Flyers continue to roll

by Joseph Birmingham

Thursday November 12, 2009 

Flyers continue to roll thumbnail

The Flyers faced Ottowa tonight and won handily, 5-1 for their fifth victory in a row.   Not only did they win, but they dominated the Senators.  Emery stopped 22 of 23 shots and Leclaire had the same number of saves for Ottowa as he allowed 5 shots to strike home.

Betts, Reimsdyk, and  Briere all scored, with Betts and Briere contributing 2 goals apiece and 6 Flyers sharing 9 assists in a balanced offensive attack that show the potential this team has when they get on a roll.  Philadelphia was also 2 of 4 on the power play, indicating the Flyers intend on capitalizing on any and all scoring opportunities that come their way.

This was  a  poignant victory for Emery in his first action against the team that let him go, and a break out game for Betts, who signed as a free agent before the season and later missed seven games with a shoulder injury, who scored his first goal at 9:34 of the second period and later scored again for good measure.

In the past 5 the Flyers have outscored their opponents by a count of 23-7 as they compiled their longest winning streak in nearly a year.  The Flyers continued with their trend of starting slowly, only managing 4 shots on goal in the first period, a season low.  But as the game progressed, they attacked the goal more and more with obvious results.

The victory moved the Flyers into a tie for third in the Division with the NY Rangers with 21 points.  They have 2-5 games in hand on all other contenders in their division so their point total is a little misleading.  In the next two games they face a true test with Buffalo and New Jersey on the schedule, both games occuring on home ice, and both teams in the top ten in the league and having suffered a loss at the hands of the Flyers in thier last meeting.

The Flyers are rolling at exactly the right time, with 5 successive wins for the 5th time in the past three seasons, as they get ready to face  a brutal stretch of games from next week until the end of the year.  Emery exudes confidence in goal, and the Flyers are starting to hit on all cylinders, with the power play, penalty kill and even strength offense all pulling their weight and having success.

With all the attention on Emery in goal and the Flyers defense seeing a substantial upgrade this year, not much notice has been given to the fact that the Broad Street Bullies have drawn first blood in 13 of their 15 contests so far this year. With a great goalie, and a fluid offensive scheme, scoring first will likely ensure the Flyers win the majority of their games.

For some reason, even though they have the 6th best record, the Flyers are still ranked 9th or 10th in most power rankings, but I believe as they catch the rest of the league in games played, and gain points as a result, their ranking will reflect how good this team truly is.  I can foresee a 105 point season this year, and they should be a lock to finish first in their division.  The Devils can not sustain their early season success and their schedule gets much tougher in the next few weeks, so the gap between the Flyers in third and the Devils in first should shrink rapidly and result in the Flyers leading the division as early as Thanksgiving.

I anticipate the next weeks games will show the Flyers true colors and make believers of others that are not as aware of our local market.  Now that the Phillies achieved some national prominance, it correlates to more attention being given our other franchises and if the Flyers keep performing at this level, it spells nothing but an upward rise all season long.

Filed Under Flyers

Comments

3 Responses to “Flyers continue to roll”

  1. Marshall on November 13th, 2009 11:48 am

    The Flyers are hot right now but I think it is too early to call them a “lock” to win the division. With Pitt and NY also playing well, this will go down to the wire. Four teams from the division will make thee playoffs.

  2. king ed on November 13th, 2009 10:26 pm

    pittsburgh and the rangers are not playing well…and injuires are hurting ny…the devils are who they gotta worry bout…Lock it up!…no u lock it up…Lock it up

  3. Joseph Birmingham on November 14th, 2009 9:48 am

    NJ stands a chance at the division, but Pitt and NY ? Check out their schedules, and injuries in NY. If I had to give odds, I would say Philly 75%, NJ 20% and Pitt or NY combined have 5% shot of taking division title. The real question is can the Flyers perform after the season is over ? In recent years the answer there has been no, but there is always hope !

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