Reward for spell of success is week of rest
For the past couple of years, the NHL, which is headed for another labor lockout in the near future, so maybe the issue will be addressed then, has had a ridiculous “bye” week for its pampered players.
A full week off for every team. One might wonder ... why?
But that’s a question that never warrants an answer in the world’s most puzzling professional sports league.
Not that the players or their players union would question it, but this year’s bye for the Flyers is coming along just as they have finally begun to look different, and just when they are trying to convince themselves that maybe there’s hope at the end of this regular season tunnel after all.
With an all-around solid performance in Montreal, the Flyers won 5-2 Saturday night. That was win No. 3 in a row, and the fourth in their last five games. This little run of success comes on the heels of an eight-game losing streak which at midseason seemed to confirm the conclusion that Flyers coach Paul Holmgren had reached weeks before: That this team needed a change in direction.
That will continue to play out this winter and spring.
Meanwhile, all this little run has done is get the Flyers out of last place. At 19-23-6 and 44 points, they moved ahead of the New Jersey Devils at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division. By a point.
While slogging through their bye week, then, the Flyers can feel good about the streak.
But they can’t feel great about sitting there while the Eastern Conference playoff contenders pull farther away. Entering games Sunday night, the Flyers were 14 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were slotted at No. 8 and as the second wild card team in the conference.
As it is, replacement general manager Chuck Fletcher has seen a couple of his young players step up, particularly rookie goaltender Carter Hart, who has really started to show why he’s been the most hyped Flyers goalie prospect in more than 30 years.
Up front, James van Riemsdyk has shaken off a forgettable first half and is paying the kind of dividends top free agent signees are supposed to offer. And Wayne Simmonds, clearly getting healthier after offseason surgery, has finally found a third-line connection with sophomore Nolan Patrick, who has scored two goals in two of his last three games.
This after perhaps foretelling his team’s immediate fortunes.
“I think we’re all just trying to stick together and turn the page and get out of this slump,” Patrick said just prior to this little turnaround. “Obviously nobody wants to go through times like this. It’s not what we had in mind for the team. I think you kind of see everyone’s true colors when you start going through stretches like this.
“No one in here is turning on each other. That’s good to see. We’re going to turn it around and get some wins.”
So far so good with this January upgrade in performance, but ahead there likely lies too steep a climb in too short a time for any postseason hopes. Doesn’t hurt to try, of course.
And for fans intrigued by the Flyers’ pending stretch drive, their interest might be better focused on one latewinter date, that of Feb. 25.
That’s the day of the NHL trade deadline, and it would figure that Fletcher would at least be somewhat down the path to rebuilding or at least tweaking his team.