The Flyers rallied to beat the Canadiens in overtime as the NHL experiences a crazy, shake-up-able night while Major League Baseball is jamming in its offseason in the early days of Spring Training. Let’s relive the day that was on February 20th, 2018…

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime tonight as Jake Voracek scored twice: with less than 1:30 in regulation to tie and then the game-winner less than 1:30 into the extra frame. Voracek, like most of the Flyers, played some solid hockey from the second period onward–the opposite of what we had been seeing a week ago.

The Flyers came out incredibly slow in the first period and despite out-shooting Montreal, the Habs came away with the 1-0 lead through one. Instead of their cross-ice passes that resulted in missed opportunities, the Flyers would charge the zone to only hold the puck and not shoot. Montreal came out with a collapsing defense that successfully held the Flyers scoreless for the first period. Thankfully, this would change in the second period.

Nolan Patrick scored the at-the-time equalizer as the Flyers dominated the second period:

The aforementioned collapsing Montreal defense was able to hold the Flyers to just one goal in the second, despite having now allowed 22 shots through 40 minutes–that’s a top-tier goalie for you (Carey Price).

The third reverted to the slow-paced play we saw from the first period with Montreal capitalizing about nine minutes in. However, the Flyers wouldn’t go down quietly even after a very poor showing from the Peco Power Play. As mentioned above, Jake Voracek would take over tying and then winning the game for the Flyers–their third-straight.

Combined with a Devils regulation loss to Columbus, the Flyers now hold sole possession of the third seed in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals lost to Tampa tonight, which is big for Pittsburgh as Washington won on Monday and retook the top spot in the division. With the playoff races heating up and the trade deadline less than six days away, things are certain to shake up.

Speaking of, the Flyers officially introduced Petr Mrazek tonight as he backed up Alex Lyon–who played on his head tonight. I mentioned yesterday before the trade that Hextall is smart enough to not get fleeced and that seems to be the result here. Granted, if the Flyers make the ECF, the pick becomes a second-rounder but not having to dish a player/prospect to Detroit nor one of your two first-round picks is certainly a win. As desperate as I am for a Flyers Stanley Cup, it’s likely not happening in 2018–I will GLADLY eat those words if I’m wrong. Oskar Lindblom looked great in his debut as well registering three shots (one on goal) in about 15 minutes of ice-time.

Spring Training Heating Up

There is a lot to unpack in regards to Spring Training. For the sake of time, I’m going to break things down tomorrow as the Flyers won’t be playing and the NBA won’t restart until Thursday. I’m having Greg Piatelli on the Podcast tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll talk about these stories as well. Some quick notes to tide you over:

• JD Martinez and Eric Hosmer, both Scott Boras clients, signed big deals with the Red Sox and Padres, respectively. Boras is notorious for trying to bleed out teams with mega contracts for his clients. The Phillies have been in talks with Jake Arrieta, another Boras client, but things been stalling out in terms of the length and dollars for the deal. As a Phillies fan, keep it short as Jake is older and we’ve seen what happens with 30+ players on mega deals *cough* Ryan Howard *cough*]
• The Yankees, Rays, and D-Backs engaged in a three-way deal that sent Steven Souza to the D-Backs from Tampa and some prospects from New York to both squads while the Yankees get infielder Brandon Drury. An interesting deal that likely resulted from JD Martinez going to Boston if I had to guess

Again, Greg and I should likely break a lot of this down Wednesday night on the podcast (to be released late Wednesday/early Thursday on iTunes) so make sure to tune in for that breakdown!

(cover photo via)