The Philadelphia Flyers recovered from a lopsided loss in Detroit and took care of business Saturday night against the Winnipeg Jets propelling themselves to a gargantuan 7-1 victory at Canada Life Centre. Everything clicked on all facets for the Flyers to increase their playoff odds yet again.
Sean Couturier and Noah Cates lit up the scoresheet displaying a three-point night. All six Philadelphia defensemen had a positive +/- rating with Rasmus Ristolainen leading the charge at a +3. Dan Vladař returned to his old self and made 27 of 28 saves to earn his 28th win of the season, doubling his previous career-high from his 2022-23 campaign. The Flyers have now skated away with two points in four of their last five performances.
The matchup across the border was critical for both organizations and it was the Flyers silencing the fans in Winnipeg early. Porter Martone highlighted his 200-ft hockey IQ to come back and strip Jets captain Adam Lowry in the defensive zone. Martone followed Travis Konecny on the ensuing play up the ice where he positioned himself wide open coasting towards the backdoor. Amazingly, Konecny located the 19-year-old phenom on a no-look pass which opened the scoring 1:17 into the outing.
“It’s big. When you can get a quick one on a team that needs to win, I think that’s key…it was really important to get that one and just kind of try to inflate them as soon as you could,” Konecny said.
Martone’s presence has made an instant impact on this Flyers’ squad maintaining a point per game pace since arriving in Philadelphia. He already is up to three goals and seven points including the overtime game-winner on Easter Sunday over the Boston Bruins.
“I’m having the best time of my life. Coming here and living out a childhood dream to play with the Flyers. It’s exciting times in the middle of a playoff push, and I think we’re really playing some good hockey right now,” Martone said.
The Flyers’ quick surge came to a halt once Winnipeg defenseman Haydn Fleury even the score at 1-1. Fleury joined the rush skating the puck through the neutral zone and continued crashing towards the net where he capitalized on a large rebound from Vladař.
Unfazed, Philadelphia answered right back. Denver Barkey fed a backhand dish to a fully charged Cates carrying the puck and skating into Jets territory. Cates dropped a pass down to Matvei Michkov to unleash a laser past the three-time Vezina Trophy winner and Olympic Gold Medal netminder Connor Hellebuyck from the top of the face-off circle.
Michkov is now up to 14 points over his last 14 appearances.
There was a time when Couturier went 32 games this season without finding the back of the net. Being one of three Flyers a part of Philadelphia’s last playoff win in 2020, Konecny and Travis Sanheim being the others, Couturier couldn’t have picked a better time to display his veteran leadership and produce his best hockey all year.
Philadelphia’s captain added on after Michkov’s tally 25 seconds later to cash in on a goal of his own. Couturier intercepted a clearance attempt by Fleury then turned and fired one through Hellebuyck.
The Jets wouldn’t go away and began pestering Vladař with grade-A chances. Dylan DeMelo, Kyle Connor, and Cole Perfetti looked towards the ceiling following their shots as Vladař answered the call from his previous miscue.
“I really loved our start, getting some goals, and really good efforts from some individuals. They made a push and Vladdy was there for us. It was a really good team effort,” Rick Tocchet said.
Vladař’s individual endeavors were rewarded halfway through the middle stanza. Couturier’s line went out for a shift and set up shop around the crease. Sanheim rocketed a slapper bypassing the traffic below that gave him his 11th goal of the year and a new season high. Sanheim is now tied alongside Ivan Provorov with the 4th-most goals from a Flyers defenseman (65). He has 11 points in his last 17 games.
Winnipeg applied some forecheck once more late in the second period causing Nick Seeler to trip Connor. The Flyers’ main objective was to head into the intermission with their three-goal lead intact and kill off a chunk of the Jets’ powerplay, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It instead ended up being a four-goal cushion.
Ristolainen banked an outlet pass to Christian Dvorak who moved the puck over to Cates on the far side. Cates’ shot rang the inside of the post and went across the goal line for a shorthanded bid. Dvorak recorded his 300th career point on the goal.
The Orange and Black netted five past Hellebuyck then knocked him out of the contest after he’d entered riding a three-game win streak and .919 SV%.
Eric Comrie relieved Hellebuyck when the third period got underway and he looked foolish on Couturier’s second tally of the night. Couturier was mano a mano with Comrie causing the netminder to bite on an initial deke that exposed the rest of the vacant cage ending in a highlight reel goal.
“It’s always fun to put the puck in the net and create some plays and produce offensively, but like I’ve always said, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win,” Couturier stated. “We are in a great spot. The team’s doing well. I’m just trying to do my best in the role I am to help the team win.”
Seeler joined in on the festivities too, lacing a shot under the arm of Comrie. The seven goals scored by Philadelphia matched their season high.
Vladař improved his record to 7-1-0 with a .918 SV% following games he’d allowed four or more goals.
The Flyers still control their own destiny at 94 points for third best in the Metropolitan Division with the playoffs right around the corner. If Philadelphia wins out, they’re in, whereas a loss would shift the focus onto Columbus (92 points), New York Islanders (91 points), or Washington (91 points) as each team holds the tiebreaker over the Flyers.
“We have that trust, the confidence in each guy in the room. They’re big games where we lean on each other and we just have that belief in this room that we can beat these good teams in big games. We are really happy with our results in these last couple games but these next two are huge,” Cates said.
The Flyers (41-27-12) conclude their season with two meetings back in Philadelphia. First up being the Carolina Hurricanes (52-22-6) who have clinched the Metropolitan Division. Puck drop is Monday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
