VOORHEES, N.J. -- The Flyers are feeling confident.
Coming off a hard-fought 3-2 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Saturday, just the team’s fifth in 13 tries against its rival over the last three seasons, the Flyers have pushed their record to a respectable 4-2-1.
“It’s about how you start and play the same way through 60 minutes,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “The guys have mentally stuck with everything. The biggest thing is they’ve played with confidence.”
That confidence has the Flyers tying their best start to a season since the 2004 lockout. One reason for this has been the team’s stout defensive play, which has allowed 18 goals in seven games — a figure made even more impressive considering the Flyers suffered a flukey 7-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 2.
“We still have to work on a lot of things but we’re headed in the right direction,” defenseman Radko Gudas, who mentioned the 7-1 loss as a defensive turning point, said. “We have to play a full 60 minutes and make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Two players leading the Flyers to this early success are goaltenders Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason. Neuvirth is tied for the NHL lead in shutouts with two, while Mason defeated the Boston Bruins before taking home the 37-save shootout win over the Rangers.
According to Hakstol, that steady goaltending is where much of the Flyers’ newfound confidence and success spawns from.
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“We’ve gotten great goaltending from both of our guys,” Hakstol said. “Both [Neuvirth] and Mason have done a great job for their teammates. That’s a big part of it. Doing a good job in one area of your game lends confidence to other areas. Certainly our goaltending has been very good for us.”
But what makes this Flyers team different from years past? R.J. Umberger explains:
“There’s a big attention to detail on this team,” he said. “Coaches stress the system work, competitiveness and details. Harping on those every day, they become ingrained in your game and you trust the system, trust the process. Since training camp, it’s been a hard working group, practices have been uptempo and that’s carrying over to the games.”