The Flyers’ Greatest Strength? Bouncing Back After a Loss
In what’s been their most successful seasons, the Flyers have done many things well.
They can score, defend, and have gotten some great goaltending from Hart and Elliott. But ultimately, they’ve been extremely well-coached by their trio of head coaches in Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, and Mike Yeo.
All season long and throughout the early stages of these playoffs, they’ve managed to push the right buttons rather consistently and its shown by the Flyers’ ability to bounce back from a tough loss.
Since early January, when the team really started to get into their groove, each time they’ve been dealt a tough loss, they haven’t let it begin to snowball like in years past.
After returning home from a poor road trip out West, the Flyers have won 25 their last 34 games (including the playoffs).
After those first eight losses (not including the Game 5 loss to MTL), the Flyers are 8-0.
- January 11 – Lost to Tampa Bay 1-0
- Next Game: January 13th – Beat Boston 6-5
- January 16 – Lost to Montreal 4-1
- Next Game: Beat Los Angeles 4-1
- January 31 – Lost to Pittsburgh 4-3
- Next Game: Beat Colorado 6-3
- February 6 – Lost to New Jersey 5-0
- Next Game: Beat Washington 7-2
- February 11 – Lost to New York Islanders 5-3
- Next Game: Beat Florida 6-2
- February 15 – Lost to Tampa Bay 5-3
- Next Game: Beat Columbus 5-1
- March 10 – Lost to Boston 2-0
- Next Game (5 months later): Beat Boston 4-1
- August 14 – Lost to Montreal 5-0
- Next Game: Beat Montreal 1-0
In their eight games following a loss, they’ve outscored their opponents 39-15, averaging 4.87 goals per game while allowing 1.87 goals. They haven’t just rebounded from losses, the Flyers have come out and crushed teams.
While the regular season seems so long ago (and it is), their track record has continued into these playoffs as they completely shut down the Canadiens in Game 3 after a humbling Game 2 blowout.
After looking out of sorts in Game 2, they easily could’ve panicked and let the Canadiens run right over them but they didn’t. Instead, they forced the Canadiens into playing the game that they wanted, grinding them down on the boards, not letting anything get to the middle of the ice – exactly what Vigneault wanted.
Now that the Canadiens have managed to force a Game 6, Vigneault and the Flyers will have to do it one more time to knock off the pesky Habs.
Game 5 saw the Flyers make some bad reads on defense and a soft goal from Carter Hart, much similar to their defeat in Game 2.
The gameplan is there for the Flyers. They know how to shut down Montreal. It’s just about execution.
And if their track record holds up, Game 6 should show the Flyers getting back on track.
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