Shayne Gostisbehere, Radko Gudas, Andrew MacDonald and Nolan Patrick all injured for a road matchup against the Central Division-leading St. Louis Blues in the second game of a back-to-back? The stage was set not merely for a Philadelphia Flyers loss, but a potentially embarrassing one at that.

Yet in spite of both complex projection systems and common sense deeming the Flyers to be a lost cause on this particular night, the team would not be denied a split of the Midwest road trip. On the strength of a stellar performance from goaltender Michal Neuvirth and a team-wide commitment to stingy defensive hockey, Philadelphia pulled the upset, topping the Blues by a 2-0 score. Neuvirth made 33 saves to earn his first shutout of the 2017-18 season, while Brandon Manning and Claude Giroux contributed the goals for the Flyers (7-6-1). Sean Couturier also added two assists, moving into the scoring lead for Philadelphia with 17 points in 14 games.

Note: This article will reference advanced hockey stats. If you’re looking to better understand any of the referenced metrics, please read this primer which explains the concepts behind them.

1: Undermanned Flyers find way to win

It’s impossible to overstate just how much the deck was stacked against the Flyers entering this game. Even if Philadelphia was fully healthy, it still would have been dealing with the second game of a road back-to-back against a rested 10-2-1 team with strong underlying statistics. But aside from last night’s contest being an obvious candidate for a “schedule loss,” the Flyers are absolutely ravaged by injuries at the moment. Against the Blues, head coach Dave Hakstol was forced to dress a defense consisting of Ivan Provorov along with a 22-year-old rookie (Robert Hagg), a 21-year-old rookie (Travis Sanheim), a vet who is ideally employed as a seventh defenseman (Brandon Manning) and two AHL lifers (Mark Alt and Will O’Neill). With Gostisbehere, Gudas, MacDonald, Samuel Morin and T.J. Brennan all injured, the Flyers were forced to fill out the bottom of their defense with players who probably rank 10th and 11th on the organizational depth chart at the moment. And that’s not even accounting for the fact that Patrick missed his fifth straight game up front.

Yet, they somehow found a way to pull out a nerve-wracking 2-0 victory. Credit should be spread throughout the lineup, because it truly was a fantastic team effort defensively, from the goaltending all the way to the forwards, who continually harassed Blues stars when they tried to create with the puck. St. Louis certainly had the raw territorial edge in the game — it led in shots on goal 33-23 and in score-adjusted Corsi at 5-on-5 — but this wasn’t a case of Neuvirth outright stealing a victory from them. After accounting for score effects and shot quality, the Flyers actually had a slight edge in 5v5 Expected Goals, creating 50.27 percent of them in the contest.

This should have been a game that the Blues dominated. Instead, the Flyers stifled the St. Louis attack over and over, in addition to creating just enough offense to keep their opponent from fully controlling the pace of the game. It wasn’t one that the Flyers won on talent; considering Philadelphia’s numerous injuries, the Blues roster was far ahead in that department. Instead, the Flyers put together a positive result on the back of sheer, dogged effort, particularly in the defensive zone. It’s been a rough few years for the club, and there’s certainly plenty to criticize on a daily basis. But this was a game that should make fans proud to say that they root for the Flyers.

2: Flyers basically rode their top-4 into the ground

The main dilemma facing the Philadelphia coaching staff entering the game was just how to deploy their makeshift defense corps. After all, only Provorov was actually in a role befitting his talents, as Hagg has been used mostly as a second-pair defenseman this year and both Sanheim and Manning have been given third-pair deployment. Then there were Alt and O’Neill, who weren’t even viewed as NHL talents a week ago. In the second game of a back-to-back, how would Hakstol distribute the minutes?

He went with the logical choice, which in this situation can be fairly dubbed “the least wrong choice.” Giving Provorov a boatload of minutes was a no-brainer, and he did indeed receive the lionshare at 27:07, giving the 20-year-old a total of 56:58 minutes of hockey played over roughly a 24-hour period. Hakstol then chose to ride his NHL regulars in support of Provorov, sending Hagg on the ice for 24:12, Manning 22:55 and Sanheim 21:03. It was a career-high for Hagg, and the second-largest one-game workloads of both Manning and Sanheim’s NHL careers. Every single one of them held up under the strain.

