The Philadelphia Flyers might have lost, but there was plenty of good to take away from the 3-2 game vs. the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.

Playing against the best team in the NHL is a challenge for any team, not just the Flyers. Philadelphia is a young team. They are still learning about themselves and finding their team identity. That is a part of this stage of the rebuild.

This Flyers team, specifically, they fight. They displayed that on Sunday.

Even though it was an early second-period goal to give Colorado the 3-1 lead, against a team like the Avalanche, it could have very well been the opening of the floodgates.

Instead of letting that goal kill any chance of a comeback, the Flyers picked up their intensity. From that point on, it was a very different game.

The Flyers found that same spark that they had when coming out of the gate, and did a complete 180. Instead of the pressure being put on them, it was the Flyers putting pressure on Colorado.

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Sure, there were chances the other way. However, that did not kill their momentum. When the Flyers gave up a high-danger chance, they brought the puck back down the ice and had a high-end look of their own.

In the end, they could not complete the comeback. Mackenzie Blackwood had a tremendous third period, but the Flyers could not capitalize on his mistakes.

After the game, the locker room was dead quiet. You could hear a pin drop. Not that the team should be happy after a close loss, but the silence was louder than anything else. Even after a game where the team hung with the best in the league.

Why? Well, this team believes that they should have won this game. Flyers alternate captain Travis Konecny emphasized this point postgame.

“Some people use teams as measuring sticks, and I think we don’t need to do that anymore. We’ve shown we can compete with the best teams. So why not start believing that we should be right there with them? “

Measuring sticks are cool. When you’re as young as the Flyers are, they can be important. You could use a game against the Avalanche as a measuring stick, showing that this team is right there.

In the end, being in the game is fine and well. However, moral victories feel minor compared to the belief that they could have won that game. That’s the real encouraging sign.

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