Flyers Notes: Flyers' offense comes alive in 7-goal outburst
The Flyers' sleepy offense woke up Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ended a 28-game scoreless streak, Brayden Schenn snapped a 15-game drought, and Michael Raffl's eight-game run without a goal was halted as the Flyers posted a 7-3 win against the Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Flyers' sleepy offense woke up Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ended a 28-game scoreless streak, Brayden Schenn snapped a 15-game drought, and Michael Raffl's eight-game run without a goal was halted as the Flyers posted a 7-3 win against the Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
Entering Monday, the Flyers were averaging 2.64 goals per game, 18th in the 30-team NHL.
Aside from the top line - and Wayne Simmonds' power-play scoring - the Flyers had not gotten much production before Monday's breakout.
Before the game, Schenn said there was no reason to panic.
"I'm getting chances. Sometimes it's going in for you, sometimes it's not. Sometimes you get a greasy goal off your skate," Schenn said. "It doesn't seem to be going my way, but you start worrying when you're not getting your chances - and I'm getting chances. I just have to stick with it and trust my game, and it'll come."
Before facing the Lightning, the Flyers scored a total of 15 goals in their last eight games, going 2-5-1 in that span. They did not score more than three goals in any of those eight games.
Monday, they had six goals in the first 28 minutes, 37 seconds. Go figure.
Zepp in goal
After being recalled from the Phantoms, goalie Rob Zepp, 33, made his first home start - the second of his NHL career - against the Lightning.
Flyers coach Craig Berube tried to downplay the loss of Steve Mason, who is expected to miss two weeks with an apparent injury to his right knee.
"It's part of hockey," Berube said. "You get injuries, and you have to deal with them, and you have to find ways to win games with certain guys or not. It doesn't really matter."
To a man, the Flyers said they would not play a more defensive game because they were without their No. 1 goalie.
"We've been doing a better job lately of minimizing opportunities," said defenseman Luke Schenn, whose team surrendered just 18 shots Saturday in a 3-1 loss to Boston and 24 against the Lightning. "I think every game you want to play tight D . . . no matter who the goalie is. Nothing changes."
Berube bypassed the struggling Ray Emery and gave Zepp the start against high-scoring Tampa Bay. Emery allowed three goals on 13 shots against the Bruins.