The Philadelphia Flyers swept their home-and-home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins after a 2-1 victory over them in overtime. Now 13-10-2 on the season, what were some takeaways from the big win for Philadelphia?
Flyers Playing With Pace
The Flyers have been displaying it all season, but their pace was truly shown in this game. Part of the reason for Philadelphia’s struggles over the past few seasons has been due to their slow pace and inability to play at a level up to their opponents. This season has shown a completely different story, with the Flyers being both a rebuilder and a team that can play to any pace thrown at them.
Pittsburgh isn’t a particularly fast team, so that might have played into why the Flyers looked to outpace them a bit, but the fact that they are doing so at all is good for a rebuilding team. It has been the difference between a losing roster without too much talent in the last couple of seasons and a winning one this season. That has a lot to do with the schematics that head coach John Tortorella employs, but it also has to do with the players executing well and finding their game.
Related: Penguins’ Acquisition of Karlsson Changes the Team’s Complexion
The Flyers play in such a way that they can display straight-line speed pretty often, but not in a way that they rely on their players being exceptionally fast. In terms of actual skating talent, the Flyers are not elite by any means, but they play a style that forces teams to respect them. When other teams respect your skaters, clean entries result, and the game becomes much smoother. The entire coaching staff deserves some credit for how they’ve been able to get the most out of the team, but the players deserve their flowers for being able to execute, as well. The Flyers have become a team that has to be taken seriously rather than one that is consistently walked all over in their own zone and the neutral zone.
Foerster Has Officially Arrived
While Tyson Foerster has had a decent start to the season in areas other than the scoring front with a solid forechecking game and above-average defensive game, the goals have finally started to come for him. On a four-game point streak and with four goals in his last three games, the version that was expected of him entering the season has now arrived.
Foerster is mainly known for his shot, but it wasn’t really there for the first quarter of this season. Very recently, that has started to change. The looks have been there, and he has been given open ice to pick his spot. Elite shooters simply cannot be given that amount of space and time.
Foerster has done an exceptional job at working with the ice he is being given in recent games. Even though he had some problems scoring earlier in the season, he has since become one of the Flyers’ more reliable scorers. With a rocket of a wrist shot, he got the game-tying goal against the top line of the Penguins. The Flyers have had some trouble scoring when players of theirs have open space, so it’s refreshing to see someone who can take advantage when that happens.
At just 21 years old, Foerster is a legitimate sniper in the NHL. It took some time, and he very easily could go through another dry spell, but his confidence is now blatantly obvious. The Flyers have the rushing part of their game down, but goals with a stationary scorer who has time to release a shot have not been so common for them. Some sort of movement has typically been what challenges their opponents the most, but Foerster stood still for around a second before he fired his shot. That’s what makes him so dangerous, and it’s a skill that isn’t generally taught at the NHL level. Once the Flyers get a truly elite playmaker alongside him, that’s when he will unlock his full potential. Until then, what the future holds for him is a mystery, but one that seems to be rather optimistic.
Couturier is Still an Elite Center
Scoring the overtime-winning goal in this game, rest assured; Sean Couturier is still an elite center in the NHL. He hasn’t waited to return to his dominant form after missing the latter half of his 2021-22 season and the entirety of 2022-23 but has become the most reliable center on the team. Without him, the Flyers might be looking at this season completely differently.
The defensive, top-end forechecking game is something you might expect to get back instantly from someone like Couturier, but he has been a reliable contributor offensively, too. Assumptions aside, he hasn’t missed a beat at all. He settled a brilliant feed from Travis Konecny down to score a one-time shot to seal the Flyers’ win in overtime, and that is easier said than done. It might seem like a simple play, but letting the puck fall off of a saucer pass is half the battle. He did so in an efficient enough manner that didn’t allow opposing goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to have a chance at stopping his shot. Firing at the perfect time, the nuances of his goal are pretty amazing.
A true first-line center in the NHL is not something that any team can come by. With one, teams will always have a chance to win games. Without one, a rebuild might be necessary. Couturier is still a star player for the Flyers, and it is not hard to overlook that with how consistent he is when healthy. The last couple of seasons without him have shown just how much Philadelphia needs him, and how much higher their ceiling is when he is on the ice. It’s just his 31st birthday coming up on the Flyers’ next game day, yet he still has so much more left in him. Perhaps it is smart for him to live out his contract with the Orange and Black.
The Flyers have a couple of days off before they play Couturier’s hometown team in the Arizona Coyotes for his birthday on Dec. 7. The Coyotes are coming off a five-game winning streak, with four of them being on their home ice. They are not the same basement-dwellers that they have been in previous seasons and are starting to turn a corner. On the road, the Flyers will have a big challenge with a young Arizona team up next on the schedule.
