Flyers beat Boston: Alain Vigneault deserves credit for team’s confidence, and four other observations

BOSTON — The Flyers are certainly on a roll.

Here are some observations from their fourth straight win, a 3-2 shootout victory in Boston on Sunday:

1. If this was the Flyers’ first major test of the season, they aced it.

Getting back-to-back road wins on consecutive nights over high-quality teams, Toronto and Boston, should make the NHL take notice.

Up next: Another difficult challenge Wednesday from visiting Washington and somebody named Alex Ovechkin.

2. An air of confidence is permeating around the Flyers these days.

A lot of it has to do with the presence of new coach Alain Vigneault, the 12th-winningest coach in NHL history.

“There’s always a different approach with every coach,” right winger Travis Konecny said. “It’s a fresh start, and everybody is believing and trusting our systems right now and we’re sticking to it. We’ve seen his past success, and we believe in what he’s teaching us. We’re just a bunch of sponges and soaking it all up.”

3. The Flyers’ leaders have been their young players, and it happened again Sunday.

The goals were scored by Konecny (22 years old), Phil Myers (22) and Joel Farabee (19) in the shootout. Goaltender Carter Hart (21) got the win and stopped a late penalty shot and all four shots in the shootout.

Konecny, 22, and 23-year-old Oskar Lindblom lead the Flyers with eight goals each. The last time two players 23 years or younger led the team in goals through 10 or more games was 2007-08, when Mike Richards and Jeff Carter each scored six goals in 10 games.

These kids are maturing right before our eyes, and their development is fun to watch.

4. The Flyers and shootouts have not been friends over the years, but that’s changing.

The Flyers are now 3-2 in shootouts (!), which no longer seem like such a long shot with Hart in the net. Credit Brian Elliott, too, for a great shootout effort in Toronto.

5. The penalty kill, which is missing injured Scott Laughton, continues to flourish.

The unit was 2 for 2 against Boston and got some clutch saves from Hart on a late Boston PP. The PK is 28 for 30 (93.3%) over the last 11-plus games.

Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, Michael Raffl, Kevin Hayes, Sean Couturier, Matt Niskanen, Lindblom and Justin Braun were the main PKers on Sunday.