Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Hakstol hopes feeling doesn’t escape in return to New York
Dave Hakstol knows one comeback win in Brooklyn does not a Flyers turnaround make.
How many successful strides have turned into false starts during a season in which his team has gone streaking up and streaking down and ultimately staying sideways in the NHL standings?
No wonder this sophomore head coach says, “I’m not a big believer in carrying momentum necessarily from one game to the next.”
Hasn’t taken him long to learn that.
“But I think there’s significance in the fact that we played a full 64 minutes,” Hakstol added Monday, referencing a road game Sunday night in which the Flyers came from two goals down to score a 3-2 overtime conquest of the Islanders.
“We had everbody contributing,” he said. “I think that is significant for us and I think that is something that can carry forward.”
They can carry that feeling right back to New York for their next game Wednesday night, a happy reunion with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. But recent history has shown trips to the Garden of Broadway often produce jitters and flops, no matter how uplifting the mood might be beforehand.
So all a coaching cheerleader can do is focus on positive vibes, and hope the electricity doesn’t go out.
It wasn’t always there during the Flyers’ 10-game win streak before Christmas. And it certainly was sapped on a lot of nights during the 3-9-3 slide they were on heading into Brooklyn. But the Flyers did produce one of their best exhibitions of hard work, teammwork and fortitude in a long time at Barclays Center.
“Even when we were down 2-0, I think the guys were confident with the way we were playing,” winning goalie Steve Mason said. “For the majority of the game the guys were working hard and that’s exactly the type of effort that we need in order to come out on top of hockey games.”
Hakstol is hoping they can build on that now.
“It’s a game of mistakes,” he said. “Somehow those mistakes don’t (always) come back to haunt you and you’re able to overcome them with a good play or maybe a break at the other end. When things aren’t going well, all those things seem to stack up against you. There’s no such thing as a perfect game and yesterday certainly wasn’t a perfect game. But the effort was excellent. When the effort’s there, I think a little bit of that tension is gone and guys are making plays and feeling confident.”
Despite an unsightly loss Saturday night at home against New Jersey, the Flyers were able to reboot their collective mentality, playing well against the Isles from the start but finding luck and the odds stacking against them well into the second period. Finally, a Wayne Simmonds goal kicked the Flyers’ game up a notch, and Ivan Provorov then scored in the third to put them in position to win it in extra time.
That happened when struggling Claude Giroux converted on a pass from Shayne Gostisbehere with 1:40 left in the OT. Giroux went to great pains to try to deflect the winning spotlight from himself, and Hakstol encored that team theme Monday.
“Everybody in that room cares,” Hakstol said. “I think just by nature at times most of that spotlight comes to your leaders, and naturally to your captain. So I think for everybody it’s a positive, something that relieves a little bit of the tension.
“Let’s be honest, it’s always easier coming to the rink after you win a game.”