It was sort of fitting, no?
First, Shayne Gostisbehere makes the type of save that we have seen all season (usually at the blue line), a season that the 22-year-old defenseman has rescued more than anyone else in orange and black.
“Not a lot but more desperation more than anything,” Gostisbehere told reporters at the Wells Fargo Center. “I probably wasn't going to get back. [Sam] Gagner said ‘Thank God you got that because I don’t know what I would have done on a 3-on-1.”
Then it was Claude Giroux, a couple of days after suffering a nasty hit in Arizona and at the end of a long shift, all alone and firing the puck at Ondrej Pavelec. The Jets goalie got a piece of the shot, but not enough:
“I was going to change, I was pretty tired,” Giroux told reporters. “I tried to get back because they had a 3-on-2 and they missed the net so I was about to get it and Ghost had a breakaway.”
However it happened, helping the Flyers get two points and avoid the dreaded shootout was huge.
Besides the goaltender combination of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth, these two have probably been the Flyers’ best players. And while they have paired up on more than a couple important overtime goals, the usual order was flipped this time around: Ghost to G, instead of G to Ghost.
The Flyers, despite some injuries, lack of talent in the defensive corps and depth forward spots, and general aversion to shootouts, find themselves tenuously holding onto the last playoff spot on March 29th. It remains to be seen if they will make the playoffs, but just like they have all year, Giroux and Gostisbehere will continue to push forward.
“Second effort plays make a big difference, not just on the winning goal, but there was a lot of second efforts out there tonight,” Dave Hakstol told reporters.
A lot of second efforts this season, as well.
Scoreboard watching
Sometimes, teams in the middle of playoff races say that they don’t notice the out-of-town scores. In other words, they lie. Not the Flyers, though.
“Detroit still up 2-0? “ Wayne Simmonds asked. “Yeah, definitely watching, definitely seeing a little bit of that.”
The Red Wings did hold on to a 3-2 win, so it was a good thing that the Flyers regrouped for an overtime win.
“Yeah, I was looking at it,” Giroux said. “I’m not sure what the score is now. It was 2-0, but like we’ve said these past few months we’re just going to worry about us. It’s tough not to look at a scoreboard, but we worry about us.”
Crossing them over
Here are a couple of great individual moves from Gostisbehere and Wayne Simmonds:
(via Sons of Penn)
Playoff odds
Just a couple of sites, but the Flyers’ playoff odds are moving further and further away from 50/50:
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann