The Flyers have taken quite a few tough ones in the past week, along with enduring some bad and longstanding puck luck that has been around since the season began.
The rally against the Panthers that fell apart late was brutal, so was the fall into overtime and ensuing loss to the Bruins, and the chase after Utah that got done in on an overskated puck from Morgan Frost.
But in that stretch, the past two games against Utah and Columbus especially, the Flyers broke on things they desperately needed, and then finally on Tuesday night against the Blue Jackets, got a thorough result of a 5-3 win that put it all together.
They're going to look to keep it going back home at the Wells Fargo Center Thursday night against Detroit, but it might be good that they've gotten a few monkeys off their backs going in.
Joel Farabee badly needed a goal
The 24-year-old winger had been doing all of the little things right for weeks, and made a good amount of plays that led to scoring chances, too, but finding the back of the net felt like it became the equivalent of climbing Everest.
He had a couple looks against the Panthers that got broken up last Thursday, then a golden one in Boston on Saturday when he picked the puck at the defensive blue line then took off on the breakaway in overtime. But Jeremy Swayman stopped it with his blocker, the Bruins netted the winner soon after, and Farabee was left in a goal-less rut that extended to 12 games.
The Flyers came home to play Utah on Sunday night and, at long last, he got one.
Nick Seeler wrapped around to the outside of the faceoff circle to throw an awkward shot on from off the wall. It caught everyone off guard and took a bounce in the crease that left the puck trickling on its way across the goal line. Farabee was just there in front to make sure it went in and to finally give himself something.
Beezer broke through. 💪#UTAvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/UFuuQlM6C7
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 9, 2024
It just went toward what became a third straight loss for the Flyers, but it was something.
"I wish I didn't take it from Seels," Farabee, more frustrated by another loss, said afterward. "Honestly, I kinda jsut saw the puck and whacked it. I wish I would've just blocked the D and let it go in. Good play by Seels. I wish he would've got credit for it though."
Owen Tippett badly needed to score goals
The power forward with a lightning-quick snapshot and filthy backhander has shown capable of being a 30-goal scorer ever since he arrived to the Flyers and started getting regular NHL ice time two years ago.
But this season had been a struggle to get going. He wasn't finding those soft spots on the ice from playing off the wall as frequently as he did before, and even when he did, his shots felt like they were hitting everywhere but the net.
On the quick trip out to St. Louis at the end of the month though, he got that one. He stretched down the ice for a 2-on-1 with star rookie Matvei Michkov and tapped the pass home for the opening tally of an overtime win. The rest just seemed to follow.
Tippett scored twice within seconds against the Panthers right after to spark that eventually-failed rally against the defending Cup champions, then left with a goal each against Utah and Columbus on shots that had eyes only for twine.
Tippett seems to be clicking now on a line with Michkov and then Morgan Frost as the center, having put up five goals and a plus-4 rating over the past five games.
Tippett's so hot, he's firing from anywhere. 🔥#PHIvsCBJ | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/lmcR5ZGfbM
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 11, 2024
Speaking of…
Morgan Frost badly needed one back
The Flyers were down a goal and on the power play late into the third period Sunday night against Utah.
The puck got cleared down into their own zone and Jamie Drysdale collected it to reset. Skating out, the defenseman dropped the puck so back so that Frost, behind him, could gain momentum and carry it up the ice with speed.
Frost overshot. His stick hopped right over, and Utah checker Kevin Stenlund cut at the line and jumped down to move in and beat Sam Ersson for the score all alone.
The Flyers were buried on the spot, and Frost was caught in another bad look amid a start to the year where he wasn't making an impact within an already thin center corps, leading to another stretch where head coach John Tortorella sat him down.
Morgan Frost with an all-time bad play on a hockey rink. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/4WRUkuXJrl
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) December 9, 2024
But like Tippett, Frost seems to be finding a groove on that line with Michkov, too. That flub against Utah though, that was bad.
So when the Flyers returned to the ice in Columbus a couple of nights later, he checked the puck down and then crashed after a rebound to score. It was only his fourth goal of the season and put Philly up 5-1 by that point, but Frost needed that one back, while keeping that line in rhythm.
