Flyers Continue to Defy Logic after Beating Blues to Sweep Road Trip (Plus - Nick Seeler Coming off the Trade Market?)
If you want to get past your feelings about how the Eagles season ended – and believe me, in my nearly 50 years on this earth, this was the worst team collapse I have ever seen – you could take a couple minutes out of your day to crack a smile about your local hockey team.
All the Flyers did Monday was win again, this time 4-2 in St. Louis, completing a three-game sweep on the road trip.
They are, again, within two points of first place in the Metropolitan Division and continue to defy all the odds that suggest they shouldn’t be this good, and yet they are.
As I wrote Sunday, this team is winning because the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. A perfect example was Monday, where 10 different players registered one point, and no one had more than that.
The Flyers find ways to have productive shifts, even when they’re not scoring goals. They come at you in waves. And even when they get down, they don’t stop coming.
The most impressive thing about the Flyers is they seem to always play tight games. There aren’t any games where they’re blowing out teams, and conversely, there aren’t any game where they’re being dismantled.
They’ve played 44 games so far this season. Only 13 games have had a spread of at least three goals (they are 8-5 in such games). Only three have been by four or more – and none of those have occurred since November. Check the latest NJ online betting apps to check the latest odds.
Even some of the three-goal differential games have been close. A 5-2 win over Columbus in November was a one-goal game with eight minutes to play. A 4-1 loss to Carolina later that month was a one-goal game with five minutes left. The shocking 5-2 win in Colorado last month was a one-goal game with 12 minutes to go.
The point is, they’re in every game, every night, and while most of them are akin to walking a tight rope, they are coming out on the plus side more often than not.
Monday’s game in St. Louis was a see-saw. The Flyers scored first:
SCOTT LAUGHTON SCORES THE OPENING GOAL OF THE GAME AND HE IS ELATED#PHIvsSTL #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/DJaO7XqGWG
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) January 16, 2024
Garnet Hathaway and Sean Walker assisted. Both players were additions by GM Danny Briere in the off-season. At the time, Hathaway was looked at as a fourth line, energy guy who maybe the Flyers could flip at the deadline. Walker was a throw-in in the Ivan Provorov three-team trade who, again, the Flyers hoped would play decently enough to be worth a mid round draft pick at the deadline.
Both have far exceeded expectations. Hathaway has done what was expected of him, but he’s been a real glue guy. His style of play has been infectious since day one of the season and the team has built a similar style of energy as a collective. He may not score a ton, but his bowling ball mentality has been a spark in the locker room.
As for Walker, he’s likely the biggest surprise of the season. When the season began, the notion of Walker and Nick Seeler (more on him later) comprising a second unit defensive pair was viewed with a hand over your eyes, but the duo have been really good together. Walker has been more offensively-minded than most thought he would be and the pair have held their own against some top forwards in the league.
It’s subtle moves on the margins that have made a difference between the Flyers being at the bottom of the standings, as everyone expected, and being where they are right now, to the surprise of practically the entire hockey world.
After the Blues tied the game with a power play goal – yes the Flyers penalty kill, as great as it’s been, isn’t perfect – the Flyers got another character goal, in the waning seconds of the second period:
Philadelphia goal!
Scored by Ryan Poehling with 00:07 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Egor Zamula and Cam Atkinson.
St. Louis: 1
Philadelphia: 2#PHIvsSTL #STLBlues #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/S7ysJMqr0H— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 16, 2024
Ryan Poehling was another Briere addition, and a player who has earned more and more time. He started the season as the fourth line center, but he’s worked his way into a reliable third line role. The goal is indicative of the worker bee that he is. He keeps driving the net and looks simply to hunt the puck, even if it means bunting it into the net out of mid-air.
And Egor Zamula, a guy who the Flyers liked as a prospect, but weren’t sure would pan out this season, when he was no longer waiver eligible, has emerged as a defenseman who has a knack for getting shots to the net. Unafraid to shoot, he helped kick start a flat-lined power play several games ago, and on this goal, he just puts it on net and Poehling is there to clean up the rebound. Again, little plays that make such a big difference.
Now, one would assume that a goal like that is a back-breaker for the Blues and gives the Flyers all the momentum going into the final period, but the Blues tied it in the opening minutes of the third period, on a goofy play where the puck hit Poehling’s loose stick on the ice and between the stick being a distraction and Zamula slightly screening goalie Carter Hart, Brandon Saad was able to even the score again.
In previous seasons, the Flyers would wilt. Not this Flyers team.
And it set up perhaps the prettiest goal of the month so far:
Philadelphia goal!
Scored by Owen Tippett with 05:33 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost.
St. Louis: 2
Philadelphia: 3#PHIvsSTL #STLBlues #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/QJtiKQ6Uda— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 16, 2024
Owen Tippett is a joy to watch skate because he has another gear, but to be able to dangle like he does at that speed and then get off a sneaky backhander instead of going to the forehand as most would do in that spot, is a huge goal.
Joel Farabee would add an empty-netter after forcing a turnover, and the Flyers got all six points on the road trip.
It’s a study in persistence. It’s a resilience that some teams are able to build into their character that brings repeat success. It’s a team that has no business being where they are in the standings, and yet they’re there. They want you to see them there. They want you to respect them there.
There are a couple of warhorses coming into the Wells Fargo Center this weekend with Western Conference stalwarts Dallas and Colorado on tap. But to these Flyers, it doesn’t matter. They’ll most likely be right there with them, win or lose. And that is fun to watch.
Signing Seeler?
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on his 32 Thoughts podcast Monday that the Flyers are leaning more towards wanting to sign Seeler to an extension rather than trading him at the deadline.
There is no doubt that Seeler has been one of four names (along with Walker, Marc Staal and Morgan Frost) who have frequently come up during trade rumor speculation surrounding the Flyers. And it makes sense. The Flyers never really viewed the depth of their defense as something that would be part of a long-term solution during this rebuild.
Cam York was always going to be a part of it, and once the Flyers didn’t trade Travis Sanheim to St. Louis last summer and his no-trade clause kicked in, they were pretty locked in to him for the foreseeable future.
But Walker, Seeler, Staal, and Rasmus Ristolainen always seemed moveable (a Ristolainen trade would have to come with some sort of salary retention).
That said, some of their thinking may have changed.
I had heard the same thing as Friedman talking to a couple of people outside the Flyers organization last week. I didn’t think much of it at the time – as there’s always crazy chatter about players at this time of year. But once Elliotte said it on his podcast, I decided to ask a few sources both with the Flyers and outside the team.
What I could glean is this – Seeler’s situation is going to be pretty similar to Scott Laughton’s two seasons ago. I was told the Flyers really like Seeler and wouldn’t mind signing him to an extension, but they also may wait and see how the trade market develops over the next six weeks to see what his trade value could be.
One Flyers source said there haven’t been any serious talks with Seeler and his agent Pat Brisson yet, but that they love Seeler’s character.
Flyers blocked 16 shots vs Blues. Nick Seeler had 8 of them. Carter Hart saluted Seeler postgame…
“Just the willingness to lay their bodies in-front of 95 MPH shots… Nick Seeler, I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s so dedicated & so committed to winning.”#LetsGoFlyers
— Brandon J. Sommermann (@B_Sommermann) January 16, 2024
The source added that it’s very likely that a final decision on Seeler will probably come down to the wire (trade deadline). I got the sense that Elliotte is right in that their line of thinking is more toward keeping him, but that they do want to leave the door open for a little bit in case an offer they can’t refuse materializes.