Unlike the way the Flyers began last year, this season they are looking like a team possessed.
It took winning in a shootout in the final game of the regular season for the Philadelphia Flyers to sneak into the playoffs last season.
Although many predicted the Flyers would be a team that would challenge for the Stanley Cup initially, it was a bumpy road for the team with veterans and younger players clashing over exactly what type of commitment it takes to be successful in today's NHL. When the players all finally got on the same page, the Flyers fulfilled their promise and made it to the Stanley Cup final, losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.
All in all, it was a pretty good finish to the year.
This season the Flyers look like a team possessed; determined to not just get back to the final, but to win it all. Riding a five-game winning streak, Philadelphia sits atop the Eastern Conference standings with an 8-4-1 record and 17 points and is second overall in the league, one point behind the Los Angeles Kings.
- Flyers lead Eastern Conference with 8-4-1 record
- Rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 7-2 with 2.23 GAA
- NOTES: Raffi Torres is having great year with Canucks
The funny thing is, you could make the case that a few players you would expect the team to count on have not yet hit their stride. Captain Mike Richards has just two goals in 13 games and is a team-worst minus-4.
Ville Leino, who rose to prominence in last year's playoffs when he scored seven goals (two game-winners) in 19 games, is off to a slow start with just two goals in 13 games. Leino had only 17 shots on goal. Veteran defenceman Chris Pronger, who had off-season knee surgery and missed the first two games of the year, is starting to find his range with three goals in his last three games.
On the other hand, a few players have really stepped up to the plate. Claude Giroux continues to prove he's more than a role player and leads the Flyers in scoring with seven goals and 14 points while rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is an early candidate for the Calder Trophy as the league's top freshman. Goalie Bob, as he is known, boasts an impressive 7-2 record with a 2.23 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.
Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said the expectations for his team have not changed despite last year's run to the final.
"It's really no different now than it was last year," Holmgren said. "We take things a game at a time and we just hope we can make it to the playoffs. Once you get in anything can happen. I think we're pretty good proof of that."
Although Holmgren acknowledged his team had trouble scoring at the start of the year, he thinks his club's defensive play has been strong.
"The biggest difference between our team this season and last year is we have a deeper blueline," the boss said. "We've really cut down in the number of scoring chances we give the other team."
That, of course, is a reference to the addition of veterans Sean O'Donnell and Andrej Meszaros. Throw those guys into the mix with Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Oskars Bartulis, and the Flyers definitely have one of the best defensive corps in the NHL.
Making it to the final one year does not guarantee a trip back the next, but based on the way the Flyers have played through their first 13 games, you'd have to think they'll be right in the thick of things come next May.
CASUAL OBSERVATIONS: Love the idea of giving NHL coaches the opportunity to throw a challenge flag once per game on goal-related plays, but I don't like the idea of the challenge being tied to timeouts. In other words, if a team has used its timeout, it cannot challenge a call by the officials. The idea being proposed is, if a team challenges a call and is wrong, it loses its timeout. Obviously the idea is to not allow teams to get an unofficial timeout by issuing a challenge, but isn't the idea to get calls right? Teams should be allowed one challenge per game with no penalty if they are wrong ... One of the best free-agent signings from the off-season is Raffi Torres of the Vancouver Canucks. The 29-year-old left winger has seven goals and eight points in 12 games with Vancouver and leads the Canucks with 23 penalty minutes. At this rate he has a great opportunity to smash his single-season high for goals, 27 with the 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers. Hard to believe this is the same guy who struggled mightily for the Buffalo Sabres last season. In 14 games with Buffalo after being acquired from Columbus, Torres had no goals and just five assists in 14 games and then was a healthy scratch for a couple of playoff games. Funny thing is, the Sabres are off to an awful start and could really use his scoring and muscle.
