FLYERS WIN 9TH IN A ROW!! I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION

By Uppy

How many games in a row have the Flyers won?

NINE!!!! 9! NUEVE!!! No matter how you wanna say it, the Philadelphia Flyers have won NINE straight hockey games! In a world where the Sixers are still in The Process, the Phillies are rebuilding, and the Eagles make me want to stick my head in a hole for three years, the Flyers are playing unbelievable hockey and have reached nine straight wins for only the 6th time in the franchise's 50 year history. 

In their 12th game in 20 days, the Flyers battled to a 1-0 OT win in Detroit over the Red Wings today with none other than Brayden Schenn being the hero as he was the recipient of a beatiful give and go with Simmonds and Provorov and finished it off with a heck of a dangle on Jimmy Howard who had stopped the previous 35 shots. It wasn't the prettiest game in the world but a win is a win is a win. Let's break it down baby.

Anthony Stolarz
Have a day young man. Stolarz looked fantastic in net today, stopping all 28 shots that came his way. He kept his glove hand strong and snagged a few would be goals as he was able to control the low shots with ease. We had a bit of a scare in the third period when Stolarz executed a poke on an incoming Red Wing and the puck skirted to the center of the crease. Radko Gudas whiffed at the clearing attempt and instead (being the savvy D-man that he is) rammed into the goal, knocking it off its moorings. Did he do it on purpose? Probably not. But he gets credit anyway. Instead of an easy layup goal for Detroit, Radko took a two minute delay of game and the Flyers lived to fight another day. 

The Defense
With Shayne Gostibehere sidelined with a hand injury from blocking a shot yesterday, the defense held their own but dear lord did today ever show what he means to this team. Without Ghost on the power play the entire unit drops down a few notches. Our 25% mark for the season is number one in the league but the PECO Power Play went 0 for 4 today. Now I'm no mathematician but I'm pretty sure that if we are 25% on the PP that means we score 1 out of every 4 times. Therefore, today was below average (don't quote me on that).

Ghost just has that "it" factor about him where he makes things work smoothly. His absence was obvious on a power play late in the 3rd period when there was a puck coming out to the point. Mark Streit couldn't get there and it went out to center forcing the team to clear out and regroup. If Ghost is out there, he dives into the boards and keeps it in because he doesn't give a fuck about taking a puck off the chest for this team, and allows the power play to keep its momentum. The little things like that are what has allowed this team to be on this streak. Healthy Ghost= better Flyers.

But we can't talk about the defensemen without talking about Ivan Provorov. This kid is special. I'm talking Rain Man special. Live look at Provy watching his game film:

19 years old and he leads the Flyers in minutes per game. Just bonkers to think about. The thought of watching Provorov and Ghost winning Stanley Cups together just makes it all worthwhile. And allows me to forget about the flaming pile of poo across the street in the Linc. And when the Eagles find a way to creep in and make me sad while I'm celebrating the glorious Flyers is when I decide it's time to end the article. 9 straight baby.

WATTBA.

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Watching Brayden Schenn keeps Flyers' win streak alive with OT goal https://t.co/afogQAUezO

— upperman (@LongsnapChris) December 12, 2016