From skid to mini streak, Flyers start process of perhaps reviving their season originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Prior to Friday, the Flyers hadn't won a game since Nov. 16.
They hadn't won consecutive games since Oct. 27-28.
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The Flyers ended both of those troubling trends in a span of two days. They capped their enough-is-enough back-to-back set with a 5-3 win Saturday night over the Coyotes at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
James van Riemsdyk (two), Scott Laughton, Patrick Brown and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers.
The night before, the Flyers quelled a 10-game skid with a 4-3 decision over the Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
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The Flyers (10-12-4) had gone a stretch of 18 games without two wins in a row. They're now 2-2-0 under interim head coach Mike Yeo. Not everything is fixed and dandy, but the pair of victories are step in the right direction for the Flyers. They were desperate for any kind of positives as the week started with bubbling turmoil.
The Flyers swept the two-game regular-season series with the Coyotes (5-20-2), who have lost five straight and own a league-worst minus-53 goal differential.
• Yeo has been tasked with making the Flyers feel good about themselves again.
This is a start.
The Flyers looked more confident, they looked more dangerous offensively and they looked more together defensively.
"We can talk about where we want to be at the end of the year, playoffs or everything else. We’re not going to get there unless we start building a game that we play consistently," Yeo said Monday. "When you do that, you’re going to start building confidence."
• Pure goal scorers are streaky and it appears that van Riemsdyk could be starting to cook up one of his onslaughts.
The big winger came into the Flyers' back-to-back set with only two goals in 24 games. But in the Flyers' wins over the Golden Knights and Coyotes, van Riemsdyk put up three goals. He was his around-the-net self, with two of his three markers coming on the power play.
The club's woeful man advantage was one of the biggest reasons why Alain Vigneault and Michel Therrien lost their jobs. The Flyers' power play ranked 30th in the league at 13.4 percent when the head coach and assistant coach were fired Monday.
In this back-to-back set, the man advantage went 3 for 6. It was 3 for 31 in the previous 11 games, a stretch in which the Flyers went a damaging 1-8-2.
The Flyers have been in dire need of more production from van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier. All three had one goal apiece in the last 15 games before this back-to-back set. In these two wins, they combined for four goals and four assists.
It's no coincidence the Flyers scored four or more goals in consecutive games for the first time since the opening three games of the season. They need those three players to produce more consistently.
• With a third-period marker Saturday night, Giroux leads the Flyers in both goals (10) and points (23).
At 881 career points, the 33-year-old captain is three away from passing Bill Barber (883) for second on the franchise's all-time scoring list. Flyers icon Bob Clarke leads the way (1,210).
"I think in life, you try to put goals out there even if they're hard to achieve," Giroux said in April last season. "Bobby Clarke had an amazing career, Hall of Famer — that's a lot of points to get there."
• Martin Jones hadn't won since starting the season 3-0-0. Much of that was a byproduct of the team's struggles.
The 31-year-old backup stopped 29 of 32 shots for the victory.
The Flyers got a real solid game from their third defensive pair of Keith Yandle and Kevin Connauton.
Arizona netminder Karel Vejmelka, a 25-year-old rookie from the Czech Republic, made 29 saves on 34 shots.
• Shayne Gostisbehere went scoreless in 26:39 minutes. The former Flyers defenseman leads the Coyotes in assists (13) and is tied for the team lead in points (17).
• Jackson Cates was sent back to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley before the game. With Derick Brassard still battling a hip issue, Cates was called up Thursday to be another available forward if the Flyers needed it.
• The Flyers practice Monday in Voorhees, New Jersey before hosting the Devils on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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