By The Numbers: Anatomy Of The Flyers’ Win Streak
The Flyers are streaking hot in a major way.
Through injury, a road December gauntlet and tough strength of schedule, the new-look club has found chemistry and rattled off six-straight wins en route to the top spot in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.
Here is the anatomy of that six-game run:
2 — Times Flyers came back from three-goal deficit to win. On Dec. 2 against the Ducks and Dec. 7 against the Sabres, the Flyers turned an early-game romping into a win. Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr had three goals and two assists in those two games.
3 — Times the Flyers had five different goal scorers in one game. Depth has been the topic of discussion of late and for good reason. The Flyers have had five different goal-scorers get on the board in three different games during the streak. They had four different goal-scorers once and three different goal-scorers twice.
4 — Wins on the road. Although winning consistently away from home is a problem for some teams, it hasn’t been for the Flyers, who with four road wins during their streak, push their league-high road record to 11-3-1. It also puts them on pace for 30 road wins, which would be a franchise record.
6 — Consecutive games Scott Hartnell has scored a goal. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Hartnell is just the second Flyer (Jeff Carter, 2010) in 12 years to score in six straight games. He also tied Nashville Predators forward Patric Hornqvist for longest streak in the NHL this season.
7 — Assists by Kimmo Timonen. The Flyers’ streak has been powered, in part, by Timonen’s confident offensive resurgence. With 20 assists on the year in just 29 games, the veteran defenseman has turned up the production, notching seven in his last six games. To put it in perspective, Timonen has averaged 35 assists in total during his last four years with the Flyers.
10 — Different Flyers goal-scorers altogether. During the six games, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr, Jakub Voracek, Matt Read, Matt Carle, Marc-Andre Bourdon, Wayne Simmonds, Max Talbot, have all lit the lamp. James van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier are the only two top-nine forwards to go without scoring a goal.
+12 — The Flyers’ goal differential. In their six wins, all coming in December, the Flyers have out-scored the opposition 26-14. They have scored five goals three times, four goals twice and three once.
14 — Average number of opposition wins. With the Pittsburgh Penguins, Phoenix Coyotes and Washington Capitals on the list, the Flyers’ road to six straight wasn’t an easy one. But it wasn’t terribly difficult, either. With the Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks also on the list, the average record of teams defeated is 14-13-3.
25 — Average minutes that Matt Carle spent on the ice. The Flyers’ top defenseman during the streak averaged 25:17 of ice time and led the Flyers in five of their six wins. He also has a goal and three assists during that time.
.902% — Ilya Bryzgalov’s mediocre save-percentage. Although many teams run hot streaks on the back of their goaltending, and despite Bryzgalov having six wins, the franchise stopper has been good, not great in the past six games. A scary thought for the opposition, is that with a career save percentage of .915 percent, there is room for improvement for Bryzgalov.
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