The Philadelphia Flyers still have much work to do over the next 21 games if they want to secure a place in the NHL postseason.

But if they do earn a spot, wins like the one on Thursday night over the Columbus Blue Jackets will be a big reason why.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period and 3-1 in the second, the Flyers fought back, tying the game after 40 minutes and nabbing a 4-3 overtime win on the strength of Kevin Hayes’ heroics. Philadelphia retained its third-place spot in the Metropolitan Division, and successfully finished off home-and-home sweeps of two of their closest competition for a divisional playoff spot, the Blue Jackets and the Florida Panthers.

Travis Konecny, Nicolas Aubé-Kubel and Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers, who are now 34-20-7. Brian Elliott grabbed the victory in goal, stopping 28 of 31 shots, while Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves in defeat.

1. In case you needed any more proof, the Flyers are good
Let’s rewind the clock two weeks.

The Flyers were licking their wounds from a 5-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on home ice. They sat tied for fifth in the Metropolitan Division, out of the playoffs via tiebreaker to the Carolina Hurricanes. And they faced a make-or-break seven-game stretch — two battles with division leaders, and five games against teams also on the Eastern Conference playoff bubble.

Doubters were back out in full force. “Same old Flyers,” they grumbled after the Devils loss, ignoring the fact that the team had played objectively good hockey for a month leading up to the clunker. Still, the onus was on the Flyers to change the perception. Particularly with home-and-home matchups versus Florida and Columbus, they would have an opportunity to secure a comfortable place in the standings.

Now, with double sweeps of the Panthers and Blue Jackets completed, the Flyers shouldn’t have any more doubters. They’re for real.

Thursday was a game that Philadelphia clubs from the last five or six seasons probably would have lost. Columbus was desperate, especially after losing two nights earlier to this same team. Elliott allowed a weak early goal. Less-than-stellar netfront work by a just-recalled rookie resulted in a two-goal deficit with just 30 minutes remaining. Oh, and the Blue Jackets are only the stingiest team in terms of goals allowed in the division, a club whose entire identity is built around tight checking and frustrating opponents.

Yet they fought back, and showed exactly how this team is tangibly different from past clubs. Previous Flyers teams lacked depth, but it was fourth-liner Aubé-Kubel who cut the lead to one on a solo rush. Their power play struggled for the past season and a half; the top unit came through on Thursday with the game-tying goal just nine seconds into the only Philadelphia PP of the evening off a slickly designed set play. They had no answers at center for years beyond Claude Giroux and, later, Sean Couturier; 2C Kevin Hayes potted the game-winner in overtime.


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We can talk all day about mentality and the importance of clutch plays. Those absolutely matter, and are contributing to the Flyers’ recent surge. But more than anything else, this team is for real because it’s just deeper and more talented, from top to bottom, than any of the clubs since Philadelphia’s last playoff series victory in 2011-12. Perhaps this might be the team that can finally break that long drought.

2. Flyers are just plain better than Columbus, too
It can’t be overstated just how important this game was to Columbus.

As the Flyers’ playoff hopes have soared over the past two weeks, the Blue Jackets’ have been in free fall. Entering last night’s game, they had lost six consecutive contests, with their postseason chances dropping all the way down to 42 percent as a result, per HockeyViz.com. A regulation loss on Tuesday would lower it to 32 percent; a win would put them back above the break-even mark. For the Flyers, this game was a luxury, an opportunity to drive a dagger through a competitor’s playoff hopes. For Columbus, it was as close to a must-win as a team can have in mid-February.

Yet they still couldn’t outplay the Flyers.

Yes, they secured a point, which keeps the night from being a total disaster from a playoff perspective. But this wasn’t even a game that Columbus “deserved” to win. The Flyers led in shots (33-31), scoring chances (24-19), high-danger scoring chances (11-8), and expected goals (2.44-2.09), per Natural Stat Trick. In the Blue Jackets’ moment of desperation, the Flyers were just plain better.

Columbus came out firing in the first, slowed the pace down to a crawl for the first 14 minutes of the second period and exploded out of the gate in the third. But every time, the team that merely wanted to win was able to push back against the team that needed to win. That says something, especially considering that the Flyers ultimately won all four games of the season series between the two clubs.

Philadelphia may sit only two points ahead of the Blue Jackets with a game in hand. But the talent gap — particularly with Columbus so injury-ravaged — is far greater.

3. Vigneault goes Elliott over Hart, ultimately rewarded
Forty-one seconds into the game, it seemed like Alain Vigneault had made one of his first big mistakes as Flyers head coach.

With Carter Hart coming off a strong performance in goal versus the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, he would have been the chalk pick to start the rematch in Ohio two days later. Yet Vigneault turned to Elliott, the clear 1B in the two-man goaltender rotation, presumably to both ensure the veteran stayed sharp and to give Hart a breather.

