January 18, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Sean Walker and the Flyers had the ice tilting downhill against the Stars Thursday night.
The Flyers are a train that just can't be stopped right now.
They returned home to the Wells Fargo Center Thursday night and just pelted the Dallas Stars with shot after shot in a dominant 5-1 victory over another strong Western Conference opponent.
Sean Walker sniped home a pinpoint shot to complete a beautiful sequence up the ice with Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett continued his tear with a two-goal night, Cam Atkinson found the back of the net yet again, and Scott Laughton was awarded a penalty shot that he converted on in the third period to all but put this one away.
It's now five straight wins for the Flyers, and a 25-14-6 record for 56 points to keep them right on the heels of the first-place Rangers in the developing race for the Metro division.
Scott Laughton on the penalty shot. Absolutely everything coming up Flyers. pic.twitter.com/TEGQ0Ukol6
— Nick Tricome (@itssnick) January 19, 2024
This is real, and if you're not paying attention, it's time to start.
Here are five thoughts from Thursday night...
It took the Stars just over six minutes into the second period to register their second shot on goal. Not for the period. For the game.
The Flyers were in the driver's seat of this one from the jump, controlling the puck and skating downhill for nearly all of Thursday night.
By the time the second period ended, the Flyers were outshooting Dallas, 30-9. At the final horn, the difference was a lopsided, 43-15, Philadelphia.
Jake Oettinger was kept all kinds of busy at the Stars' end of the ice, but down the other way, it might have been Samuel Ersson's easiest night of work in the NHL – he made a big stop out of the gate before the Flyers took over, then finished the game making 14 of 15 saves.
It was another very impressive showing from the Flyers against another strong Western Conference opponent, and with Nathan MacKinnon and the mighty Colorado Avalanche on deck for Saturday.
"We played a really good game," head coach John Tortorella said afterward. "I'm not gonna sit here and try to be a coach and say 'Oh, we gotta do this.'
"We played a hell of a hockey game."
Morgan Frost is in the lineup to create offense, and since finding steady minutes within it from the opening created by Noah Cates' injury, he's steadily gotten better with keeping the puck moving downhill, even if it hasn't necessarily translated into wowing numbers for him.
But he is creating, and doing it with some style, too. Just look at this between the legs flip into open ice put right where Sean Walker could get to it:
Such a beautiful sequence of hockey right there. 😍
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) January 19, 2024
Sean Walker lights the lamp for the first goal of the game. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/0TzgVYpFAL
"I saw [Walker] on the backside," the center said of the play postgame. "I was trying to see if the defenseman was gonna come to me or let it be a 2-on-1, and once I saw I kinda just put it in an area. Walks is always getting up the ice. He's an unbelievable skater, so trust him to be there.
"Yeah, confidence is definitely higher than at the start of the season right now, so hopefully keep building on that."
He collected one more helper later with Atkinson's power-play goal in the third.
Cam Atkinson puts on the finishing touches for the PPG ‼ pic.twitter.com/iBoX21nnpm
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) January 19, 2024
"I'll just go the last game [at St. Louis], he created a lot of offense, made a lot of plays, and I think he's been more consistent as far as creating offense," Tortorella said of Frost earlier Thursday. "He needs to play away from the puck, but the biggest thing is I want him to create offense. I think the last little while he's been more consistent that way."
Speaking of consistent, Tippett found the back of the net again Thursday night, taking the puck right off an offensive zone draw early into the second period and firing a 'blink and you'll miss it' laser of a shot by everyone in white and green.
RIGHT. OFF. THE. DRAW.
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) January 19, 2024
Owen Tippett simply cannot be stopped. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HYKa20t4Mf
OWEN TIPPETT OH MY GOODNESS 😱 pic.twitter.com/kRY2yhTJcm
— NHL (@NHL) January 19, 2024
"I haven't seen a goal like that," Tortorella said postgame. "I've seen a lot of good goals, but I haven't seen one of those in quite a while."
"Honestly, it's one of those things where you're spinning and you're just trying to get it out on the net," Tippett said of his backhander. "I knew if I could get it kinda far side, it might catch [the goaltender] off guard. I was more just trying to create an opportunity than anything."
Of late, Tippett has been making more and more plays with his legs, but maybe even more importantly, with how good of a shot he has, he's been hitting the net far more frequently.
Against the Blues on Monday, Tippett took 10 shots, and only one of them missed the goal.
Against Dallas, he took five of them among the Flyers' many and is becoming that much greater of a danger to opponents with each one.
"He has a chance – and I don't know where it goes – he has an opportunity to be a really good player in this league," Tortorella echoed earlier Thursday from what he said after the win in St. Louis.
Ersson got the start against Dallas and was aces once again – for as light as the night was.
Since Carter Hart came back from his issues with a lingering illness on December 22, he and Ersson have been neck and neck in the share of the starts – Hart has seven and Ersson has six.
But that's hardly a knock on Hart. If anything, it's a massive compliment to Ersson and how good he's been.
"It's the month of January, too," Tortorella said pregame. "The amount of games we've played, the amount of travel we've gone through comes into play, but Sam definitely has earned the trust of the coaching staff. It's not supplanting Carter or anything like that. It's just Sam earned our trust, so it makes for easier decisions, especially when you're worried about – I think we play six of nine nights here coming up after all the travel back and forth, east-west the first few months here.
"Carter's been really good and Sam's been really good. It's a big reason why we're where we're at right now as far as wins and losses. So they both deserve the net."
It might be getting repetitive at this point, but it rings true: the NHL has become a two-goaltender league with this season, and the Flyers – of all teams – have that box checked.
The Flyers ran with seven defensemen Thursday night and that's even with Marc Staal sitting out.
Jamie Drysdale came in and immediately found his place in the lineup, Egor Zamula is growing more confident by the game, Cam York has his foundation now as a steady NHLer, and Travis Sanheim has done his part in cementing himself on the top defensive pairing.
And that's not even to mention Rasmus Ristolainen's improvement on the back end over the past two seasons, and Walker and Nick Seeler becoming an incredibly steady middle-bottom pairing.
Plus, you have to remember that Emil Andrae is down in Lehigh Valley – Helge Grans, Ronnie Attard, and Adam Ginning, too – and is going to be knocking on the door of another NHL look eventually.
Something's gotta give, and with the trade deadline not until March 8, that will be a beat to monitor over the next month and a half.
Walker, Seeler, and Staal are all on expiring deals.
Staal signed knowing his spot in the lineup was going to gradually fade, but Walker has been a revelation since coming over in the summer trade with LA, and Seeler has developed as a hard-working player who the organization really likes.
There might be some tough decisions coming up for general manager Danny Brière, but amazingly, not for the reasons anyone expected going into the season.
That doesn't make them any easier though.
For what it's worth, however, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast on Monday that he's heard from a couple of teams that the Flyers are trying to get something done with Seeler (that comes up around the 33:25 mark).
We'll see where it goes.
• All-time Gritty bit during an early stoppage.
size matters, gentlemen pic.twitter.com/Foeovalf0f
— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) January 19, 2024
• "E-A-G-L-E-S!" chants aren't exactly popular right now, but there were plenty of "Dallas sucks!" chants to go around.
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