Philadelphia Flyers: A Bright Spot in the City of Brotherly Love

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Nashville Predators on the road Sunday to extend their win streak to five games, bringing their record to 14-10-3 which is good for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division.

It is no secret that the Philadelphia Flyers have been incredibly inconsistent, but their play over the past week has been outstanding from top to bottom. Steve Mason has been rolling, his save percentage is at .945 in the four games he started during the winning streak and was named the NHL first star of the week. The top line has been producing Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, and Michael Raffl have a combined eight goals and four assists over a five-game span. “Simmer” is now tied for third in the NHL in goals with 13.

The defense has been getting better overall play as well. Michael Del Zotto, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Ivan Provorov have been shining on both ends of the ice. MDZ, Ghost, and the “Rad Russian” have put up a combined five goals and four assists over the past five games. The young Flyers defenders have been putting the pieces together recently.

I only named a handful of players, but the team as a whole has been gelling and playing like a team that belongs in the postseason. The Philadelphia Flyers have are a bright spot in an otherwise dull sports city.

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Look at the other teams in Philly, the Eagles are a miserable 5-8 right now and showing many signs of regression. Carson Wentz is the future of this team the Birds are still far from being a formidable team in what is now one of the strongest divisions in football, the NFC East. The defense, once the strongest point of the team, is a shell of what it was in the first half of the season. The offense will never be anything until there is a legitimate threat at the receiver position.

The Sixers have been in a constant state of rebuilding since 2012. Joel Embiid will be a star in this league, Dario Saric is showing fans what they want to see after extending his time in Turkey, and Jahlil Okafor remains a good offensive player. All of this without mentioning the number one pick in this past draft, Ben Simmons. The Sixers have the makings of something special to come but are still some time away from competing in the NBA.

The Phillies are showing signs of improvement, but are still nowhere near contending any time soon. They have a lot of potential in the minors, players like JP Crawford, Nick Williams, and Jorge Alfaro, just to name a few. They have a lot of young players on the roster too, including a pitching rotation full of potential with Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez, and Zach Eflin. They have some decent position players like Maikel Franco and Golden Glove finalists, Freddy Galvis and Odubel Herrera. The Phillies are still some time away from being a playoff contender, but the future is bright for them as well.

The Philadelphia Union are likely the next closest team to competing but with their young core, it will take time for them to develop. Their rookies were a bright spot last season and will be counted on moving forward. The Philadelphia Union are likely two or three pieces away from being legitimate contenders for MLS Cup. If they can keep Andre Blake in net, the Union will already have a keeper capable of carrying them, it’s just adding a defense in front of him.

While the other four major teams in this city are either in a state of rebuild or retooling, the Philadelphia Flyers are the only team that recently finished the rebuild and are ready to compete now. The Flyers need to be the focal point of this city. They have a lot of young talent in the pipeline, including two top defenseman in Sam Morin and Travis Sanheim. The only thing really missing from this team is a pure goal scorer. The other teams in Philly are a piece or two away from being a piece or two away. The Flyers are the only team that is legitimately a piece or two away from being a serious, scary playoff team.

Yes, it is only a five-game win streak, but the Bullies are the only bright spot for Philadelphia in 2016. They have shown last season and this season that they are here and ready to bring the Stanley Cup back to the City of Brotherly Love. Ron Hextall has done a great job of rebuilding this franchise. There is talent in the minor leagues, overseas, and in Canada. There is young talent on the team in Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, and Shayne Gostisbehere. He hired a great coach in Dave Hakstol who puts his team in great position day in and day out. Hextall has this team in an incredible position, he turned this team around from the day he was hired as the General Manager. He has the Philadelphia Flyers in their best position as a franchise since Peter Laviolette led Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010.

Next: Claude Giroux’s Team is Heating Up

The Philadelphia Flyers should be more of a primary talking point instead of being behind both the Eagles, Sixers, Union and come April, the Phillies. The Flyers have arrived, they are the closest team to a championship for Philadelphia. They deserve to be on everybody’s radar moving forward.

The Fly Guys return to action tonight at home against the Florida Panthers. The puck drops at 7:05. Here’s to hoping they extend the win streak to six.

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