The Philadelphia Flyers do not have what one would refer to as one of the best defenses in the NHL. With Shayne Gostisbehere now here, and players like Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim waiting in the wings, that may one day change – but they aren’t there quite yet.
But that didn’t stop the Flyers from making history as they won their first playoff game in 2016 – a year they weren’t even supposed to make the playoffs.
Via the Elias Sports Bureau:
Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrew MacDonald scored the goals for the Flyers as they avoided elimination in their first-round series against the Capitals with a 2-1 win in Game Four. It’s the first time in Flyers history that they won a playoff game in which every one of their goals was scored by a defenseman. Tampa Bay was the last NHL team to win a playoff game that way, in Game 7 of its first-round series against Detroit last year. Braydon Coburn and Anton Stralman scored the goals in the Lightning’s 2-0 victory that night.
(Hey, Coburn! He was a Flyer, too! Weird.)
In the most meaningful game of the season to date, it was the Flyers’ defense – one a representative of hope for the future, the other… a little less so – that came through for the entire team.
Hopefully that won’t be the case for Game 5, and some of the forwards actually get on the board. After all, it’s unlikely the Flyers will win again with goals only from their blueline – it’s only happened the one time in their entire history. But for Game 4, a couple of goals from the defensemen, plus Michal Neuvirth, was enough.
