Michal Neuvirth Earns His Ric Flair Robe as Flyers Roll Again at Home

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Every season the Flyers come up with a unique prop handed down from one player of the game to the next following each home victory.

Tuesday night, it was goaltender Michal Neuvirth who was rewarded with the Ric Flair black and silver feathered robe, made popular by the WWE superstar. Neuvirth's 40-save performance helped pave the way for the Flyers' 5-1 victory over the Panthers (see observations).

"I think Neuvy gave us some confidence," Claude Giroux said. "He made some big saves for us. He was solid. We're happy for him that he played a great game. We were hoping to give him a shutout in the end there. He stood on his head tonight."   

The robe, hand-tailored by the daughter of Flyers head equipment manager Derek Settlemyre, seems rather appropriate in the manner in which the Flyers have body-slammed their opponents in their first two games at the Wells Fargo Center, outscoring Washington and Florida by a combined score of 13-3.

"I think we have a lot of depth. We can roll all four lines," said Sean Couturier, one of 10 Flyers to register a point. "Our depth has been really good and we've got to keep it that way."

"It's fun when you're winning and making plays. That's the biggest thing," said Shayne Gostisbehere, who scored his first goal of the season on a give-and-go with Wayne Simmonds. "As a team, we're making a lot of plays and Coach is giving us the leeway to do that, and like you said, it's fun hockey out there."

The Panthers could have seized some of the Flyers' early momentum. With roughly 6:45 remaining in the second period, Gostisbehere broke up a potential 2-on-1, which led to Valtteri Filppula's long stretch pass to Giroux, who was all alone at the Panthers' blue line. Giroux skated in and snapped a shot through Roberto Luongo's five-hole to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead, when just seconds earlier the Panthers had a chance to cut the Flyers' lead to a single goal.

"It was up-and-down hockey," Giroux said. "It was fun hockey to play and after we got that first goal, we kind of relaxed and started playing."

Playing for the first time in 12 days, Neuvirth certainly needed a goal to relax. Not only was he fighting the puck early on, but also a few butterflies.

"When you don't start for awhile, you start questioning yourself," Neuvirth said. "I was a little bit more nervous than what I was used to before the game, but I handled it well." 

Tuesday's game may not have been predetermined WWE style, but the Flyers certainly followed Dave Hakstol's script, as they had the Panthers pinned to the ice leading, 4-0, after two periods - scoring three of those goals off the rush (see highlights). Coming into Tuesday's game, Florida led the NHL averaging 42 shots on net.

"I said it this morning, they're a dangerous team," Hakstol said. "They make a lot of plays. They put a lot of pucks to the net. Sometimes a shot chart isn't everything. If you can defend and get a save when you need it, and then turn around in transition and get after them at the other end of the rink, you can generate some chances and we did that tonight." 

As Neuvirth walked away for the night, he left the gimmicky robe hanging from his locker room stall.

It's not exactly a look that would inspire confidence, especially with the words "Nature Boy" written across the back shoulder.

Simmonds update
Simmonds left Tuesday's game for precautionary reasons with approximately eight minutes remaining in the third period because of a lower-body injury. He'll be evaluated further over the next day or two.

Simmonds has missed just one game since the beginning of the 2015-16 season.

A point is a point
Defenseman Robert Hagg collected his first NHL point by simply getting in the way. Hagg collected the secondary assist after he blocked Mark Pysyk's shot that led to a Flyers rush and Gostisbehere's eventual goal.

"I mean, yeah, I'll take it," Hagg said. "It's not going to say in the newspaper how I made it, so I'll take it."

With Hagg's assist, 16 of the Flyers' 19 skaters have recorded at least a point this season. Only Michael Raffl, Radko Gudas and Travis Sanheim have yet to crack the scoresheet.

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