On the Ice with Isaac: Secondary Scoring, Steve Mason and More

PHILADELPHIA – It seems like it’s nothing unordinary now for Sean Couturier to be finding the back of the net regularly.

With his goal in the Flyers’ 5-1 win over Carolina Saturday, he now has points in six consecutive games, tying a career-high streak.

Just before that, the Flyers’ checking-line center was the not-so-proud owner of a seven-game pointless streak.

“Personally I wasn't satisfied with my effort (or) with my game,'' Couturier said. "I just tried to get back to the basics in my game, work hard, try to work hard in practice. I mean, you finally get rewarded in games. You just have to build on that and keep going.”

It’s not just Couturier, either.

Fifteen of the Flyers’ last 19 goals have come from players not named Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek. That’s pretty impressive considering Voracek entered Saturday night’s action as the NHL’s scoring leader. He had a goal and an assist in the Flyers’ win, their second in as many games.

Giroux isn’t far behind at fifth in the league in points with 34.

There’s probably a strong correlation to the fact that the Flyers have had secondary scoring recently and they have now notched points in the standings in five straight games.

“I don’t think a lot of the guys were shooting the puck,” said Wayne Simmonds, who has five goals in his last five games. “Everyone’s starting to shoot the puck now. When you get shots on net, you’re gonna get second and third opportunities. That’s when you’re gonna score. If you only take one shot and there’s no traffic in front, the goalie’s gonna smother it or you’re gonna be done. You can’t be one and done. You’ve got to have second opportunities and third opportunities. I think that’s happening now.”

The Flyers put only 23 shots on Carolina Anton Khudobin Saturday, dropping their shots-per-game average to 29.6.

Recently, coach Craig Berube has preached getting more pucks on net.