Something happened with the Flyers at the turn of the calendar year.
They learned how to score goals.
"First and foremost, we're taking care of the puck in our own end and pucks in the neutral zone," Wayne Simmonds said. "The forwards are reloading really hard. We're forcing turnovers and our D has kept really good gaps. When we reload and our D gets the puck, we're going right at it. It's translating into offense for us and it's been really good."
Since Jan. 1, the Flyers are averaging 3.15 goals and have climbed to 22nd in the league at 2.50 goals per game. In the first 36 games of the season, they averaged 2.19 goals. In their last seven games, they're averaging 3.7. They're averaging four during their current three-game win streak. They'll look to make it four in a row tonight against the Oilers (see game notes).
This is a totally different team offensively than it was in the beginning of the season, and a big part of that is the comfort level with first-year coach Dave Hakstol's system. Simmonds suggested the first few months were a learning period under Hakstol.
"I don't think we had that part of the game locked down in the beginning of the year," he said. "It was a little bit of an adjustment to the system, but I think we're clicking more now and I think this is more indicative to where we are as a team than earlier in the year."
Simmonds has played a major role in the Flyers' uptick in scoring. The 27-year-old has 23 goals this season and is on pace for a career-high 30. He potted two goals against Calgary on Monday night, and finished February with nine goals. Simmonds also has 14 goals since Jan. 1. He's been a mainstay on the power play and leads the team with 11 power-play markers. One of his two goals against the Flames came on the man advantage.
NHL
Another factor in the increase in scoring is Simmonds' linemate, Brayden Schenn. The 24-year-old has 14 goals and 27 points since Jan. 1, and finished February with nine goals and 16 points. Schenn and Simmonds accounted for 18 of the Flyers' 44 goals last month. And then there's defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere pitching in offensively.
All told, Simmonds said the Flyers are scoring more goals because they're finally working together.
"The D and the forwards working together, the cohesion there," Simmonds said. "We got to come back as hard as we can as forwards and our D has to keep the gap. So if we're backchecking, they have to keep their gap. We're all working as a unit. It makes it easier on both of us."
Scoreboard watching
The Flyers are aware they're in the middle of a heated playoff race, and their confidence is at a season high, so they say. They're scoring more and preventing more. They have a red-hot goalie in Michal Neuvirth, who's starting his fifth straight game tonight.
And they control their own destiny from here on out.
"I think we have confidence and we believe that [when] we play, that we're going to give ourselves a chance to win," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. "I mean, we're playing better hockey offensively and defensively. We're having a lot of fun doing it, too."
Entering tonight's game against Edmonton, the orange and black are three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also play tonight. Both the Flyers and Penguins have 20 games left and have three games left against each other. Still, Simmonds admitted the Flyers have been scoreboard watching for a couple of weeks now.
"You start scoreboard watching, you start paying attention to pretty much everything on a nightly basis," Simmonds said. "It's definitely good to see Pittsburgh losing for us any way. We got three games to go against them, and they're the team directly in our sights."
While the Flyers have won three straight and five of their last seven games, Simmonds said the team had been playing well even before the wins started coming. There was a stretch in February where they struggled to score and let points slip away.
"We were playing good hockey," Simmonds said. "I mean, we weren't getting the results, but we were playing steady hockey, doing the right things for the most part and keeping our game pretty simple and that slowly translated into wins. We're just going to continue to try to build and we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of points to pick up down the stretch here."
Projected Flyers lineup
F: Brayden Schenn-Claude Giroux-Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl-Sean Couturier-Sam Gagner
Scott Laughton-Nick Cousins-Matt Read
Chris VandeVelde-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Ryan White
D: Andrew MacDonald-Shayne Gostisbehere
Nick Schultz-Mark Streit
Evgeny Medvedev-Radko Gudas
G: Michal Neuvirth
Scratches
R.J. Umberger, Brandon Manning
Injured
Jakub Voracek, Michael Del Zotto, Jordan Weal