As for the AHLers, Hakstol wisely limited their minutes, granting Alt 12:13 of ice time and O’Neill just 9:25. He skillfully kept O’Neill — who was the true “emergency” starter last night — away from St. Louis’ top lines even without the last change, as he shared the ice at 5-on-5 with 1C Paul Stastny for a little over a minute and 2C Brayden Schenn for only 33 seconds. Alt’s minutes were a bit tougher, but even he only spent 3:05 vs. either Stastny or Schenn. This was the top-four’s show, and they performed admirably.

3: Provorov was remarkable

If you happened to miss last night’s game and you stumble across the Corsi charts for the evening, you might come to the incorrect conclusion that Provorov had an underwhelming performance; in fact, you might actually think he was outright dominated by the Blues. After all, Provorov’s 29.07% score-adjusted Corsi For Percentage at 5v5 was the lowest on the Flyers, and that poor of a rating normally would garner a firm rebuke from this particular columnist.

I don’t use these words lightly — to fully understand how good Provorov was on Thursday night, you really had to watch the game.

Provorov was all over the ice, but he did his best work in the defensive zone, both on the penalty kill and at even strength. Even as someone who tends to be unenthused by high blocked shot totals, the fact that Provorov was able to get in the way of 10 Blues shots was extremely impressive and speaks to his positioning and anticipation while defending. But blocked shots were just one aspect of young Russian’s defensive game. On one memorable shift in the second period that lasted a whopping three minutes and 17 seconds, here’s what he did:

forced a dump-in at even strength

stayed on the ice after Hagg took a penalty

blocked a shot by Alex Pietrangelo

harassed Brayden Schenn below the red line, forcing a 50/50 scrum

blocked a shot by Alex Steen

blocked a second shot from Pietrangelo

blocked a shot from Vladimir Tarasenko, which hobbled Provorov

stood up Beau Bennett on an entry attempt with the game back at 5v5

That’s four blocks, two strong neutral zone plays and an instinctive read down low, over a period of time that ended up being over four times the average NHL shift length. If Provorov ends up becoming a legendary NHL defenseman, I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that Flyers fans will remember that particular shift in a random November regular-season game for years to come. It was that impressive.

As for the remainder of the game, Provorov spent over 15 minutes of his 5-on-5 ice time matched up against one of the Blues’ top two lines, yet only permitted St. Louis two high-danger scoring chances on his watch. His work on Tarasenko was especially impressive, particularly in how he frustrated the Russian superstar along the boards with leverage, positioning and strength.

Corsi may not have loved Provorov’s performance, but considering the circumstances, this was truly a game where you can throw it out the window. The coaching staff– dealing with an undermanned roster — very obviously directed Provorov and the rest of the top-four on defense to focus on scoring-chance prevention and shy away from the risk-taking behavior that generally leads to favorable territorial results. When viewed in that light, Provorov’s game truly lived up to his coaches’ hopes, as he executed on their directive flawlessly. The 20-year-old’s ability to prevent quality chances did show up in the numbers if you looked hard enough — Provorov’s adjusted on-ice Expected Goals For Percentage was a perfectly-solid 50 percent, far better than his underwhelming Corsi, and a testament to all of the great work he did on the night.

4: Manning stepped up as well

Provorov wasn’t the only Flyers defenseman to deliver a standout performance. It may be unfair, but most expected the 20-year-old No. 1 defenseman to shine in this game, though maybe not quite to the degree that he did. But for Philadelphia to survive, it needed at least one of the other three NHL regulars to elevate his game and provide a reliable complement to Provorov. Rookies Hagg and Sanheim were fine on the whole, but it was veteran Brandon Manning who truly stepped up to meet that challenge.

