By Jack Ryan
Can you imagine how bad the slumping Flyers — who as the Daily News’ Frank Sarevalli points out today are 10 points behind in the playoff race and also 10 points from the bottom of the standings — would be without Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
Certain NHL players — specifically top players — are too often criticized for being “streaky” or too inconsistent.
Players typically get points in bunches with a couple of droughts thrown in the middle, which often leads to the “streaky” label.
The players that are able to consistently put up points without an extended drought of more than three or four games are a very rare exception and usually limited to the top 10 or so players in the league, if that. And even then, they are still prone to the occasional lengthy drought.
Halfway through the 2014-15 season, let’s look at the top scorers in the NHL and see which ones have done the best job at consistently producing points:
| PLAYER | GAMES WITH POINT | TOTAL GAMES | PERCENTAGE OF GAMES WITH POINT | LONGEST POINTLESS STREAK |
| Jakub Voracek(Flyers) | 29 | 39 | 74.3 | 2 |
| Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) | 29 | 39 | 74.3 | 3 |
| Claude Giroux(Flyers) | 28 | 38 | 73.6 | 1 |
| Rick Nash (New York Rangers) | 26 | 36 | 72.2 | 3 |
| Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks) | 27 | 38 | 71.0 | 2 |
| Mark Giordano (Calgary Flames) | 28 | 40 | 70.0 | 3 |
| Tyler Johnson (TampaLightning) | 27 | 39 | 69.2 | 3 |
| Jiri Hudler (Calgary Flames) | 27 | 39 | 69.2 | 4 |
| Tyler Seguin (Dallas Stars) | 25 | 37 | 67.5 | 3 |
| Henrik Sedin (Vancouver Canucks) | 25 | 37 | 67.5 | 3 |
| Mike Ribeiro (Nashville Predators) | 25 | 37 | 67.5 | 3 |
| Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks) | 26 | 39 | 66.7 | 4 |
| Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues) | 26 | 39 | 66.7 | 3 |
| Ryan Johansen (Columbus Blue Jackets) | 24 | 36 | 66.7 | 3 |
| Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) | 25 | 38 | 65.7 | 2 |
Look at the Flyers’ duo of Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek at the top. To say they are doing everything they can to carry their team is an understatement. If only their seasons were not being wasted on a team that is being sucked into a black hole of defensive incompetence. For as good as they have been, though, they are still probably due for a four- or five-game slump in the second half.
