Awww...Good Fah Them

It's about time the Flyers showed a little something to dispel any fears of another February collapse.

Wins at home over the Islanders (5-1) on Saturday and yesterday at the Rangers (5-2) might be an indicator that forechecking, smart play and opportunistic offense has not been lost on the club.

Two players also managed to set team and league records in the victories. Simon Gagne became the first player in team history to successfully convert three penalty shots after scoring the final goal against the Isles. He's also 3-for-3 in his career.

Mike Richards gets the more impressive nod, though. His short-handed score on a flubbed wrister, which made it 2-0 early in the second period, made him the only player in NHL history to be credited with three two-man-disadvantage goals.

Although the Flyers still lead the league in shorties, it had been roughly two months since they tallied while at least a man down. It's fair to say that it was the goal which started to break the Blueshirts' collective backs because it was very quickly 5-0 from there.

To be fair, both games were far from perfect.

The Islanders outshot the Flyers and if not for the weird 67-second burst in the third period, the game could have gone either way. Stevens and company still have to impress upon the leaders of the team that they have to keep working. A lot of teams fighting for a playoff spot or who are out of the race will just work hard for 60 minutes to play the spoiler. The Islanders, regardless of position, always force teams to work. Philly has two more games with the injury-wracked club from Nassau County and they won't be any picnic.

Sunday's game saw the Rangers play a poor first period then wake up over the last 40 minutes, only to see every single turnover they committed end up behind Henrik Lundqvist and Steve Valiquette. Games where you're up by five goals a little more than halfway through are few and far between, and it would have been nice to see the orange and black bear down more instead of letting the Rangers skate around them for the rest of the contest.

At this juncture of the season, a full effort is more valuable than the margin of victory. So begrudgingly, I'll take a 3-1 or 3-2 win with max effort than a 5-2 decision where you coast the final 25 minutes.

This week's home games (Buffalo on Thursday and Pittsburgh in a Saturday matinee) offer unique opportunities to feast on playoff contenders who are not playing up to snuff. Wonder how the Pens will fare now that Michel Therrien got the axe and Dan Bylsma(?) is the interim head coach.