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A win! A road win!
Tye McGinn was an assist shy of the Gordie Howe hat trick, Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves, the power play went 1 for 4 and the penalty kill went three for three as the Flyers topped the Jets in Winnipeg tonight, 3-2. Peter Laviolette was able to roll four lines rather consistently and he got something out of just about everybody tonight in the win.
Some notes:
* McGinn had the best game of his NHL career, by far. He played alongside Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek, and he's clearly going to benefit from the improved play that duo has shown over the last several games. But McGinn's not a spectator. He stuck up for Voracek after he clipped goalie Al Montoya in the second period, going to bat in a fight in which McGinn pulverized Mark Stuart's face (video here).
Tye's goal was a nice redirection in front -- he's shown he can be quite the net presence -- and it was a nice job by Voracek to get the puck on goal.
* The Jets brought it a bit late in the second period, but as he's done all year, Bryzgalov was up to the task. The defense definitely left him out to dry on more than one occasion, so Bryz gets even more points for bailing them out. A really solid game by Bryz tonight.
* First period was a little strange. The Flyers easily could have been up 4-1 with the way they were playing, but instead they ultimately left the period up only 2-1.
* The PK is converting at 93.3 percent in the last six games. Pretty solid. A three-for-three showing tonight against a PP that's pretty decent: 19.6 percent on the season, good for 13th in the league.
* Laviolette shifted the lines around a bit, slotting Matt Read into the top line with Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds. He moved Danny Briere down with Mike Knuble and Ruslan Fedotenko while Max Talbot played with Harry Z and Zac Rinaldo. It all seemed to work for the most part, as every forward besides Talbot and Rusty generated at least one shot on goal. Really liked what the top two lines in particular were able to do.
* Giroux is quickly becoming a faceoff machine. Tonight was the seventh straight game he's finished with at least a 50 percent win rate on his draws. He was 18 for 32 tonight.
Just a solid, all-around team win. Those haven't been easy to come by so far this season. It's nice, it should be relatively routine, and let's hope they keep it up.
Comment of the Night
Space shuttles > jets