Manning did get the contest’s only non-empty net goal, but simply limiting our praise to a seeing-eye shot that surprised a screened Jake Allen is doing Manning a disservice. The 27-year-old truly played the type of “efficient” game that Hakstol referenced previously when he justified the inclusion of Manning in the lineup over Sanheim. Manning was engineering breakouts, winning battles along the boards and even stepping up in the neutral zone when the opportunity presented itself. His minutes were a bit easier than Provorov’s, but Manning actually found a way to drive play at 5-on-5, finishing with a 60.35% score-adjusted Corsi For Percentage and a 75.89% adjusted xG For rate. He also led the Flyers with six shots on goal via eight total attempts. Manning is far from a star defenseman, and when everyone is healthy, he’ll probably (and justifiably) return to the press box. But for one night, he sure played like a star, when the Flyers desperately needed one.

5: Intentional move back to perimeter hockey

Over the season’s first month, I’ve praised the Flyers’ newfound propensity toward more creative offensive zone play, rather than the “shoot from the outside and hope for rebounds” method that seemed all too prevalent in 2016-17. But passing strategies like the low-to-high do have their benefits, including the obvious fact that it tends to result in less transition rushes for the opposition. That’s because the offensive zone formation is more stretched out, making it less likely for multiple players to be trapped behind a rush back up ice. Perimeter shooting isn’t an efficient way to score goals, but it’s a solid path to limiting rush chances of opponents.

That’s why it was no surprise to see the Flyers turning the clock back to 2016-17 last night. Knowing that his team needed to protect a defensive corps that was either green or likely to be overworked in the second game of a back-to-back, Hakstol understood that asking his forwards to hold the puck down low in the hopes that a high-danger chance might present itself might not be the best strategy. Turnovers with all of the forwards trapped below the faceoff circles could have proven disastrous. So instead, it was back to Philadelphia defensemen taking the lead as shooters, generally from the points. Nineteen of the team’s 39 attempts came from the back end, with Manning leading everyone with eight.

This was never going to be a game where the Flyers racked up four or five Expected Goals, or actual goals for that matter. Facing a talent deficit, the team’s best hope was to slow the game down, extend possessions by passing the puck around the horn and forechecking heavily, and then firing away from the outside if no better option was glaringly obvious. In this unique situation, conservative hockey was the right kind of hockey.

6: Neuvirth put on a clinic

Of course, all of the good that the Flyers did on this night — the big games from Provorov and Manning, solid defensive work from Sanheim, Hagg and all of the forwards, the smart coaching moves — would have been for naught had the team’s goaltending not been able to withstand the inevitable scoring chances that the Blues were able to create. That’s exactly what Neuvirth did, however. Just one night after Corey Crawford put on an absolute clinic and snatched a winnable game away from Philadelphia, Neuvirth did the same exact thing to a frustrated St. Louis squad.

Even with the Flyers’ strong defensive zone play, the Blues were able to generate 33 shots on goal and 2.85 Expected Goals in all situations. Neuvirth nevertheless stopped each and every puck that he saw. It was a welcome rebound from his last start in Ottawa, which saw Neuvirth blow an opportunity to directly challenge a then-struggling Brian Elliott for the 1A role in the Flyers’ tandem. Elliott certainly wasn’t bad against the Blackhawks on Wednesday, but Neuvirth fired another salvo in his competition’s direction with this gem of a game.

7: Penalty kill simply could not clear the zone

Neuvirth was most tested during the Blues’ power plays — one near the start of the first period, the other at the beginning of the middle stanza. During those long four minutes, St. Louis fired 13 shot attempts in Neuvirth’s direction, hitting him with three of them. But the most difficult part of Neuvirth’s job wasn’t necessarily the shots; it was the fact that the Blues had the puck in the Flyers’ end for nearly the entire four minutes that they spent with the man advantage.

Credit the Flyers for blocking shots and staying in their lanes positionally, but the PK failed miserably when it came to actually clearing the zone. Part of it was fantastic puck pursuit on the part of the Blues and the Flyers not wanting to be caught chasing a loose puck they would not be able to win. But Scott Laughton had two big failed clears — one on each power play — that allowed for additional zone time for St. Louis. That’s playing with fire, and while the Flyers didn’t get burned last night, it’s an area that they’ll want to clean up in the future.

