PHILADELPHIA >> The first half of the Flyers’ regular season is one game from completion. If not for goaltender Brian Elliott, there may not have been much reason to play the second.
Though Elliott has gone just 18-18, including a 6-4 victory Thursday over the New York Islanders, he has made enough important saves at enough vital times to keep the Flyers within reasonable playoff range.
“Well, he’s been real good for us,” Dave Hakstol said. “I think there have been one or two games where our goaltenders have stolen games. He certainly has. Neuvy (Michael Neuvirth) was that guy in (a 2-0 early-season victory) in St. Louis, to be sure. But on a regular basis, Brian has given us three, four, five good, timely saves pretty much every night.”
Elliott, 32, toted a 2.69 goals-against average and a .911 saves percentage into the Wells Fargo Center Thursday, when he made his 15th consecutive start. His consistency kept the Flyers competitive on nights when they were struggling … and, of those, there were many.
“He can win a game on a night when you are far less than at your best,” Hakstol said. “And those nights happen on the schedule. But also, on a regular basis, he is able to give the guys confidence that when there is a mistake or a breakdown, he is going to be there and shut that play down.
“Ells has done a lot of that for us.”
Elliott held on Thursday to improve his career record against the Islanders to 6-1-6.
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The Flyers have won two of their last three, responding well to a 5-1 loss Tuesday against Pittsburgh.
“We were mostly ticked off, I think,” said Michael Raffl, who scored a second-period goal Thursday night. “Nobody was happy with the way we played against Pittsburgh. We wanted to come out and redeem ourselves.”
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After Hakstol and Ron Hextall both criticized their recent energy level, the Flyers responded with a strong first period, outshooting the Isles, 11-6.
“That was part of our game plan,” Travis Konecny said. “We wanted to play hard and get back to the way we play hockey, getting pucks in, getting on their ‘D’ and being physical.”
Konecny was particularly physical in winning a first-period fight over Shane Prince. He admitted that sharing the top line with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier boosted his energy.
“It’s been good,” said Konecny, who scored a second-period goal. “You always have to be ready. You never know. There are plays that they see that I don’t even know the puck is coming to me and it ends up on my tape. I’m just trying to simplify my game, create havoc and get the puck back to them.”
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Continuing his run of strong play, Brandon Manning provided an assist on a second-period Ivan Provorov goal. After recovering from a hand injury, the defenseman had the game-winning goal in a recent 5-3 victory in Tampa Bay, and he had an assist in the loss to the Penguins.
“Obviously, he is coming back from the injury,” Hakstol said. “But he played real well for us in Tampa, and he had a real solid game the other night. The game was out of reach in the third period and he is one of those guys who compete right to the bitter end. There was a scrap in the third period. And all those things are big things for a team.”
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NOTES >> The Flyers enjoyed an early power-play goal from Couturier, but settled for a 1-1 deadlock after one period. They have held the lead after one period just once in their last 20 games … Hextall, on what the Flyers must do in the second half of the season: “We have to be more consistent. Consistency has been an issue. That’s a big one. You look at nights and we’re a pretty good team. Other nights, we’re not good enough.”… The Flyers will entertain the Blues Saturday afternoon at 1.
