Parent: Goalie stifles old foe >>
PHILADELPHIA » As talented a two-way center as any in the NHL for several years running, Jonathan Toews had another chance to infuriate Flyers fans Thursday night.
The third period clock ticking down to below eight minutes, the home team struggling a bit to maintain a two-goal lead against a still dangerous, multiple Stanley Cup winning team, Toews gathered a puck along the boards in the Flyers’ defensive zone and made his move.
Expertly stickhandling while veering left toward the crease, Toews attacked and shot, but the puck was swallowed up by Flyers goalie Brian Elliott, whose calm and collected demeanor underscored what would become an impressive 3-1 victory over the Blackhawks.
It wasn’t Elliott’s best save of the night, but it did exhibit why putting him in the crease was coach Dave Hakstol’s best move of the day.
While the indications Wednesday were that Michal Neuvirth was going to be given the starting nod, Elliott got an appropriate call, one borne of familiarity.
Elliott, 32, now in his 10th season, had his five best years in St. Louis at a time when the Blues and Blackhawks were closely competing (though Chicago usually had the edge), bitter rivals. Elliott entered Thursday night having played 19 games against Chicago, his most against any club in the league, going 7-9-1 while fashioning a 2.47 goalsagainst average and .912 saves percentage. That against so many Hawks teams that always had their top two core forwards Toews and Patrick Kane flashing through attack zones and heading his way.
It’s likely he’s seen that Toews move before.
“You definitely pick up on stuff,” Elliott said of his familiarity with the Hawks, “and you know tendencies and things like that. But as I said before, they could be saying the same thing about me if they were on the winning end. You just try to better each other every night and tonight we came out on top.”
They did so because the Flyers’ top line of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek continues to get better and better. And on this night they would largely get the best of Toews, Kane and Patrick Sharp, which for all intents and historic purposes should again be one of the top lines in the league.
But then, the years have a way...
These golden oldie Hawks are more than seven years removed from the young guns who took another Flyers club (one that only Giroux played for among the current Flyers group) out in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. The Hawks’ forward depth is lacking now, so Toews and Kane have generally been used on different lines.
And Sharp, who has gone 11 games without a point, has had trouble finding answers no matter who his linemates might be.
With this familiar foe setback to Elliott, who had taken a loss when the Flyers fell 3-0 in Chicago just eight nights earlier, the Blackhawks found themselves at 7-72, near the bottom of the Central Division and looking for answers.
For the Flyers (8-62), the Hawks’ struggles took nothing away from one of their biggest victories of the young season.
Nor did it detract from an outstanding 38-save show by a guy in Elliott who has had some difficult nights adjusting to his team.
“You just want to keep getting more and more comfortable, but it’s a process,” Elliott said. “It’s not going to happen automatically. Sometimes you’re going to hit bumps in the road, and it’s a long season. You just have to keep working towards it and getting big wins like this at home is definitely a confidence boost for our group.”
That group indeed had played one of its most complete games of the season. Goals were forged by each member of the top line, Giroux and Voracek garnering three points apiece.
The Flyers’ youthful defense, previously struggling but helped on this night by the return of Radko Gudas from the injured list, did allow a few too many shots to find Elliott. But most came from the perimeter until the third period, when Chicago came strong.
Then again, so did Elliott. He was buoyed late in the second period when the Flyers superbly killed a Chicago twoman advantgage that went on for 1 minute, 44 seconds, which came on the heels of Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy scoring the Hawks’ only goal of the night.
Suddenly two men short and with that lead in danger, the Flyers’ penalty killers allowed only one real shot at Elliott. But his stop of a on Kane pass during the power play loomed just as large.
“You’d like to (save) them all,” Elliott said. “I wish I had that one they scored (on). But taking away that pass from Kane on the 5 on 3 with my stick, I was happy on that one because it was open at the back door.”
Another small win on a night in which Elliott oversaw a major victory, or at least that’s what this early season home triumph felt like. From a confidence standpoint, it should reap benefits, both for the Flyers and Elliott.
Then again, Elliott has had that feeling before.
“You’re only as good as your last game,” he said. “You try to approach the next game the same way and hope you have the same outcome. You can’t rest on wins.”