Reasons for Flyers Success
Posted 9:23 PM ET | Comments 0
The Philadelphia Flyers were having some trouble winning games late in December. It seemed like pucks were bouncing in favor of other teams, calls were not in favor of the Flyers, and offense wasn’t producing.
This isn’t a problem anymore. The Flyers have won 10 of 12 games, losing one in overtime over the past three weeks. Much of this was first the effects of a streaking Joffrey Lupul, who had 17 points in 9 games between December 11th and December 29th. On December 11th Lupul recorded a hat-trick in the assists and goals column, racking up 6 points in the game against Pittsburg. Two games latter he scored 3 again against the Hurricanes. The NHL named Lupul as one of the stars of the month due to his offensive explosion.
On January 5th, Derian Hatcher and Lupul collided, and Lupul left the game with concussion symptoms. Lupul has been out since.
At this point the Flyers had a decent sized list of injured players including All-Star winger Simon Gagne. Coach John Stevens asked of Scott Hartnell to step his game up, due to the injuries. It’s a shame Steven’s hadn’t asked this of Hartnell sooner.
Hartnell scored a goal and two assists the first game without Lupul, and has stacked up 14 point since, over the span of 7 games. He has been named third star of the week for two consecutive weeks. At lot of Hartnells success can be attributed to his hot line; consisting of All-Star Mike Richards, and Rookie Steve Downie.
Steve Downie stirred things up in his first game back from a 20-game suspension by landing a late hit on Jason Blake in a post whistle scrap. He also scored his first NHL goal that night against Toronto (the same night Lupul was hit). Downie has since recorded a point-per-game, and his enjoying great success on the ice with Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell.
The Flyers success of late may also be the result of Simon Gagne returning from a long stint on the injured list, due to a concussion received back in November. Gagne has 7 point in his 6 games since coming back.
Gagne’s return has also helped Daniel Briere get back on the stat sheet. Briere needs a sniper on his line to thrive, and he was lacking that while Gagne was out. Since Gagne’s return Briere has 6 points in 6 games, after only notching one assist in the previous 4.
The flyers surpassed the Montreal Canadians to have the best power-play percentage in the league (25%). They also have the third most goals scored (153), behind the slumping Ottawa Senators (163), and red hot Detroit (169). The flyers are third in the league in win percentage at .620, and have raised to 1st in the Atlantic Division with 57 points, tied with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburg Penguins who have both played one game more than the Flyers.
Aside from the superior offensive efforts, the Flyers defense and goaltending have been stellar also. Randy Jones, Braydon Coburn, and Kimmo Timonen have been producing offensively and have been on top of their defensive game. But the most noticeable contributing defense factor has been Antero Niittymakis goaltending. He has went 6-0-1 in his last 7 starts, and is now ranked 2nd among goalies in save-percentage. Nitty looks like the World Olympic MVP we saw in 2006. Last season Nitty was still struggling through injuries, and we can tell he’s healthy now.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a major stat junky. I looked up a lot of the Flyers players current and projected stats, and compared then with last year. More than half of the flyers team is projected to record more points than last season. Some already have, and some are on track to set career highs (which some, also, already have).
So here are the stats…
Mike Richards:
Year: 2006/07 GP: 59 G:10 A:22 Pts: 32
Year: 2007-08 GP:46 G:21 A:32 Pts:53
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:82 G:37 A:57 Pts:94
R.J. Umberger:
Year: 2006/07 GP:81 G:16 A:12 Pts: 28
Year: 2007-08 GP:44 G:8 A:24 Pts:32
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:80 G:14 A:43 Pts:57
Jeff Carter:
Year: 2006/07 GP: 64 G:14 A:23 Pts: 37
Year: 2007-08 GP:46 G:17 A:13 Pts:30
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:82 G:30 A:23 Pts:53
Scott Hartnell:
Year: 2006/07 GP: 64 G:22 A:17 Pts: 39
Year: 2007-08 GP:44 G:16 A:12 Pts:28
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:80 G:29 A:22 Pts:51
Randy Jones
Year: 2006/07 GP: 66 G:4 A:18 Pts: 22
Year: 2007-08 GP:41 G:2 A:18 Pts:20
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:77 G:4 A:34 Pts:38
Braydon Coburn
Year: 2006/07 GP: 49 G:3 A:8 Pts: 11
Year: 2007-08 GP:46 G:3 A:17 Pts:20
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:82 G:5 A:30 Pts:35
Scottie Upshall
Year: 2006/07 GP: 32 G:8 A:8 Pts: 16
Year: 2007-08 GP:31 G:8 A:7 Pts:15
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:67 G:17 A:15 Pts:32
Honorable Mentions:
Joffrey Lupul
Year: 2006/07 GP: 81 G:16 A:12 Pts: 28
Year: 2007-08 GP:39 G:16 A:19 Pts:35
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:75 G:31 A:36 Pts:67
Lupul had a disappointing season last year, and has already passed the point tally he reached in 2006-07. The above projection would be if Lupul were to play in the next game, which is not likely. But he should be back in early February and will hopefully still have that scoring touch.
Simon Gagne
Year: 2006/07 GP: 76 G:41 A:27 Pts: 68
Year: 2007-08 GP:16 G:6 A:9 Pts:15
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:52 G:20 A:29 Pts:49
Simon Gagne has missed a large chunk of this season, but has been hot since coming back. It’s very unlikely that he will reach 68 points like last year, but he is scoring at a better point-per-game percent.
Steve Downie:
Year: 2007-08 GP:11 G:3 A:5 Pts:8
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:47 G:13 A:21 Pts:34
Steve Downie has come out with a bang in his premiere season (yes I know, in more than one way) but he has proven himself effective as an NHL player. Downie averages a point-per-game in his last 8 games, and if he continues producing at this rate, his final projected points stat will be higher.
Things are looking bright in Flyer world, and may only get brighter with the potential return of formed captain all-star forward Peter Forsberg.
This isn’t a problem anymore. The Flyers have won 10 of 12 games, losing one in overtime over the past three weeks. Much of this was first the effects of a streaking Joffrey Lupul, who had 17 points in 9 games between December 11th and December 29th. On December 11th Lupul recorded a hat-trick in the assists and goals column, racking up 6 points in the game against Pittsburg. Two games latter he scored 3 again against the Hurricanes. The NHL named Lupul as one of the stars of the month due to his offensive explosion.
On January 5th, Derian Hatcher and Lupul collided, and Lupul left the game with concussion symptoms. Lupul has been out since.
At this point the Flyers had a decent sized list of injured players including All-Star winger Simon Gagne. Coach John Stevens asked of Scott Hartnell to step his game up, due to the injuries. It’s a shame Steven’s hadn’t asked this of Hartnell sooner.
Hartnell scored a goal and two assists the first game without Lupul, and has stacked up 14 point since, over the span of 7 games. He has been named third star of the week for two consecutive weeks. At lot of Hartnells success can be attributed to his hot line; consisting of All-Star Mike Richards, and Rookie Steve Downie.
Steve Downie stirred things up in his first game back from a 20-game suspension by landing a late hit on Jason Blake in a post whistle scrap. He also scored his first NHL goal that night against Toronto (the same night Lupul was hit). Downie has since recorded a point-per-game, and his enjoying great success on the ice with Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell.
The Flyers success of late may also be the result of Simon Gagne returning from a long stint on the injured list, due to a concussion received back in November. Gagne has 7 point in his 6 games since coming back.
Gagne’s return has also helped Daniel Briere get back on the stat sheet. Briere needs a sniper on his line to thrive, and he was lacking that while Gagne was out. Since Gagne’s return Briere has 6 points in 6 games, after only notching one assist in the previous 4.
