Four Game Win Streak Propels the Flyers into the Olympic Break
This past Saturday the Calgary Flames came to Philadelphia to try and spoil the Flyers’ last game before the Olympic break. Luckily, Calgary’s plans fell through and the Flyers came out victorious with a 2-1 win. Not only was that win the team’s fourth in a row but it was much earned after the Flyers battled three tough opponents on a California road trip. It started on a sour note when Philadelphia fell to the league leading Anaheim Ducks 5-3 on Jan. 30th. Next the Flyers traveled to Los Angeles for a battle with the Kings. Goaltender Steve Mason stopped all 35 shots that were fired his way and the Flyers shutout LA 2-0, one goal being Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds with his 100 career goal against his former club. The third game was against the San Jose Sharks. Philadelphia trailed 2-1 after two periods but exploded with four unanswered goals in the 3rd period to defeat the Sharks 5-2. Departing California with two out of a possible three wins wasn’t perfect for the Flyers, however it was better than most had expected. Feb. 6th rolled around and saw the Flyers return to the Wells Fargo Center for a match with the Colorado Avalanche. Once again Steve Mason proved to be the x-factor as he stopped 38 of 39 shots from Colorado which in turn lead to a 3-1 victory for Philadelphia. Many were surprised to see the Flyers beating some of the league’s top teams.
In summation, the Flyers streaked through their last four games before the Olympic break and now stand in third place in the Metropolitan Division, a current playoff spot. Philadelphia is also sending five of its players over to Sochi to represent their countries. Defenseman Kimmo Timonen will be representing Finland, Mark Streit will represent Switzerland and another defenseman Andrej Meszaros will represent Slovakia. Forwards going to Sochi are Jakub Voracek representing the Czech Republic and Michael Raffl representing Austria. There is also the question of how Claude Giroux was snubbed by Team Canada twice but that’s for later. Philadelphia is strongly represented in Sochi but the Flyers will resume their season on Feb. 27 against San Jose once again. Until then, check out your Flyers and other star NHL players in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