"We've been together for a fair amount of games here now, and I think we're starting to develop some chemistry that way," Frost said of skating with Tippett and Michkov after the win over Columbus. "We're all offensive players, but I think we're all doing a good job on the other side of the puck that's leading to us getting more opportunity in the offensive zone.
"I think all of our skill sets can complement each other well. I'm having a blast playing with those guys."
MORGAN FROST!!! GRABS HIS OWN REBOUND AFTER MERZLIKINS ROBBED HIM SECONDS BEFORE. GREAT PASS BY MATVEI, HE SHOULD GET THAT ASSIST. IT'S 5-1.#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/04yoXYEPpp
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) December 11, 2024
Jamie Drysdale badly needed to skate again
Look good doing it, too.
The young defenseman, who is always going to have the weight of expectation as the key return from the Cutter Gauthier trade, missed a month from injury, and has an already documented injury history at just 22.
And while he was away, a solid Flyers top-four suddenly formed. Travis Sanheim and Cam York were the anchors at the top, another young blueliner in Emil Andrae broke out to the point where he couldn't be denied a regular NHL role, and Rasmus Ristolainen found his way as a physical and steady D-man.
The deal with Drysdale was always that the Flyers wanted him for the defenseman he could become in five years, not the work in progress that he was when they acquired him and in many ways still is.
Time from the outside, however, felt like it was running short between Andrae's emergence and Drysdale being sidelined again – not to mention that Drysdale also wasn't protecting the puck very well before he went out.
He returned to the lineup Sunday night against Utah and did decently to try and hold the line in the loss, skating 18:54 and finishing plus-1. Then, in the win over Columbus, he was moving much quicker and with a bit more ambition, notching an assist from a dropoff on Tippett's goal and going plus-3 in the decisive victory.
"I watched him in the last game be even more aggressive as far as just jumping up the ice," Tortorella said on Thursday morning ahead of the Flyers' next game at home against Detroit. "He's all over the place."
And he needs to stay on it.
This Jamie Drysdale shift should absolutely remind everyone of the potential this kid has. Has looked amazing so far.#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/DKl0UJ5dty
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) December 11, 2024
The Flyers badly needed a win
A decisive one.
The end of November was marked with wins in four of five games. Four of those games went into overtime or a shootout, and each victory had the Flyers fighting tooth and nail for.
The start of December was marked with three straight losses, through plenty of fight, but with tough breaks, some frustrating officiating, and efforts that the team either couldn't hold together or just put the finishing touches on.
So they needed that last game against the Blue Jackets, where they flew up and down the ice and had everything seem to work for them as they cruised to a 5-3 win – that carried a 5-2 lead until there were only seconds left.
And they badly needed a star
Matvei Michkov is rapidly becoming the player the teams, the organization, and the fans were hoping he would.
The now 20-year-old winger has 10 points in the last five games, 17 points and a plus-13 rating in the 14 games ever since Tortorella made the unpopular call to scratch him for a couple of nights, and 27 points through the first 27 games of his NHL career.
He's leading the NHL rookie class by a pretty substantial margin. Lane Hutson's 19 points in Montreal are the next closest to him, and Hutson has yet to score his first goal. Michkov has 11 of them already, which is also leading this year's rookies, with San Jose phenom Macklin Celebrini's eight trailing him.
Michkov has been all over the ice and making something happen. When No. 39 is out there, everyone seems to clearly know it now.
The transformation from a promising and hopeful prospect into a full-blown NHL star is happening fast, and in a city he's feeling tailor made for.
At the end of the loss to Utah, play broke down, and a scrum ensued behind the net.
Michlov and Barrett Hayton were going at one another, the refs separated them, but weren't settling down. One official blew his whistle straight into Michkov's ear, and he swiped at it in reaction, drawing a game misconduct and the directive for Michkov to get off the ice.
Michkov was fuming, but as he went to head down the tunnel, he stopped everything to sign a water bottle for a kid over the glass on his right – as promised before the game if the story is to be believed.
When Matvei Michkov got tossed out of the game with 16.3 seconds left tonight, he signed an autograph for a fan before leaving 🔥🔥#Flyers pic.twitter.com/evSqNANRvM
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) December 9, 2024
The Flyers, Philadelphia, they badly needed star a like Matvei Michkov.
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