The flyers surpassed the Montreal Canadians to have the best power-play percentage in the league (25%). They also have the third most goals scored (153), behind the slumping Ottawa Senators (163), and red hot Detroit (169). The flyers are third in the league in win percentage at .620, and have raised to 1st in the Atlantic Division with 57 points, tied with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburg Penguins who have both played one game more than the Flyers.
Aside from the superior offensive efforts, the Flyers defense and goaltending have been stellar also. Randy Jones, Braydon Coburn, and Kimmo Timonen have been producing offensively and have been on top of their defensive game. But the most noticeable contributing defense factor has been Antero Niittymakis goaltending. He has went 6-0-1 in his last 7 starts, and is now ranked 2nd among goalies in save-percentage. Nitty looks like the World Olympic MVP we saw in 2006. Last season Nitty was still struggling through injuries, and we can tell he’s healthy now.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a major stat junky. I looked up a lot of the Flyers players current and projected stats, and compared then with last year. More than half of the flyers team is projected to record more points than last season. Some already have, and some are on track to set career highs (which some, also, already have).
So here are the stats…
Mike Richards:
Year: 2006/07 GP: 59 G:10 A:22 Pts: 32
Year: 2007-08 GP:46 G:21 A:32 Pts:53
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:82 G:37 A:57 Pts:94
R.J. Umberger:
Year: 2006/07 GP:81 G:16 A:12 Pts: 28
Year: 2007-08 GP:44 G:8 A:24 Pts:32
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:80 G:14 A:43 Pts:57
Jeff Carter:
Year: 2006/07 GP: 64 G:14 A:23 Pts: 37
Year: 2007-08 GP:46 G:17 A:13 Pts:30
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:82 G:30 A:23 Pts:53
Scott Hartnell:
Year: 2006/07 GP: 64 G:22 A:17 Pts: 39
Year: 2007-08 GP:44 G:16 A:12 Pts:28
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:80 G:29 A:22 Pts:51
Randy Jones
Year: 2006/07 GP: 66 G:4 A:18 Pts: 22
Year: 2007-08 GP:41 G:2 A:18 Pts:20
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:77 G:4 A:34 Pts:38
Braydon Coburn
Year: 2006/07 GP: 49 G:3 A:8 Pts: 11
Year: 2007-08 GP:46 G:3 A:17 Pts:20
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:82 G:5 A:30 Pts:35
Scottie Upshall
Year: 2006/07 GP: 32 G:8 A:8 Pts: 16
Year: 2007-08 GP:31 G:8 A:7 Pts:15
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:67 G:17 A:15 Pts:32
Honorable Mentions:
Joffrey Lupul
Year: 2006/07 GP: 81 G:16 A:12 Pts: 28
Year: 2007-08 GP:39 G:16 A:19 Pts:35
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:75 G:31 A:36 Pts:67
Lupul had a disappointing season last year, and has already passed the point tally he reached in 2006-07. The above projection would be if Lupul were to play in the next game, which is not likely. But he should be back in early February and will hopefully still have that scoring touch.
Simon Gagne
Year: 2006/07 GP: 76 G:41 A:27 Pts: 68
Year: 2007-08 GP:16 G:6 A:9 Pts:15
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:52 G:20 A:29 Pts:49
Simon Gagne has missed a large chunk of this season, but has been hot since coming back. It’s very unlikely that he will reach 68 points like last year, but he is scoring at a better point-per-game percent.
Steve Downie:
Year: 2007-08 GP:11 G:3 A:5 Pts:8
On Pace: 2007-08 GP:47 G:13 A:21 Pts:34
Steve Downie has come out with a bang in his premiere season (yes I know, in more than one way) but he has proven himself effective as an NHL player. Downie averages a point-per-game in his last 8 games, and if he continues producing at this rate, his final projected points stat will be higher.
Things are looking bright in Flyer world, and may only get brighter with the potential return of formed captain all-star forward Peter Forsberg.