Not too bad! The Flyers headed into Detroit last night to face off against the Red Wings and hopefully get a new winning streak rolling for themselves, and would you look at that, they did it. It wasn’t a terribly exciting game, in terms of the on-ice product, but the Flyers bested the Red Wings handily and came away with two big points in the standings, and we can live with that, yes indeed.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick.
How’d they look out there?
5-on-5: 56 CF, 28 SF, 72.89 CF%, 73.72 xGF%
There really isn’t any sense in beating around the bush with this one: the Flyers dominated in this one from start to finish. And I could give you a breakdown of that, but let’s hit the visual representation first.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that every single Flyer won their matchup from a possession standpoint last night. The lowest score adjusted CF%? Justin Braun with 60.01 percent. And the lowest xGF%? Kevin Hayes with 54.40 percent. It may not have been a runaway win on the scoresheet for most of this game, but the Flyers had it under control for just about the whole night. The Red Wings weren’t really doing themselves any favors with their own execution and attention to details, and that was also a contributing factor here, but credit to the Flyers for really getting it done, from top to bottom.
Power play: 6 CF, 1 SF, 1 HDCF
The Flyers had two chances on the power play last night and they just really didn’t have a whole lot going on in them. They registered a handful of chances, but only one of them made it on net, and didn’t really get much in the way of dangerous chances. Zone time, in general, was a tough spot for the Flyers last night, as they struggled to get into the offensive zone and sustain much pressure, before they were chased back out into the neutral zone again. So, not their best showing, to be sure.
Penalty kill: 3 CA, 1 SA, 0 HDCA
After giving up a goal in Saturday’s game, the Flyers’ penalty kill did well last night to get back on track and shut down the, struggling albeit, Red Wings power play. In just over two and a half minutes of 4-on-5 time, the Flyers were able to really limit the Red Wings, keeping them pretty well to the outside when they were finally set up in the offensive zone, and didn’t let them get any dangerous chances through. They also, of course, got a chance of their own, which Kevin Hayes turned into his fourth shorthanded goal of the season.
Kevin Hayes shorthanded, AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/gLvpDZl0vK
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) February 4, 2020
The Red Wings also got a bit of 6-on-4 time late in the third, and that’s not reflected in the numbers above, the Flyers still killed that off just as effectively. They also picked up a second shorthanded goal of the game when Matt Niskanen sailed the puck the length of the ice and into the empty net. So, all in all, not too bad of a showing, if you ask us.
Three standouts
1. Scott Laughton
For a while, in this one, after the Flyers had made it well into the second period without picking up a goal despite generating a good number of chances, we were wondering just what it was going to take for the Flyers to pick up a goal. A miracle? Divine intervention? But the answer, it seemed, was just a but more patience, and Scott Laughton.
Laughton breaks the scoreless tie! pic.twitter.com/rXos78HZ14
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) February 4, 2020
Laughton had a solid night, and now also finds himself on a three game scoring streak, and it’s hard to overstate how huge those contributions have been. Having your top players show up is obviously a must, but getting depth production is what can push a good team over the edge, and Laughton has been getting some pretty consistent production to boost the team. He’s taking his role and running with it, and while we’ve come to expect a strong all around game from him that doesn’t always depend on scoring, it’s nice to see him rewarded on the scoresheet, as well.
2. Brian Elliott
After having the night off on Saturday against Colorado, Elliott got back into the lineup last night and had himself quite the game. He shut out the Red Wings! How about that!
To be fair, he didn’t really have a whole lot of activity throughout this one, as the Red Wings only recorded 16 shots on goal, but their top line still got a couple of good chances in this one, and Elliott had to make some big saves. It may not have been his biggest game, but he still showed up and did what he had to to help secure this win. And it’s hard to find too much to complain about in that.
But before we move on, thanks to Tyler Pitlick as well for helping to make this shutout happen. He also should be credited with a save.
Tyler Pitlick with the save of the game. pic.twitter.com/fsjBm6AjAv
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) February 4, 2020
3. Joel Farabee
A little peek behind the curtain: originally, I had been thinking about tossing this last nod to Claude Giroux, because he was probably eh most noticeable Flyer right out of the gate when the rest of the team was still getting their legs under them, and overall he had a solid game. And then I pulled up the stats and saw that Joel Farabee had 11 shot attempts and nine (nine!) individual scoring chances on the night and changed my mind.
The numbers really speak for themselves on this one, as Farabee was just a scoring chance generating machine last night, and no one else was really in the same league as him (the next closest were Giroux and Hayes, both with four scoring chances apiece). He was active and just really seemed to be everywhere, generating chances and making things difficult on the Red Wings. The offense has really been clicking for Farabee recently, and even though he wasn’t able to get himself of the board last night, we still feel good about his overall process.
Two loose observations
1. Still kind of fell for the trap?
This is sort of a tough one to come away from and try to parse through all of the feelings about it. On the one hand, the Flyers, as we broke down in our first couple of sections, pretty handily outplayed the Red Wings in this one, and that’s a positive takeaway, and should also be the primary takeaway. But, on the other hand, given how sharp that margin was, in a way it feels like this game really shouldn’t have been as close as it was through much of it.
And some credit here should go to Jonathan Bernier, who did have a good game and stopped some of the Flyers’ really good chances. But the details just weren’t all the way there for the Flyers, and we still would have liked to have seen them get a few more chances on net and get themselves on the board even earlier. The Red Wings gave them a good bit of space to work with, and they just weren’t able to take advantage to the degree that, on paper, they should have been able to. We’re nitpicking a bit here, because they did still get the win, after all. But it’s worth mentioning.
2. The dull win is an important one
This may not have been the most fun game we’ve ever seen the Flyers play, but they still picked up a very important two points in the standings tonight, and it’s hard to overstate how critical this was. This brings them back up to fourth in the Metro, just six points behind second place Pittsburgh. They may be back down in the standings after tomorrow, if the Hurricanes or Islanders win tomorrow night, but the point remains that they picked up a bit of ground (if only for now) and are doing well to keep themselves in the mix.
And there’s still a lot of hockey left to play, so maybe it feels a little early to be watching the standings this closely, but with just two points separating the third and sixth places teams in the Metro, the Flyers figure to be in a dogfight until the end, here, and not giving up points in a very winnable game was critical.
The only damn thing I know
Our friends over at Winging It In Motown released this out into the world last night during the game. And while we like them and respect their work, this is also pretty cursed, in my opinion. And because I had to see it, you have to see it too.
Joel Farabee pic.twitter.com/1ZbPcexYil
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) February 4, 2020
