February 22, 2024
Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports
Garnet Hathaway's skating has finally yielded some offensive production with two goals in the Flyers' last three games.
Wednesday night in Chicago wasn't anywhere near perfect for the Flyers.
Travis Sanheim got one on a fortunate bounce, Travis Konecny created a highlight-reel goal at the end of a long shift on accident, and Garnet Hathaway found the puck in his feet while in front for the lead, all while Samuel Ersson needed to make some big saves – including a major post-to-post stop on an odd-man rush in the first – to get Philly to a 3-1 win over a mightily struggling Blackhawks team.
The opening period had the Flyers on their heels, trying to account for star rookie Connor Bedard and a Chicago offense that will jump on you in transition if you're not careful – not too much unlike the Flyers themselves. The second is where Philly took more control to gain their two-goal lead. But after that, especially for the final frame, it just became about keeping Chicago away from the net more than anything, a prospect that did get scary at points with Bedard flying to break through and Scott Laughton going on to whiff on an empty net with just over a minute to go.
But they survived. They got their two points, and now they're out of there. Take the wins however they come at this point in the season, and at this point in a playoff race they're not all that familiar with, because they're not coming any easier regardless of who they're playing – definitely not with who's on deck.
"It was not pretty, but as long as you get the two points and get out, now I'm already thinking about practice," head coach John Tortorella said postgame Wednesday night from the tunnels of the United Center. "They have tomorrow off, we get our practice, a big weekend and a back-to-back. It's not style points right now. We're just trying to keep our concentration and just grind away to get points."
Because this is the real season Tortorella's been stressing would come since before the holidays, the one where the checking is that much harder, the grind for every spot of ice that much fiercer, and the fight for every goal that much grittier.
None of it's going to be perfect, but with 25 games left and a place in the postseason they were initially thought to be nowhere close to up for grabs, the Flyers just have to be enough right now.
"It wasn't a clean game for us," Konecny said. "We did change a little bit and we were able to get the lead and hold on to it, but we can definitely move on from that one and start fresh."
Especially since two major divisional matchups are up for the weekend back-to-back.
On Saturday back at the Wells Fargo Center, it'll be the Metro-leading Rangers, winners of eight straight and a rival that showed the considerable distance between themselves and the Flyers both in talent and discipline the last time the two faced one another in November. Then on Sunday, it's the Penguins out in Pittsburgh, who still boast an ever-formidable Sidney Crosby, but have been inconsistent all season and are rapidly running out of time ahead of the trade deadline to prove that they can still compete for the playoffs.
Saturday is a chance to make a statement that the Flyers can skate with anyone. Sunday is an opportunity to bury an intrastate rival after years of being on the receiving end of that. And both, if the Flyers can somehow swing wins or at least force either into overtime, can go toward creating a much more comfortable cushion as the race increasingly heats up all while a still uncertain deadline for a still rebuilding organization approaches.
"There's ups and downs in the season," Hathaway said, though more to his year individually and his spot up and down the lineup. "There's highs and lows. You wanna be even keel. That's what I've tried to figure out. You're never as low as you think you are and you're never as high as you think you are either."
For now, they got a win in Chicago to bounce back from a disappointment on Saturday at Stadium Series. They kept Bedard quiet on the scoresheet too.
Take them as they come, and however they come.
"It's a game that I was worried about after the game ended out there in the outdoors," Tortorella said. "So we got the two points, we're getting outta here."
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