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Flyers Will Now Win 9 Games in a Row, After Losing 9 in a Row
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Ho hum, just another Flyers win. Three in a row.
They dispatched the Sabres 3-1 on Wednesday night with a couple of greasy goals from Cole Knuble, playing in just his second NHL game:
How can you not love it? That first goal he carries the puck into the offensive zone, tries to fend off two guys, and goes down. But the Flyers retrieve it, Knuble gets up and skates right over to the net, then puts away the rebound on the backhand.
Second goal, nothing fancy. Oliver Bonk working hard along the wall. Denver Barkey gets a stick in there. Knuble knocks it off the back of UPL and it goes in. He told the media afterward he was just trying to throw the puck out towards the middle, but all goals count just the same.
“So excited for the kid,” said Rick Tocchet of Knuble’s game. “And then getting another one. I think we all know he had a really good training camp, and stuck with it and went down there (Lehigh Valley), great attitude and obviously good things are happening for him.”
“I’ve put a lot of work in over the years,” Knuble said. “I’m confident in my abilities. It’s obviously a jump up. Best players in the world. I’m playing with really great teammates, too. Those guys have been great for me.”
Seems pretty obvious that they should have never sent Knuble down in the first place, but alas, here we are. The kid looks like the real deal.
By the way, 18:02 of ice time for Matvei Michkov, who led all Flyers forwards. He’s now on a four-game point streak after assisting Trevor Zegras on a power play goal. The Flyers were without Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, Cam York, and Rasmus Ristolainen, which – whatever. It’s nice to see some fresh and hungry guys in there. They got a good game out of Hunter McDonald, two goals from Knuble, and more positive play from Bonker. Dan Vladar was once again great. The Flyers have top goaltending for the first time in a long time, or, to be more specific, you go into these games now not worrying about the goaltending. When’s the last time you could say that? Vladar and Joseph Woll is the best tandem they’ve had since that short-lived stretch of Carter Hart and Sam Ersson of a couple years ago.
Plenty to iron out, of course. They’re on 9 points through 12 games. They had some of their main players out and didn’t miss a beat. Danny Briere should pay close attention to that. But it’s a small sample size. We can’t get too high after a string of wins, but Flyers fans really needed something. Anything.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com