Brian Elliott
It has been no secret that the Flyers greatest weakness for decades was finding a goalie that had the ability and the potential to get them to the next level. In just two short years, Carter Hart has appeared to transform that discussion.
It remains a mystery at this point if and when the season will return. Who knows how much of a regular season will be left after this suspension? Who knows what the playoffs will look like? But whenever the league comes out of this stoppage and gets back to playing, let it be known that the Flyers window to compete is just opening up.
The Flyers fell behind in the first, but responded with a strong second and third period to secure their third win of the season against the Washington Capitals, claiming a 5-2 victory in Washington on Wednesday night.
The Flyers have closed the gap in the Metropolitan Division to three points and are challenging the Capitals for the division lead. They get a chance to close the gap further with one final matchup in the 2019-20 regular season.
For the first time in a long time, the Flyers were in a position to be able to add at the trade deadline and Chuck Fletcher got active in trying to improve one area: experience.
That’s perhaps the biggest difference between the Flyers of this season and the Flyers of last season and years past. This team believes they are never out of a game. More times than not, they have risen to the occasion. There have been times when people want to pronounce them dead for a poor performance or a crushing loss, only to have them rise to the occasion the very next game.
In overtime, it was Kevin Hayes playing hero, scoring the game-winning goal with 1:09 remaining to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Just as they did with Florida a week ago, the Flyers have a chance to create some separation with Columbus when they face each other again on Thursday night, as the Flyers look to complete a season sweep of the Blue Jackets on the road.
The Flyers loss to the Islanders on Tuesday will be remembered for a last-minute goal that took away the potential victory and at least a single point for reaching overtime. It should be another example of how slow starts to games can be detrimental to this team and their playoff hopes.
Less than a minute after tying the game to erase a 3-0 deficit, the Flyers surrendered the game-winning goal to Ryan Pulock with 38.9 seconds left in a 5-3 defeat to the New York Islanders.
