Flyers nearly began six-day rest early

The Philadelphia Flyers started a rare six-day break on Saturday night.

The only problem was it began 20 minutes too early.

Leading the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 to start the third period, the Flyers seemingly checked out mentally and physically and nearly wasted two pristine periods before surviving with a 4-3 victory.

Former Flyer Max Talbot put the Avs on the board just 2:29 into the final period and Alex Tanguay and Zach Redmond quickly followed suit to put the Flyers on their heels for the last 11:38 of the game.

While it wasn’t pretty, the Flyers escaped unscathed, got their two points and made the break much more bearable than it would have been if they had collapsed and lost.

“Yeah, you would have been thinking about a lot,” said Flyers coach Craig Berube, whose squad has won three straight and seven of its last 10 games. “It’s definitely going to be a better five days (off) with a win.”

The Flyers don’t play another game until Friday, when Scott Hartnell and the Blue Jackets arrive. It’s a chance for the team to rest up and heal some bumps and bruises and get in some quality practices.

At the same time the Flyers can’t get too complacent.

“We have a good feeling going into this long break, which is nice,” said goalie Steve Mason, who has won three straight starts. “We have to make sure we are working hard this next little while because it’s going to be tough getting up to the speed if we are not working hard in practice. So we have to make sure we are smart with it.”