9 things to know about the Flyers 9-game winning streak

1.The last time

It’s been a very long time since the Flyers have strung together a streak like this, so much so that two of their players, Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, weren’t even alive the last time this happened. The Flyers last won nine games in a row back on April 22, 1995.

2. Slowly gaining ground

While the Flyers have really climbed the standings — gaining 18 out of a possible 18 points since Nov. 27 will do that — the rest of the Metropolitan Division has been just as hot. The top five teams in the division are a combined 25-3-1 in December. There’s five teams with 37 or more points in the Metropolitan whereas no other group has more than one team with that many points entering Monday.

3. Something special

It’s a game of special teams, and right now, the Flyers are kings on the power play. The Flyers have scored on the man advantage in six of these games, going 7-24 (29.2%) and climbing up to No. 1 in the NHL for power play percentage. As of Monday, the Flyers are one of two teams (Columbus) with a 24% or higher success rate in the league.

4. Bringing the power

Going along with that, four of the top five power play scorers in the league wear orange and black. Claude Giroux leads all with 15 points with Wayne Simmonds right behind at 14 points and a league-leading eight goals on the man-advantage. Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn are in a three-way tie with Dallas’ Tyler Seguin for third with 13 points. Shayne Gostisbehere isn’t too far back with nine points.

5. The goalies

Goaltending has reigned supreme in Philadelphia as of late. During this stretch, Steve Mason and Anthony Stolarz have compiled a 2.11 goals against average. Disregard the strange 6-5 win the Flyers picked up over Edmonton, and there has only been one team who has scored more than two goals against Philadelphia in the last nine games.

6. Grueling schedule

Back-to-backs haven’t been a problem for the Flyers this season. With their 1-0 win over Detroit on Sunday, they are now 5-1-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. They’ve had two such wins during their streak.

7. Unfamiliar foes

None of these nine wins have come against a division opponent and only four of these games have been against Eastern Conference foes. They’ll finally play a division opponent in back-to-back games on Dec. 21 and 22 versus Washington and New Jersey.

8. Feisty foes

The competition hasn’t been weak. Five of these nine games were against teams who are currently in a playoff spot with two more of those teams (Dallas, Nashville) sitting two points back of the wild card.

9.Up next

The Flyers next game is against Colorado, which is tied for the fewest amount of points in the NHL with Arizona. The Avalanche have lost seven of their last nine games entering Wednesday’s tilt with the Flyers. A win by Philadelphia would give them 10 in a row and their longest streak since 1985 where they went on to win their franchise-best 13-game winning streak.