Some thoughts on Flyers’ Florida trip

A few things to take away from the Flyers’ two-game road swing through Florida:

1. Friday night’s 5-3 win at Tampa ended a 12-game (0-10-2) post-Christmas week winless drought which extended back three-plus seasons. Maybe the Flyers cut back on the egg nog this year.
2. After watching his team give only about a 10-minute effort (the last 10 minutes) in a 3-2 loss at Florida on Thursday night, coach Dave Hakstol made some lineup changes for Tampa, benching defenseman Travis Sanheim and forward Taylor Leier in favor of Brandon Manning and Jori Lehtera. The Flyers seemed to respond to the changes.
3. Brian Elliott is going to finish December with the most minutes of any NHL goaltender, which makes one wonder if a 32-year-old can maintain good health in the second half of the season. The Tampa game was his 13^th straight start.
4. Jake Voracek became only the 19^th player in Flyers history to reach the 400-point mark and he’s got a lot of years left. . .at least on his contract.
5. One could make a case for Sean Couturier being the Flyers first-half MVP, if not for Elliott. Couturier has already set a career high for goals (18, the old mark was 15) and is just two points away from setting a career-high in that department (current mark 39). He had another three-point game against Tampa, giving him four of those since last March. Prior to that? Three for his entire career.
6. Manning has his faults but the Flyers just seem to have a little more snarl when he’s in the lineup. Just ask Connor McDavid. Manning comes back from a 10-game injury break and scores the game-winner on a wrap-around that would make Mike Gartner proud.