VOORHEES, N.J. — At the midway point of the season, general manager Ron Hextall specifically referenced the power play as a point of emphasis for the second half.
At the time, the Flyers' power play was snakebitten and out of sync. At the NHL All-Star break, the Flyers ranked 21st in the league on the man advantage. That was a far cry from their top-three rating last season at a 23.4 percent clip, and it was a key reason behind the team’s early-season struggles.
"Is [making the playoffs] likely without them getting better [on the power play]? I'd say we're more likely to be out," Hextall said. “We have to get better, no doubt about it. It's the one area of the game where you say, to make the playoffs, you want to be in the upper half on both of them.”
That was two months ago. Since Hextall’s comments prior to the Jan. 19 game against Toronto, the Flyers have scored at a 23 percent clip (20 for 87). To put it in perspective, the top unit in the league — Chicago — is at 24.2 percent on the season.
The Flyers' performance on the man advantage has been a big reason why the team finds itself in the situation it's in.
The continued rise of their power-play success could very well be the difference between securing a playoff spot or watching the postseason from their homes.
“Special teams are huge,” Brayden Schenn said. “You won’t get many chances throughout these last 18 games so you have to make the most of the opportunities that you do get.”
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Since early February, the team has undergone a sort of renaissance on the man advantage.
They have elevated their ranking to 16th in the league (18.3 percent) and are tied for 14th with 40 power-play goals entering Thursday. Prior to the aforementioned 1-for-16 drought, the Flyers were 4 for 8 in the previous three games and have registered at least one power-play goal in eight of their last 11 games.
It’s not a matter of bounces finally going their way, either. The high level of performance from Shayne Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, along with Schenn, has propelled the top unit.
“Those guys up top shooting the puck, when they shoot the puck, it opens up everything else,” Schenn explained. “We’ve been doing a pretty good job of getting pucks to the net and getting those second chances.”
Over the first 13 games of the year, the Flyers had just four goals in 38 attempts.
Hextall’s urgency regarding the power play in January is paying off, but the unit will have to continue its ascent in order to capture that elusive playoff spot.