Flyers destroy Jets, will come home with a chance to end 5-year playoff drought
The Flyers went into Winnipeg on Saturday night and absolutely steamrolled the Jets 7-1 at Canada Life Centre. After the sloppy 6-3 loss in Detroit on Thursday, this was the response the fanbase needed to see. Loud, decisive, and clinical from start to finish.
Sean Couturier scored twice. Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Travis Sanheim, Noah Cates, and Nick Seeler each added a goal. Dan Vladar stopped 27 of 28 shots and looked completely like himself after getting pulled in the second period against Detroit.
Three goals in the first period staked the Flyers to a lead they never relinquished and it was a 5-1 game heading into the third. The Jets pulled Hellebuyck after he allowed five goals on 20 shots.
Porter Martone gets things started for the Flyers
Matvei Michkov
Coots
The Fly Guys have now won in their last four trips to Canada Life Centre and outscored Winnipeg 14-2 across those four games. That is a number worth reading twice.
The bigger picture is this. Philly sits at 41-27-12, still in third place in the Metropolitan Division, and they come home with two games left and a chance to clinch their first playoff berth since the 2019-20 season. The five-year drought is one week from being over.
Flyers Standings
Columbus beat the Canadiens on Saturday and remained two points back. The Islanders got shut out by Ottawa and the Flyers gained a point of separation on New York, now three points back. Washington beat a stripped-down Pittsburgh team to keep pace, also three back. The Flyers are in the driver’s seat with two home games left.
Sunday brings scoreboard watching. The Blue Jackets, Capitals, and Islanders are all in action. They don’t want to finish level with any of them in points because they lose the regulation wins tiebreaker. Two wins this week solves all of that.
Flyers have been crazy good since February
Since February 26th the Flyers have gone 16-6-1 and allowed just 2.39 goals per game. They have lost back-to-back games exactly once in that stretch. Travis Sanheim has been a legitimate number one defenseman down the stretch with five goals, six assists, and a plus-13 rating over the last 17 games.
Rasmus Ristolainen has eight assists and a plus-16 in that same window. The fourth line of Couturier, Hathaway, and Glendening was outstanding on Saturday. Vladar just posted his 28th win of the season against a career high coming into the year of 14.
Against the Western Conference this season the Flyers went 21-7-4. They beat the Avalanche on the road, the Stars at home, and swept the Wild. If they played in the Pacific Division they would be in first place.
Final Stretch
Two home games. Monday at 7 PM against Carolina, which is 52-22-6 and trying to clinch the Eastern Conference’s top seed. Tuesday at 7 PM against Montreal, which is 47-23-10 and fighting for the Atlantic Division crown.
The drought ends this week.
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