Four takeaways from the Flyers’ 5-2 win against the Avalanche

DENVER — Carter Hart stood in the visitors’ locker room at Ball Arena after the Flyers’ 5-2 win against yet another Stanley Cup contender in the Colorado Avalanche when he was asked about the team’s “us vs. the world” mentality.

“I don’t think anybody wants us to win,” he said “And that definitely fires us up and fuels the fire for us to prove everyone wrong and just strengthens our belief in each other in here.

“We all love each other, we all get along so well. We have such a tight group here and everybody’s willing to fight for the next guy sitting beside them. I think that’s crucial right now and how we’re playing.”

And how are the Flyers playing?

The Avalanche are a highly skilled team not far removed from a Stanley Cup championship. The Flyers allowed just one goal to Nathan MacKinnon in his 23 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time and held Mikko Rantanen (22:11) and Cale Makar (24:51) off the score sheet. They crashed the net, weathered the storms, and put the puck in the net at key moments to keep a potent Avalanche team at bay.

Here are four takeaways from the Flyers’ big win.

It’s been a theme all season long. Once again the Flyers weathered the storm of a more skilled team and came out victorious. Yes, Colorado is highly skilled and was better at times — like on special teams, when it had better chances on the Flyers’ power play — but at five-on-five the Orange and Black held their ground.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Avalanche had more shot attempts than the Flyers (66-53) with a Corsi For Percentage of 55.46% during five-on-five play. But of those 66 shot attempts, only 33 hit the net, and of those, only 29 were scoring chances. And when it came to the good kind of scoring chances, the high-danger ones, it was actually the Flyers who held the advantage at 13-7.

“I thought we checked the middle of the ice well; a lot of their offense comes to the middle,” coach John Tortorella said. “Made a little bit of adjustment after the first period with MacKinnon’s speed, just trying to get someone above him right away so we can try to deny him the puck — I thought we did a pretty good job there. I thought we did a pretty good job offensively to try to keep them there, instead of always defending. Carter made some key saves at key times. Good solid road win when everybody contributed.”

Of the 38 shots Hart faced in the game, the majority at even strength were low-danger — easy pickings for a guy who is as technically sound as Hart is. He did allow one goal, to Josh Manson from outside home plate, when it looked like he couldn’t track the puck through a double screen.

“We know they’re a good team, they’ve got a lot of skill. I thought we played them hard tonight,” Hart said “... I thought we did a good job of managing their chances and shutting them down and keeping things simple. We just sucked them into our game.”

Hart also made a number of critical saves with the game tight. He stopped Miles Wood, who had five shots on goal, in the second period with the score tied. A save on Manson helped set up the Owen Tippett goal that made it 2-1, and Hart stopped Wood during the Flyers’ lone power play before saving an Andrew Cogliano shot off a three-on-one, He tracked a Logan O’Connor tip in the third period before the Flyers tacked on three more goals.

» READ MORE: Travis Konecny scores twice as the Flyers’ winning streak continues against Avalanche

“He’s been our backbone all year. I think, even when we do have a breakdown, he’s there and makes a big save when we need him. ... It’s nice having a guy like that back there,” Tippett said.

Eight Flyers hit the score sheet. Of those, five — Bobby Brink (two assists), Tippett (one goal, one assist), Morgan Frost (one assist), Joel Farabee (one goal), and Tyson Foerster (one assist) — are under the age of 25.

“They’re all doing a great job,” said Travis Konecny, who isn’t much older at 26. “And it’s difficult because you go through ups and downs as a young player, but these guys have done such a terrific job of sticking with it.”

Brink and Tippett connected to give the Flyers their second lead of the game when the 22-year-old Brink sent a bank pass to his 24-year-old linemate, who finished on his own rebound.

“It’s been nice to play with him consistently the last few games and I think we’re starting to read off each other better,” Tippett said of Brink. “I think we’re finding each other in all those small areas. It’s a lot easier when you have that trust and that chemistry with a guy.”

Brink also helped to set up Farabee for his second goal in as many games. Farabee, who had five shots and was stymied on a breakaway rebound attempt right after Cam Atkinson was denied on his own breakaway, now has 10 goals this season.

There’s been a lot of talk about the recent elevation of play and confidence by Cam York. On Saturday night it was his defensive partner’s turn.

Travis Sanheim had a goal and an assist in a game he was consistently involved in. He snapped a 12-game goal drought with a shot from the right circle; as he said, it’s not too often he gets to walk in and have that much room. The 27-year-old defenseman then added an assist on Farabee’s goal after he skated the puck deep into the Avalanche’s zone before he tried to cut and the puck went to Brink.

Sanheim has a three-game point streak and his play against Colorado left his bench boss impressed.

» READ MORE: How Travis Konecny’s ability to read plays is paying off for the Flyers

“I didn’t see Sanny do that once last year on Beezer’s goal, just bull-rushed to the net. ... And you could see once he picked the puck up, that’s his whole thought and that’s what creates that goal,” Tortorella said. “He’s played hard minutes. I think he was 22 [22:48] tonight. We’re still trying to watch him, just want to get him to those few days off for Christmas. But that’s his mindset, so he’s really handled himself well.”

The Travis Konecny Show rolled on in Colorado. After scoring twice in the Flyers’ 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, Konecny added another two goals on Saturday.

His first came on a great play by Sean Couturier, who knocked the puck out of the air, settled it, and found a streaking Konecny behind the Avalanche defense. He scored in his favorite spot (don’t tell anyone) glove side. He added another on a penalty shot — yep, also glove side — after he was held on a breakaway by MacKinnon.

“He’s just a really good player, Tortorella said. “He knows he’s a good player when his mind is straight, and he doesn’t get caught up in all the antics of it all, and just plays. His engine is so good. He does so many things for the hockey team, so it’s fun to watch him play.”

Konecny, who now has three straight multipoint games, has 16 goals this season. A number of those were scored past the glove of netminders; Konecny said he is going to start switching things up now.

Ryan Poehling remained out of the lineup because of illness and the Flyers went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Marc Staal returned to the lineup as the extra defenseman while Olle Lycksell was a healthy scratch after making his season debut on Thursday.