Elliott hadn’t started a game since the Feb. 11 loss to the New York Islanders. He brought in a 0.898 full-season save percentage. And when he allowed a short-side, sharp-angle goal to Oliver Bjorkstrand before a minute had passed, it was very easy to second-guess the move. Columbus, after all, went right back to primary starter Elvis Merzlikins in the rematch. They had no qualms leaning on their “better” goalie. Yet the Flyers purposely went with their second choice for a game with major playoff implications, and it appeared that the bold strategy was going to bite them.

Then, as Elliott so often does, he slowly settled in.

The remainder of the first period wasn’t pretty. Elliott allowed only one more goal, but he didn’t seem to track the puck well, even on many of his saves. That all changed in the second period. Suddenly, Good Brian Elliott re-emerged, allowing one tally the rest of the way (on an unstoppable Stefan Matteau deflection). His late-second period stop on Pierre-Luc Dubois, in fact, was the save of the night.

At this point, games like Thursday have to just be considered part of the Brian Elliott experience. It’s usually a roller coaster ride, and more often than not, the stats aren’t going to love his work (0.903 save percentage, three goals allowed on 2.43 expected). But on most nights, Elliott still finds a way to do just enough to help his team secure a win. Maybe Hart should have started last night’s game. But Elliott didn’t lose it.

4. Myers’ athleticism on display late
Some have asked why the Flyers insist on keeping rookie defenseman Philippe Myers on the second pair alongside Travis Sanheim. After all, Myers — befitting his rookie status — remains prone to glaring errors, and Philadelphia has a useful, veteran right-handed blueliner in Justin Braun, who showcased solid chemistry with Sanheim over the season’s first half. It would be an easy swap to simply move Myers back down to third-pair duties and bump Braun up.

So why have the Flyers elected to tolerate Myers’ growing pains in the heart of a playoff race? With time running down in regulation on Thursday, Myers answered that question with authority, via his signature, ridiculous athleticism.



On neither of these plays is Myers initially in perfect position. He actually crosses over to Robert Hägg’s side of the ice on the first example of rush coverage, and he looks to be slightly behind Oliver Bjorkstrand on the second rush. But Myers’ mobility and strength prevents both Gustav Nyquist and Bjorkstrand from taking advantage of the situation. With the game on the line, Myers provided two textbook examples of how to nullify a dangerous rush.

The kind of athleticism that made those plays possible can’t be taught. And the truly exciting part about Myers is that he’s able to play high-difficulty, lockdown defense without perfect positioning. Even if it never fully clicks for him, Myers will remain a useful defenseman, because at least through the length of his prime, he’ll be able to make plays like the ones shown above. But if he cleans up the finer points of his game? Look out, NHL.

5. Aubé-Kubel breaks through the slog
The second period was playing out like the ideal Blue Jackets period, especially after Matteau scored to make it a 3-1. Everything was in slow motion: rushes up ice, cycles, puck races. The Flyers were forced to contest every inch of the ice to generate even a mildly dangerous shot. The score was 3-1, but considering the pace of play, it felt like 6-1.

That’s when Nicolas Aubé-Kubel stepped in and brought speed back to the proceedings.



Aubé-Kubel has been a revelation in Philadelphia. The main concern expressed by skeptics of his play in the AHL was consistency — he would have one great shift, and follow it up with an absolute clunker that included turnovers, with the same pattern emerging for games. That issue hasn’t carried over to the NHL. If anything, NAK has been one of Philadelphia’s most consistent bottom-sixers, helping his line to drive play and providing enough offense to inspire hopes that he could (maybe) top out as more of a middle-sixer at the NHL level rather than just the very good fourth-liner he is today.

6. Friedman shows potential in up-and-down game
In many NHL organizations, Mark Friedman would already be up with the big club full-time. But enviable Flyers blueline depth has kept him with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the bulk of the 2019-20 season, even as he’s excelled in the AHL and patiently waited for his chance.

A Justin Braun illness gave him his second crack at the NHL this season on Thursday, and while Friedman didn’t exactly run with the opportunity, he certainly broke into a comfortable trot at times.

First, the bad. Matteau’s second-period goal doesn’t happen if Friedman does a better job of anticipating his move to the front of the Flyers’ net, and more successfully boxes him out of deflection position. The Flyers were also crushed from a shot and chance differential with Friedman on the ice at 5-on-5 — never a good sign, even in a single-game sample.

Still, there were plenty of moments when Friedman’s potential showed. He drew the penalty that led to the game-tying goal, and it wasn’t a fluke — he’s been a penalty-drawing monster for years with the Phantoms. Friedman also did beautiful work disrupting a 3-on-1 at the end of the second period, despite being over 60 seconds into his shift.



