The Two o’clock number: 8

8 - the number of Flyers’ defensemen who have scored three or more goals in a single postseason by the age of 23, and the number of Philly defensemen to score a postseason overtime goal.

General manager Chuck Fletcher locked up defenseman Phil Myers yesterday to a deal that keeps the blue liner on the Philadelphia Flyers through the 2022-23 season. After he spent some time out of the lineup early in the 2019-20 campaign when Alain Vigneault was feeling out the roster, Myers recorded four points in his first six appearances including a three-game goal streak on his way to 16 points in 50 contests while averaging 17:06 of ice time a night.

After a four-month pause, the NHL returned to action in #TheBubbles, where Myers racked up three goals during the Orange and Black’s 16-tilt postseason run. He scored eight seconds after Chris Wagner’s tally in Philadelphia’s 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins in their opening game of the round robin, squeaked a wrister through Carey Price in a Game 4 2-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, and potted the winner in overtime of Game 2 against the New York Islanders in the second round. Thanks to Myers’ three goals in the playoffs and the fact the rearguard won a game in overtime, he finds himself in pretty good company.

Coincidentally, Myers wasn’t the only player to achieve this accomplishment during the 2020 playoffs, as Ivan Provorov also lit the lamp on three different occasions. The two skaters are the first Flyers to provide three or more goals in a single postseason from the blue line since Andy Delmore put home five in the 2000 playoffs thanks in part to his hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

As for Flyers defensemen to score a playoff overtime goal Myers is once again accompanied by Provorov in a feat that hasn’t happened since Delmore did the same thing in 2000, when he ended Game 3 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Semifinals. The trio are three of four Philly defenders to both score three or more goals in the same postseason by the age of 23 and deposit a playoff overtime goal, as Karl Dykhuis completes the group for his work during the 1995 second season. The 1995 playoffs were a pretty wild time for Flyers’ d-men, as three of the franchise’s eight overtime goals from blue liners in the postseason came during their run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

With the 2020-21 season supposedly set to begin in a little over a month we’ll find out if Myers will be on the top pair with Ivan Provorov (probably the case) or on the second pair with Travis Sanheim again. Either way the undrafted rearguard will play an integral role on the blue line.

*Stats courtesy of Hockey-Reference.