8: Schenn’s hit on Couturier

Had Couturier not returned for the start of the third period no worse for the wear, this observation would have been much further up the list. Still, Brayden Schenn’s late hit on the Flyers’ top line center still must be addressed. With 8:21 remaining in the second, Couturier moved the puck into the offensive zone, sliding to his right closer to the slot before unleashing a quick wrister. About a second after Couturier released the puck, Schenn approached on an angle, coming from slightly behind Couturier and to his right, and absolutely blasted him with an open-ice hit. Schenn received a two-minute interference call on the play, while Couturier writhed in pain for a few minutes before skating off. He would miss the rest of the period, but returned for the game’s final twenty minutes and appears to be fine.

Let’s break down the hit. In slow motion and from the reverse angle, it does not appear that Schenn made contact with Couturier’s head. However, the lateness, along with the fact that Schenn’s angle of approach turned it into a blindside hit, made it a truly unnecessary one. Even though I don’t believe there was any direct contact made to the head, a blindside hit can easily result in a player’s head whipping violently off the ice, since the player is not bracing for the collision. That was the ugly part of the play, and where it looked like Couturier may have been damaged the most.

While Couturier did return and apparently passed concussion protocol, I do worry that whiplash symptoms could appear in the coming days, simply due to the end result of the hit. However, since there was no major injury and because there was no direct head contact, I assume Schenn will avoid supplementary discipline. That doesn’t mean his check was OK, however. I was also surprised to see no Flyers players directly challenge Schenn in its aftermath, as that would seem to be the default response in a situation like this. Even though Schenn is a former teammate and was very popular in the Flyers’ locker room, this was an instance that I believe warranted a larger reaction from the Flyers’ roster, as it was a dirty hit that took out a key player. The fact that Couturier ended up being fine (we hope) is irrelevant.

9: Fourth line executed gameplan to perfection in limited minutes

While the Honey Bees fourth line only received about eight minutes of ice time at 5v5 as a trio, it made its mark. No line did a better job of keeping the puck out of the defensive zone, as the Blues could not even manage 0.10 Expected Goals with any of Laughton, Michael Raffl, or Taylor Leier on the ice. The trio did this via its specialty — relentless forechecking. The best way to shelter a limited defense corps is to ensure that it never has to do any defending, which is achieved by constantly cycling in the offensive zone. The Lehtera line had its moments, and Couturier’s top line predictably had its shifts of impressive offensive creativity, but it was the fourth line that was most successful in wearing down Blues defensemen and keeping them on their heels every time they hit the ice.

10: Alt and O’Neill were passable

Alt has quickly quadrupled his NHL regular-season games total in just one week, while O’Neill finally made his NHL debut last night after six long years of professional hockey spent in the AHL. But while both are undeniably nice stories — minor-league fodder given surprise chances to change their stars — the story only stays happy for as long as the players are competent in their new roles. And while neither Alt nor O’Neill stood out like the top-four defenseman for Philadelphia did, they held their own.

Alt was the more impressive of the two, unsurprising considering his NHL experience advantage over O’Neill and the simple fact that Alt was the first recall by the Flyers, implying that the front office views him as a better defenseman. His score-adjusted Corsi For Percentage was a perfectly-acceptable 49.99%, and he easily cleared 50 percent in xG. As for O’Neill, his advanced metrics were not so good, as he ended up with a 34.73% by Corsi and a horrid 11.50% by adjusted xG. Still, O’Neill avoided the “big mistake” and even activated a few times in the offensive zone, which was a pleasant surprise. It’s important to remember that both Alt and O’Neill were heavily sheltered and rarely saw time against the Blues’ top two lines. But on the whole, they didn’t prove to be massive liabilities in a one-game sample, and that’s all the Flyers really needed from their AHL recalls.

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Top photo: Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports