PHILADELPHIA \u2013 Early in the season, the Flyers were good at bouncing back from losses. In fact, they suffered only two consecutive defeats in regulation time once until January.<\/p>\n
Then things fell apart quickly with five straight setbacks that same month.<\/p>\n
But now, with the Flyers\u2019 playoff hopes hanging by a thread, they have rallied from tough losses to Utah and the Rangers this past week with wins over Pittsburgh and, on Wednesday night, over Washington.<\/p>\n
After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, the Flyers gathered themselves to take a 2-1 lead in the second and then held on for a 4-1 win at Xfinity Mobile Arena, moving them past the Caps in the Metropolitan Division standings.<\/p>\n
Trevor Zegras put the Flyers ahead at 12:13 of the second period and Jamie Drysdale added an insurance goal at 7:17 of the third as the Flyers moved back to within seven points of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Drysdale\u2019s goal was his seventh of the season, tying a career high.<\/p>\n
Goaltender Sam Ersson, starting the front end of a back-to-back for only the third time this season, turned in a top-notch performance.<\/p>\n
A number of players played key roles in this victory, perhaps topping the list was Owen Tippett, who set up the Zegras goal and later iced the decision in the closing minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last two times we\u2019ve bounced back and tonight I thought we responded well,\u201d Tippett said. \u201cThey tried to play physical but we didn\u2019t back down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tippett was zooming up and down the ice like it was the first game of the season in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know it\u2019s one of those things where you can get used to it early and get the confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tippett\u2019s teammates gave positive reviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy\u2019s amazing, I\u2019ve never seen anything like it,\u201d Zegras said.<\/p>\n
Added Drysdale: \u201cThe guy\u2019s a stud, he\u2019s an absolute horse. The way he\u2019s playing this year as a whole. Every time he touches the puck he\u2019s a threat. I wouldn\u2019t want to be a defenseman on an opposing team going against that guy with a head of steam. Tonight he had a great game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Rick Tocchet indicated Tippett is a player he can count on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge, that kind of speed,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe gets a step on somebody \u2026 obviously he was fast tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers entered the game sporting a record of 6-15-5 when trailing after one period, so when they came out of the opening 20 minutes behind by a 1-0 score, the possibility of a winning outcome seemed dubious at best.<\/p>\n
A Capitals\u2019 power-play goal was the culprit. With Zegras in the box, Ryan Leonard\u2019s shot from the top of the left circle eluded goalie Ersson short side at 9:51.<\/p>\n
Not to beat a dead horse but that was the 44th time the Flyers have allowed an opponent to score first this season.<\/p>\n
Early in the second, Travis Konecny tied the score when his shot from the right dot eluded goalie Logan Thompson at 4:23. Travis Sanheim set up the play with a pass from the left circle. Rookie Alex Bump picked up his first NHL assist on the play.<\/p>\n
Then Zegras and Tippett went to work. Both somehow found a way to break behind the Washington defense. That set up a tic-tac-toe pass play, with Zegras finishing the job at 12:13.<\/p>\n
With 1:03 to play in the game, Tippett added an empty-net goal.<\/p>\n
As for bouncing back after the losses to Utah and the Rangers, Tocchet sounded pleased by his team\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought a lot of guys showed up tonight,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cGetting into scrums [especially after a questionable hit on Konecny]. Fighting back. It was one of those types of games. Basically everyone was involved. Especially in a division game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bump takes center stage<\/p>\n
In addition to getting his first assist, Bump also continued his positive penchant for driving to the middle. It either sets up an optimum shooting angle or opens the door for passing to a teammate who might not be closely covered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat \u2018Bumper\u2019 does so well, he doesn\u2019t defer to the defenseman,\u201d\u00a0 Tocchet said after Wednesday morning\u2019s skate. \u201cWhen he comes out of the corner, he attacks the middle and then he watches what the strong side winger does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him to shoot every time. His shot is an elite shot. We don\u2019t want him to defer. I\u2019d rather him take the puck to the middle, even if he gets the shot blocked or if he fumbles it sometime. But I\u2019d rather he take that approach. I\u2019ve seen that shot mentality and we welcome that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short shots<\/p>\n
It\u2019s off to Minnesota to play the Wild on Thursday night. The Wild were off on Wednesday so they will have the rest advantage. \u2026 Alex Ovechkin\u2019s 52 career goals vs. the Flyers are exceeded only by the 57 he has recorded against the Winnipeg-Atlanta franchise. \u2026 Flyers lead the NHL in road shootout wins with five.<\/p>\n
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow his coverage at www.flyingfishhockey.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2013 Early in the season, the Flyers were good at bouncing back from losses. In fact, they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5406],"class_list":{"0":"post-500495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116219287066429266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}