Philadelphia Flyers
It’s a quick turnaround on Thursday, as the Flyers head to California to finish up the four-game road trip. Their first game comes in San Jose, as they take on the Sharks.
Again in the third period, as they have many times before, the Flyers were in a position to grab two points. A quick response and another overtime winner ensured they did come away with just that, as their points streak hits six games with a 5-0-1 record.
Just when it seemed like Seattle finally capitalized to put their stamp on the game, the Flyers got the goal right back, setting up an overtime beauty for Ivan Provorov in a 3-2 win over the Kraken.
COVID is still running wild in the NHL and the rest of the world, but the Flyers make their return with five new additions to the COVID protocol list over the last several days, but also three players back from protocols. They will face the Seattle Kraken in their return, opening up a four-game road trip on Wednesday night.
Tuesday’s Flyers-Capitals game has also been postponed. The Flyers will enter the holiday break another day earlier as a result.
The decision has been made to suspend the NHL season and advance the holiday break by two days. A game on Monday night between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild took place, and the Tuesday games – Flyers vs. Capitals and Vegas vs. Tampa Bay – will also take place pending test results.
The NHL will continue to play the 2021-22 season schedule, citing a low number of positive cases resulting in concerning symptoms or serious illness. The league will continue to monitor positive cases on a club-by-club basis and determine the need to shut down individual teams based on that. The Flyers are still operating, with only two players in COVID protocol as of Sunday morning.
The guys are back, and they have a lot to talk about. Topics include Claude Giroux’s pursuits of history, a five game points streak, and the looming threat of a shutdown.
It wasn’t pretty, and against another of the NHL’s bottom-feeder teams, the mistakes being made and the habits continuing to take center-stage are still troubling. But the Flyers also have strung together wins and points, and that’s what was needed against these teams. Now they need to continue to form better habits and apply it, perhaps as soon as next week against some tough Metro Division competition, if the schedule allows.
Travis Sanheim scored the game-winning goal at 1:35 of OT, giving the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Senators on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.