The Flyers are counting on Phil Myers even more these days | On the Fly
The young defenseman, just 24 and not even a hundred games into his NHL career, is playing major minutes. He has shown he can bounce back from mistakes.
Sometimes the answer is no.
After Alex Ovechkin’s amazing assist Sunday, I asked Travis Konecny if he had noticed the Capitals yukking it up on their bench watching replays of the dazzling goal.
Konecny said the Flyers hadn’t seen that, and probably wouldn’t have had a problem with it anyhow. The Capitals made a great play and were just excited, said Konecny, who’s been known to twist the knife himself.
The Flyers scored seven goals over the last 44 minutes, so something got them jump-started. Turns out it was Sean Couturier.
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Phil Myers’ rising value
The highlight shows were understandably quick to feature the Capitals’ second goal from Sunday. Ovechkin danced through the Flyers’ zone and slid a pass in front that Tom Wilson buried for a 2-0 lead. This came about five minutes after Ovechkin had opened the scoring with his own world-class goal.
After blowing a pair of third-period leads to the Bruins in their previous two games, it looked like the Capitals might run the Flyers out of the rink.
But then Scotty Laughton scored just before the end of the first period to start a 7-2 run (yes, there are runs in hockey), and suddenly the Flyers defense had stabilized.
There’s a popular axiom in hockey that a defenseman needs to play 200 games before he begins to truly feel comfortable in the NHL. Phil Myers has played in about half that (95) if you include his 16 playoff appearances. He’ll be the first to tell you he should have made a better play on the Capitals’ second goal when Ovechkin sashayed around him. Head coach Alain Vigneault agreed, but also appreciated the way Myers responded.
“He put that behind him,” Vigneault said. “You’ve got to have a short memory in this game and keep playing. I thought his game was good after that; good stick, good reach, battled hard. [He] made some good plays with the puck, and that’s what we need from Phil.”
Myers, 24, has gone from undrafted prospect who did not make the team out of the gate last season to an extremely valuable part of this defense. He spent much of Sunday paired with Ivan Provorov up against the Capitals’ top line, which scored all four of their goals. He’s played at least 20 minutes in four consecutive regular-season games, a first in his career.
With about 8 minutes left and the Flyers tenuously holding a one-goal lead, Ovechkin again came charging down the left side on an almost identical path as the highlight goal he set up in the first period. This time, the 6-foot-5 Myers kept Ovechkin from gaining leverage and poke-checked the puck out of harm’s way.
Before that, the young defenseman had picked up a second-period assist after blocking an Ovechkin shot, also from the left side. Maybe just as important as Myers’ long reach is that short memory his coach talked about.
With Travis Sanheim already out for Tuesday’s game because of COVID-19 protocol, Myers can figure on more than 20 minutes of work again tonight. He also should plan to see plenty of Ovechkin, Wilson and Nick Backstrom.
“The raw ability is there,” said backup goaltender Brian Elliott, a 14-year veteran. “He’s such a big, fast guy back there. ... I think [Phil’s] just getting better and better. That’s all you want to see out of a young guy.”
Things to know
The Great Ones
The Flyers had actually done a good job holding Ovechkin off the scoresheet lately. He snapped a career-high six-game goalless streak against the Flyers, and scored on Carter Hart for the first time.
But in his career, Ovechkin has been a more prolific scorer than Wayne Gretzky, and nearly as tortuous as Mario Lemieux. Here are the goals leaders against the Flyers since 1979-80.
1. Mario Lemieux: 51 goals in 71 games, .72 per game.
2. Jaromir Jagr: 47 goals in 101 games, .47 per game.
t3. Sidney Crosby: 45 goals in 72 games, .63 per game.
t3. Mike Gartner: 45 goals in 95 games, .47 per game.
t5. Pat LaFontaine: 37 goals in 66 games, .56 per game.
t5. Patrik Elias: 37 goals in 86 games, .43 per game.
7. Alex Ovechkin: 36 goals in 58 games, .62 per game
t8. Wayne Gretzky: 34 goals in 58 games, .59 per game.
t8. Bryan Trottier: 34 goals in 86 games, .40 per game.
Source: Inquirer research, Hockey-Reference.com
Flyers’ next five
Game 14, Tuesday: at Washington, 6 p.m. (NBCSP locally, NBCSN outside of Philly market)
Thursday: vs. NEW JERSEY — Postponed
Saturday: vs. NEW JERSEY — Postponed
Game 15, Sunday: at N.Y. Rangers, 6 p.m. (NBCSP)
Game 16, Thursday, Feb. 18: vs. N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m. (NBCSP)
Game 17, Sunday, Feb. 21: vs. Boston (at Lake Tahoe), 3 p.m. (NBC)
Game 18, Wednesday, Feb. 24: vs. N.Y. RANGERS, 7 p.m. (NBCSN)
Schedule, like everything else in life these days, is tentative.
The last word
“A lot of younger guys look up to him. He plays the right way. You’ve got to follow his lead.”
— Scott Laughton on the return of Couturier, who was plus-4 and scored the game-winning goal Sunday.