Flyers 5 takeaways: Petr Mrazek's first impression is of a good buy

PHILADELPHIA — Three days was just long enough for a crash course in celebration.

Ric Flair may not be as big in Detroit as he is in the Flyers’ locker room, so Petr Mrazek may have been confused at the start.

The former pro wrestler has become the namesake of the team’s postgame honors in the form of a black, bedazzled replica robe with orange rhinestones and a lining of white feathers.

It seemed to fit the 56th goalie in Flyers history just fine after his first win, making 19 saves in a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Jake Voracek, Tuesday’s winner, passed it on to the goalie.

“I was really excited for this game. The day was so long for me,” Mrazek said. “I felt like we were playing at midnight, not at 7. I was waiting for it. I’m happy that it’s over and we got the two points.”

He was beaten only once.

It came in the second period just after a Flyers power play. Andrew MacDonald had his back to the Columbus penalty box so when Ivan Provorov handed him a grenade of a pass, it exploded off his stick because Artemi Panarin stole it and went the other way.

“Honestly, first time I forgot to tap the stick (to warn teammates the power play was about to expire),” Mrazek said. “I was looking at the board for where the time is. I couldn’t find it and then I saw Panarin come in 2-on-1 and scored on me.”

Other than that, Mrazek was good when he had to be. The Flyers and Blue Jackets played a tight game, just as they did last week when the Flyers won in overtime. Twenty shots accounted for Columbus’ third-lowest total of the season.

Only two of them came in the first period.

“There’s obviously a couple things for systems when you go to a new team, but at the end of the day you just gotta stop the puck,” said Claude Giroux, who scored his 21st goal of the season to tie the game. “He did a pretty good job of that.”

“I thought he was outstanding,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Not a lot of work in the first period, but a couple opportunities, a little bit of traffic around him. I thought when they had their pushes, probably a good half dozen excellent saves at real key times for us. Pretty good night for him.”

Here are four more takeaways from Thursday night’s game…

Patrick’s emergence

The Flyers are missing a key piece of their puzzle in Wayne Simmonds and in each of the first two games he’s missed, his replacement, rookie Nolan Patrick, has scored on the power play. Thursday night, it was the game-winning goal.

“Just trying to listen to what the guys say,” Patrick said. “Obviously it’s tough to come in. I think Simmy’s the best guy in the league in front of the net there. From watching him, I’m just trying to do the things he was doing in front.

“I watch him every game. He’s unbelievable, so good at tipping pucks and making plays down low. You learn just from watching everything.”

At 5-on-5 he was good too, showing more and more speed as the season progresses and he heals from offseason surgery. He also got a fellow rookie on his line midway through the game, in newcomer Oskar Lindblom.

“I thought we had some good looks and odd-man rushes and we had that little 3-on-1 there and a 2-on-1,” Patrick said. “Oskar is a great player. He’s a big frame down low. He threw a lot of good reverse hits protecting the puck.”

Penalty-free no more

It was very un-Flyers like, the streak they had. For three games straight, they hadn’t faced an opposing power play. The only other team since 1977 that could make that claim is the Calgary Flames in April 2015.

Jordan Weal put an end to that with an interference infraction in the first period. For as little practice as the Flyers’ penalty killers had gotten recently they looked good against the power play ranked dead last in the league. On Columbus’ first power play the only shot came from Sean Couturier.

“We knew that streak was gonna end eventually,” Provorov said. “We were prepared for the penalty kill and I think we did a good job today.”

“Still do some videos and prescout,” Couturier added. “I thought the guys did a good job even if it had been a while.”

In the second period they did it again, when Couturier was whistled for tripping. The Flyers were without one of their top killers and Columbus controlled play for a while.

Shoooooooooooot!!!!!

Players hate it. They have a building full of coaches yelling at them to shoot the puck. Thursday night, so was the guy that matters standing behind the bench.

Twice the Flyers opted to pass instead of shoot with an empty net to get an insurance goal with under a minute left. Hakstol thought it happened for the better part of the night.

“Take the empty net away, I thought tonight we turned down too many shooting opportunities,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a characteristic (of the season). I felt like especially when we got to the end of 40 minutes there were some good shooting attempts that we looked pass-first. Hey, when the play is there I want our guys to be confident and make plays and look for those. We’ve got guys that see the ice very well. There’s an element of this game of hard, direct plays to the net that don’t only help you score, but help you build momentum.”

Fun with numbers

• Giroux was a monster in the faceoff circle. He won 16 of his 19 draws and at least one of the losses he purposefully shot the puck out of the zone so he could get off on a line change.

• Shayne Gostisbehere helped on both goals, the second of which is his 100th career assist. He is third in scoring among NHL defensemen and first in points on the power play. Some around the team are wondering if he can be a Norris Trophy candidate. It may not be so unrealistic.

• Last season the Flyers became the only team in NHL history to go on a 10-game win streak and miss the playoffs. They lost 10 straight (0-5-5) this year and almost certainly will. Thursday’s victory means they haven’t lost in regulation in 10 straight since last year’s stretch.

Dave Isaac; @davegisaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com

FLYERS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1

Up next: at Ottawa Senators

When: 2 p.m., Saturday

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