The Flyers ability to kill penalties has been cited as one of the main reasons for their solid start. Of course, it’s doubly important for the Flyers to be good on the penalty kill because they’re so often penalized…
The Flyers aren’t just killing off penalties, they’re scoring on the penalty kill. The team seems to attribute their knack for scoring short handed to assistant coach Craig Berube.
"Chief (Berube) gives us free reign to go up ice when we want to," said captain Mike Richards, who leads all NHL players in shorthanded goals during the past four years with 20. "(Giroux) is a very smart player when he wants to jump and he sees the ice so well. I think we catch a lot of teams complacent. We watch video on teams every morning and we try to make sure to look at their breakout and learn what their tendencies are and exploit that a little bit. In games, if we can create one or two opportunities, they could count."
Peter Laviolette echoed Richard’s assessment.
"There’s been a lot of opportunities," Peter Laviolette said. "I know we’ve talked a lot about looking for a break up ice or in zone, players are doing an excellent job, but Craig Berube is tremendous at getting the point across of what we need to do each night. His guidance and instruction and the players’ execution has been excellent."
The Chief certainly spent plenty of time in his playing days in the penalty box watching his team kill off a penalty... maybe that's how he got so adept at picking apart a power play...