March 14, 2015
Matt Slocum/AP
Flyers' Jake Voracek, Brayden Schenn and Claude Giroux celebrate after Schenn's third-period goal
Flyers fans who made the trip to the Wells Fargo Center on this rainy Saturday afternoon couldn't have asked for much more from their team in a 7-2 thrashing of the Detroit Red Wings.
Well, maybe their hats back.
Eleven seconds into the third period, it began raining hats inside the arena as Brayden Schenn scored what appeared to be his third goal of the game. Unfortunately for those who tossed their headwear onto the ice, the goal came so quickly that the official scorers never got a chance to tell them that his first goal -- originally credited to Mark Streit before being changed to Schenn -- actually belonged to Wayne Simmonds.
Even some of the Flyers players, like goalie Steve Mason, who stopped 31 of Detroit's 33 shots, thought at the time that Schenn got the hat trick.
“I thought it was a hat trick," Mason said after the game. "I think everyone else in building did. Three quarters of the hats were on the ice when they announced it over the PA system. I think there are fans that are going to want their hats back."
Schenn, however, said that he knew almost immediately that it wasn't his goal, and even discussed it with Simmonds during the first intermission.
“No, Simmonds touched it," Schenn said when asked if he originally thought he would be credited with a hat trick. "I tipped it then he tipped it. We talked in the first intermission and it was just a matter of time for the change.”
But the second period came and went, and that change never came.
“I obviously knew Simmonds scored before that but they usually change it at the start of the second period and they didn’t," Schenn added. "I don’t know what happened between the first intermission and the second intermission but it’s nice to score a goal and contribute.
"Lou [Nolan, the PA announcer] was a little late to the mic and it cost some people their hats.”
Simmonds, who leads the team with 27 goals, said after the game that he wouldn't have been upset if they never changed the goal and left Schenn with the hat trick.
"I thought it was weird they announced it right after Brayden scored," Simmonds said. "It would have been nice if he would have gotten that hatty. He deserved one, he played really well tonight.”
It didn't matter much, though, in the grand scheme of things. There were so many goals in this one that it would almost be a waste to describe them one-by-one.
Instead, here's video of all seven tallies for the Flyers, who snapped a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) in the process:
05:22 -- Wayne Simmonds (27), PPG - ASST: Brayden Schenn (25), Mark Streit (35)
17:07 -- Nicklas Grossmann (5) - ASST: Sean Couturier (17), Wayne Simmonds (19)
13:39 -- Brayden Schenn (13), PPG - ASST: Wayne Simmonds (20), Claude Giroux (44)
00:11 -- Brayden Schenn (14) - ASST: Jakub Voracek (48), Claude Giroux (45)
Flyers have as many goals today as in their previous 4 games combined.
— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) March 14, 2015
And we're only getting started...
08:22 -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (5) - ASST: Zac Rinaldo (3), Vincent Lecavalier (11)
16:40 -- Matt Read (7), PPG - ASST: Andrew MacDonald (10), Carlo Colaiacovo (5)
17:18 -- Zac Rinaldo (1) - ASST: Ryan White (6), Michael Raffl (6)
Now that we've taken care of the scoring, at least on the Flyers end, time for some quick observations:
The Flyers had been struggling on the power play heading into Saturday's game, scoring just one goal on their last 19 tries (dating back seven games).
That ended against the Red Wings, and in a big way. After going scoreless on their last 10 power plays, they wasted no time getting on the board early in first. It would be their first of three power play goals.
They were three-for-four overall on the man advantage.
Aside from Simmonds, who may or may not have scored the game's first goal, only one of the six players who scored today have more than 15 goals this season. Four of the six have less than eight goals.
And one of them -- not going to mention any names, but he wears No. 36 -- scored for just the first time in 46 games this season.
Furthermore, there were four Flyers with multipoint games, including Schenn (2 G, A) and Simmonds (G, 2 A) with three points a piece. The only Flyers not to get on the board were Luke Schenn and Chris VandeVelde.
Zac Rinaldo (G, A) recorded his second career two-point game. His first came on March 7, 2013, when he recorded a goal and an assist in a 5-4 loss to the Penguins.
Thanks to the lopsided score, not one Flyer finished with a negative plus-minus rating. The team high, however, was only plus-two. That belonged to ... Nicklas Grossmann and Rinaldo. Go figure.
For Grossmann, the goal was his fifth of the season. Over his previous eight NHL season, he scored just five goals. That's five goals in 56 games this season (a goal every 11.2 games) compared to five goals in his previous 463 games (a goal every 92.6 games).
“I can’t pinpoint anything," Grossmann said when asked about his sudden offensive outburst this season. "I got the opportunity to play a lot, and coach told me to get in there. I’ve had a couple lucky bounces, and the puck seems to hit the net. I just tried to fire it off quick, and it went in, so it was good.”
Not only did Grossmann and Rinaldo factor in on the offensive end, but both made spectacular plays. Grossman's goal was a beauty, and Rinaldo's assist on Bellemare's goal was pretty sexy in its own right.
Grossmann's goal was so pretty in fact, it left coach Graig Berube wondering if he should use the defenseman in shootout situations.
"I should [use him on shootouts]," Berube joked after the game. "I’ve seen that three times this year so I’m thinking about that. [Grossmann] did a great job."
But it was more than Grossmann's shot past Red Wings that left Berube smiling on Saturday.
"We like to see everybody contribute," Berube said. "And I thought (Michael) Raffl’s line did a great job tonight with physical play, and they got rewarded with a goal. I thought they had a nice game. Bellemare line, all the players.
"I thought everybody had a good game tonight. I thought everyone contributed and were ready for the game. Our defensemen did a good job. Our goalie was great. Everybody played great.”
Winger R.J. Umberger will undergo surgery Wednesday to repair a labrum tear in his right hip, two cam lesions and an abdominal tear and will be out at least 10 weeks.
To take his place on the roster, the Flyers recalled center Nick Cousins from the Phantoms.
For more on that, click here.
With the win, the Flyers extended their home win streak against the Red Wings to 10 games. Their last win in Philadelphia came on Jan. 25, 1997.
Clearly, that streak doesn't include postseason games, because Detroit won two in Philly that spring on their way to sweeping the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Some other numbers from the game, via the Flyers PR staff:
• Today’s game marked the 14th time the Flyers have recorded seven or more goals against Detroit. However, it was the first time they've done that since Oct. 7, 1990, when they picked up a 7-2 win at the Spectrum in the 1990-91 home opener. One of the seven goals that day was scored by none other than current Flyers coach Craig Berube. Assistant coach Gord Murphy also played in that game, but failed to record a point.
• The Flyers scored four goals in the third period for the first time in over a year (Feb. 3, 2014 at San Jose). The last time it occurred at home was a month and half before that (Dec. 19, 2013), when they scored all five of their goals in the third period of a 5-4 win over Columbus.
•Zac Rinaldo recorded his second career two-point game. Two years and a week ago, on March 7, 2013, he had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 loss vs. Pittsburgh.
• With his two assists, Claude Giroux tied Eric Desjardins for 12th on the Flyers All Time List.
