Flyers’ .500 points percentage represents team’s improvement under John Tortorella

Through 43 games the Flyers have a .500 points percentage.

It’s not a number coach John Tortorella claims to care about, but for a team that was 13-22-8 through 43 games last season, it’s a significant step forward.

The Flyers’ 18-18-7 record has been carried by a post-Christmas surge. After breaking from Dec. 24-26, the Flyers have gone 7-1. The Flyers hadn’t won seven of eight games or more since February-March 2020.

Their surge started on the West Coast, and while two of the three teams they beat are in the race for draft prize Connor Bedard, the Los Angeles Kings are the third-place team in the Pacific Division. It was also a road trip that the Flyers have historically struggled on, but this time they swept it.

Upon returning home, the Flyers were boosted by a win over another bottom team, the Arizona Coyotes, and then were crushed at home by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The three games since that 6-2 defeat have been a true testament to their improvement.

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Immediately after Toronto’s beatdown, the Flyers went to Buffalo to play a Sabres team that had won eight of its last nine games and was leading the league in goals per game. For a Flyers team that struggles to find offense, it could have been another ugly night. Instead, bolstered by an outstanding performance from backup goalie Samuel Ersson, the Flyers shut out the Sabres.

Then they beat the Washington Capitals in back-to-back games to split the series with them. One of those wins was in the Capitals’ home arena. The team once again relied on its goalie, this time Carter Hart, to get it through long stretches in its own defensive zone, but it also saw offense come from a variety of sources.

Last year’s Flyers relied on their goalies to get them through games, and it didn’t go well in the long run. By January, Hart was already seeing his save percentage slip. Backup Martin Jones, who made a strong start to a comeback season, also bounced back and forth between great nights and terrible nights starting in January.

But Hart and Jones also had little to reward them or bolster them as they carried the team on their shoulders. That’s changed this season. Despite the heavy workload, Hart, Ersson and Felix Sandström have a happy locker room and solid victories to keep their spirits and confidence up.

They’re also starting to get on-ice help from the skaters. The defense has been blocking shots all season, but it is also starting to kill plays more efficiently. Defenders are not spending as much time in the defensive zone, and even when they are stuck, they do a good job of keeping teams to the outside.

Meanwhile, the offense is finally scoring enough to put the team’s score over the few goals the netminders have let in. Since Dec. 29, they Flyers have averaged four goals per game. Before Dec. 29, the Flyers were averaging 2.57 per game, which meant even if the goalies only let two goals in, overcoming the deficit would be a tall task.

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The Flyers may get a splash of reality Monday when they play the league-leading Boston Bruins. The schedule features weaker opponents after that in the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks, but Tortorella is well aware of how quickly momentum can dissipate — in fact, he was scared to jinx it.

But the giant jump from last year to a .500 points percentage halfway through the season is a good representation of the improvement the team has made despite a less talented, less experienced roster. This year’s team is truly playing within the structure better. It’s scoring goals. It’s breaking habits. And it’s bouncing back where last year the team would have collapsed.

This team has belief. That, combined with more structured play, means even if the Flyers do lose to the Bruins and maybe the teams after that, that doesn’t mean it’s over for them. They already have bounced back from a 10-game losing streak this season, and they have the tools now to break out of the next slump that comes.