Who saw this coming?
The Flyers get ripped in Florida, have an unforeseen change to their starting goalie in their home opener and the replacement gets a shutout.
Then Michal Neuvirth comes back the very next game and tosses yet another shutout against the defending Stanley Cup champs!
Throw out the 7-1 rout and the Flyers have been pretty darn good in three of their first four games after Wednesday’s 3-0 Rivalry Night victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Wells Fargo Center (see Instant Replay).
“Just a real good team effort – you talk about a lot of good things, that’s what a good team effort is. You can look up and down the lineup and find a lot of different things that are good and positive,” coach Dave Hakstol said.
Such as Neuvirth making 30 saves. Or the penalty kill going 5 for 5.
Those PK units have killed 12 straight penalties going back to last Saturday when they gave up three power-play goals. Chris VandeVelde and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare logged a combined 7:45 of ice time shorthanded and had their sticks on pucks every shift.
“It’s not only us, we’re four units on the PK,” Bellemare said. “We may have a little more ice time Vandy and I, and we have been doing a pretty unbelievable job. I’m happy we can finally help the team this way.”
Did we mention 34 blocked shots the last two games?
“That’s a mentality within a group of guys,” Hakstol said. “You have a decision to make. You’re either going to do it or not going to do it. Our group in the locker room put a value on it and it’s been a big part of our last two games.”
Hey, how about Claude Giroux scoring even strength at home? It took him 36 home games to do that last season.
Or Sam Gagner, benched to start the season, scoring his first goal as a Flyer. He had a drag shot on the power play from just inside the point and wristed the puck almost 50 feet past Corey Crawford. That's no easy trick.
“When you pull or push it, anything you can do creates deception,” Gagner said of his second-period power-play goal. “After that point, you are trying to get it by their first guy who is trying to block the shot. Once it gets by him, anything can happen.”
Gagner got his chance at a lineup spot when R.J. Umberger injured himself on Saturday in Florida. In two games, the newcomer has a goal and an assist.
“Just want to contribute in wins,” Gagner said.
Did a fist pump, too. Not out of frustration but “to get the crowd going.”
Gagner’s line with Scott Laughton and Matt Read had numerous strong shifts. Gagner says, however, he’s not looking at this as a “must impress” situation to gain roster favor with Hakstol.
“I’m confident in my ability,” he said. “Every opportunity I get I’ve got to try and run with it. I did that tonight.”
The game started tensely with a scoreless opening period before Gagner’s power-play goal at 5:34 followed by Giroux’s rebound goal near the period’s end.
That goal came about six minutes after Neuvirth protected the 1-0 lead with a pad stop on Marian Hossa shorthanded as he came streaking down center off a tape-to-tape feed from Viktor Svedberg.
That save gave the Flyers enormous momentum and fuel for Giroux’s goal near the period’s end.
“It’s always tough if you give up a shorthanded goal and a power-play goal from our side,” said Jakub Voracek, who was watching from the other end when Hossa cheated on what was a designed play on the Hawks’ penalty kill.
“Right there it’s a big save. I would say that probably turned the game around, and we scored a couple of minutes later and we were a little bit calm in the third.”
The Hawks made a strong push. However, Neuvirth pushed back, as did the PK units (three more kills) before Read iced the game with less than three minutes to go.
“I think we’re playing the right way and playing as a team and everyone is buying into the way that we have to play,” Giroux said.
“We’re getting rewarded for how we’re playing and we just have to keep going like that.”