When Braun is healthy, Friedman will likely return to Lehigh Valley, or at least leave the Flyers’ lineup. But he deserves to be in the mix moving forward — he’s the eighth defenseman on the depth chart, and if the Flyers make the playoffs, it’s quite possible that, in the war of attrition that is the postseason, an eighth defenseman will be needed. Friedman looks capable of at least holding his own.

7. Top power play unit replicates successful wrinkle
Shortly after the top power play unit was restructured into its current personnel format — Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Couturier, Konecny and Ivan Provorov — the Flyers hit the Washington Capitals with a new wrinkle. After winning a power play opening draw, Giroux dropped below the goal line to make himself an outlet for a pass, circled the net and found Couturier on the off-side for a one-timer that easily fooled Braden Holtby.



Look familiar? It should, because the Flyers ran nearly the exact same play last night, except in reverse and with Giroux and Couturier’s roles swapped. Same result, too.



In both plays, the faceoff man — Giroux on goal No. 1, Couturier last night — is the one to drop below the red line to function as distributor, while the far-side point man slowly creeps lower in the zone to make himself a one-timer option. It’s becoming a staple of the new-look top unit.

That’s not to say that Giroux is about to take up permanent shop on the right side again, as he did on this particular sequence. This is a set play, one the team has practiced and gone over in video sessions. Had it failed to produce a goal, Giroux likely would have slowly made his way back to the left side, and the unit would have returned to its usual structure. But as an occasional wrinkle that takes advantage of the goalie not properly tracking both passer and shooter simultaneously on below-the-goal-line passing plays, it’s been a smashing success.

8. PK saves the day
Speaking of former weaknesses-turned-strengths that helped lead to the Flyers’ victory, the Philadelphia penalty kill came up huge at the end of the second period and into the early third. Facing a 1:27 minute 5-on-3 with the score knotted up at 3-3, the Flyers could have easily lost the game right then and there. In a particularly high-leverage game, this was probably the highest-leverage moment in regulation.

The penalty kill proved up to the task. Columbus managed just three shot attempts during the two-man advantage, as the Flyers successfully filled in lanes and kept the Blue Jackets to the perimeter. Apart from Elliott’s monster stop on Dubois, which came during the first 5-on-4, the Philadelphia PK stifled Columbus’ power play.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a major surprise. Before allowing a PP goal to Bjorkstrand on Tuesday, Philadelphia had successfully killed 15 straight penalties, and over the course of the full season, have the best shot suppression PK in all of hockey. The days of an easily exploitable Flyers penalty kill are over. It’s back to being a team strength, and one with the ability to turn a game, as it did on Thursday.

9. Couturier line keeps banging on the door
The line of Giroux, Couturier and Voracek seems so close to a breakthrough.

It hasn’t been bad, of course, since being reconstituted back on Feb. 8 versus the Capitals. They’ve driven play (70-45 shot advantage) and looked every bit as dangerous as a line with three star-level players should. But it’s yet to post a true breakout game, when the trio explodes and singlehandedly drives the Flyers to an easy win.

That easily could have come on Thursday. The top line was buzzing all night, setting up shop in the offensive zone and peppering Merzlikins with shots. They took 21 shot attempts in the Columbus netminder’s general direction, while allowing the Blue Jackets to generate just seven of their own. It was territorial domination, but unfortunately for the Flyers, without goal-based rewards. The trio failed to light the lamp, and actually relinquished a goal.

Nevertheless, Thursday felt like an example of water crashing up against a set of floodgates just ready to give way but somehow stays upright just a bit longer than expected. They should fall down soon enough if the Giroux-Couturier-Voracek trio keeps pounding away.


The Flyers celebrate Thursday’s win. (Aaron Doster / USA Today)
10. Schedule starting to open up
This game served as the unofficial conclusion to maybe the highest-leverage portion of the Flyers’ schedule yet. The games over the past two weeks weren’t “must win” just because the club is in a tight playoff race — they qualified as such because Philadelphia was facing off against the very teams they are battling in the standings. Almost every game was a “four-point night,” in the sense that a regulation loss would both see the Flyers lose out on two points and watch a rival gain two.

At least for a few games now, the Flyers have the luxury of playing against “normal” foes. Winnipeg is a flawed Western Conference bubble team. San Jose is injury-ravaged and playing out the string of a lost season. And then there’s a home-and-home against the Rangers, who are playing better over the past month but are still no one’s idea of a formidable foe.

This is the Flyers’ chance to pile up the points, before the schedule becomes truly challenging again in early March. Their sweeps of Florida and Columbus over the past two weeks gave them the makings of real breathing room, but a three- or four-win run during this next stretch would go a long way toward making the postseason a near-certainty.