It’s been a good few days to be a fan of the Philadelphia Flyers, as their team delivered not once, but twice during Thanksgiving weekend.
The Flyers picked up a 3-2 OT win over the Predators on Friday before shutting out the New York Rangers, 3-0, on Saturday.
It was a good afternoon for three players in particular.
Both Wayne Simmonds and Sean Couturier ended long scoring slumps.
Simmonds’ two goals were his first in seven games, while Couturier scored for the first time in his last 13 contests.
Goaltender Steve Mason also had a solid outing against the Rangers.
The 27-year-old turned aside all 24 shots he faced including this great save on Dominic Moore:
The Flyers lost defenseman Nick Schultz to an upper-body injury in the first period after he took a big hit from Dylan McIlrath.
Luke Schenn defended his fallen teammate by dropping the gloves with McIlrath, which didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.
Wayne Simmonds talked about how guys were not standing up for each other earlier but have finally done that and how much LSchenn meant today
— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchRET) November 28, 2015
The Rangers are now on a season-high three-game losing streak. Their lack of effort has to be concerning for their head coach Alain Vigneault.
AV says Rangers got an "extraordinary" performance from Antti Raanta (I concur) but rest of team absent 2nd and 3rd periods. Pretty fair.
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) November 28, 2015
AV says Rangers need to "man up" and he needs to figure out how to get more out of them.
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) November 28, 2015
The Flyers outshot the Rangers 30-14 over the final 40 minutes.