael Raffl come out of the lineup to give the fourth line a new look against Buffalo.
  • Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Flyers founder, owner and chairman Ed Snider. So many things have changed in the past five years since his passing, and many of them not for the better. It’s amazing to think it’s been five years already, but at the same time, it’s equally amazing to see how quickly things have changed without him as the face of the franchise.

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