Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres game 7

After seven long games, the Flyers finally pulled it off. They made it through their first round in the playoffs. After a rough start to the series, the team managed to pull themselves together and play like they used to in the beginning of the season. This was the first game seven played at home in eight years. With weak starts to most of the games this series, this game started off strong. Brayden Couburn started off the game with the first goal. After that, it was nothing but Flyers. The next three goals were from Flyers Briere, Van Riemsdyk, and Leino. Until the beginning of the third period, it looked like there could have been a shutout for Brian Boucher. Until, that is, the first goal was scored by the Sabres. Dan Carcillo came back with a vengeance in the third period. After keeping his cool after an uncalled, illegal hit from Ryan Miller in the second period, he hit back in the right way by scoring the fifth goal of the game and getting Miller pulled from the game for the first time in his whole playoff career. Chris Pronger was also back for these last two games after his hand injury as, as the announcers called it, a "power play specialist". He certainly proved to be somewhat of that because the Flyers scored two goals on the power plays. The Flyers certainly played like their old selves tonight and hopefully they can keep it up for their next round. The Flyers do not yet know their next opponent. If the Canadiens win, they will play the winner of the Tampa Bay and Pittsburg game. If the Bruins win against the Canadiens, the Flyers will play the Bruins. Both series are tied at 3 and are going to game seven. Hoping for the best!
Note: The Flyers became the first team in 23 years to win the series with three goalies. I wonder if that's an accomplishment?

Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres game 5

The game started out even more depressive than normal with three goals given up by Brian Boucher. Needless to say, he was pulled within the first period. However, instead of the usual backup goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, an old friend came back into goal: Michael Leighton. With several players out of the picture tonight (including Jeff Carter, Andreas Nodl, and Chris Pronger who is still out with his hand injury), the Flyers certainly had their work cut out for them. They came back with a vengeance in the second period out-shooting the Sabres 15-5 and scoring twice on goalie Ryan Miller. The goals were scored by two unusual prospects: James Van Reimsdyk and Andre Mezaros. With an intense second period under their belt, a great third period was expected. And as expected, a great third period it was. Danny Briere scored the third goal to tie the game three minutes into the period. Within the last two minutes of the game, the Flyers went on the power play and Laviolette used his famous time out. The Flyers fought hard for their last goal to put it over the edge but, unfortunately, they did not get that. The game went into the first overtime in the series. Five minutes into the overtime period, the Sabres managed to beat Michael Leighton on a rebound shot for the Sabres to win the game 4-3. They now lead the series 3-2. The Flyers need to win the next game in order to bring it to the 7th, and final, game. Without a win in the sixth game, the Sabres will take the series and the Flyers will be the next team to be knocked out of the playoffs.

Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres game 1

As the first playoff game of the season was underway, it looked promising for the Flyers. They seemed to "turn on the switch" so to speak. From the start, it was obvious that it was going to be a very physical game. Players were throwing themselves to block shots and other players. Both teams went to extreme lengths to prevent scoring and protect their goalies. Even though the first two period were scoreless, there was a good amount of penalties and power plays. To start out, the Sabres' goalie, Ryan Miller, pushed Mike Richards and then proceeded to put him in a head lock (with no penalty of course). It did turn out that Mike Richards and another Sabre, not Ryan Miller, got the penalties to make it a 4-on-4. During that big chance, James Van Riemsdyk hits the post and misses the rebound. Towards the middle of the second period the Flyers had a big chance with a 5-on-3 power play. With a time out called by Peter Laviolette, it looked like they were going to score the first goal of the game. They, unfortunately, did not. During the whole game, the Flyers were outshooting the Sabres. They played a defensive game very well and protected Bobrovsky at all costs. They slipped, however, at one point with not covering the one person that recovered the rebounded puck and scored the only goal of the game. There was a definite difference in the way the Flyers were playing tonight compared to how they have been playing. The good news is that this was only the first game out of a possible seven. The Flyers need to win four games in order to go to the next round. Hopefully they can keep up this physical play and keep the pressure on Ryan Miller for a possible score. Chris Pronger is still day-to-day with his hand injury and will hopefully be back for this first round against Buffalo. The next game is Saturday 5 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center.

Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres

For the first time all season, the Flyers have lost four games in a row. Yet again, the game started off looking promising with the Flyers scoring the first goal of the game and ending the first period with a score of 1-0. Even after a goal by the Sabres, the Flyers scored two within a few seconds of each other. The game was tied in the third, however, which brought the game into overtime. There was too many overturned passes, defensive mistakes, and missed shots. Too many times to count, the Flyers could have raised the score, and maybe even won, but the shot hit the post, went wide, or deflected out of play. The "talk of the town" before the game tonight was that Danny Briere playing at his best due to the fact that the Sabres were his old team and that he just recovered from "a lower body injury". While he did score a goal and received an assist, it most definitely was not one of his best games. Kris Versteeg got a shorthanded goal tonight and than backed that with tripping and missing passes. Once again, the game could have been much worse had it not been for Sergei Bobrovsky. In my mind, there was not really any stand-out stars during this game. Especially not from who we usually hear from; players such as Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. Hopefully Chris Pronger gets well soon because defense needs some serious help. At the beginning of this game, the Flyers were in second place for the conference. In order to get back to the first seed, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed to lose (they won) and the Flyers needed to win (they lost). The game tomorrow will decide if the Flyers will drop down to a dreaded fourth place, or keep their second place (in order to get back to first, they would have needed to win this game and the next game). Everyone hoped that because the Flyers finally lost their first seed spot, that the sense would get knocked back into them. Obviously not. One can only hope that they get the sense knocked back into them before the playoffs start on Wednesday.
*note: if Flyers lose tomorrow and drop down to fourth, they will have to play the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Flyers have lost three out of four meetings with them this season.

Flyers vs Ottawa Senators

Yet another important, yet disappointing game for the Flyers. With Bobrovsky being in net for the past few games (most likely because he will be the playoff goalie), it has not been only his fault for the losses. Defense has been faulty and offense almost not there to score. This is the fourth game in a row that the Flyers have lost and most people are hoping that it has to do something with the playoffs. Either the team is preserving their energy so they can be at the top of their game for the playoffs, or the Flyers' season is going to end very quickly and very badly. It was made official today that Michael Leighton (previous goalie for the Flyers that was sent down to the AHL) is being brought up on waivers, meaning that he can be played but can also go back down to the AHL at any time. What does this mean for Bob and Booch? I guess we have to wait any find out.
The game started out like it was going to be promising with Flyers player Mike Richards scoring the first goal of the game, which was surprisingly on a power play. Towards the end of the period the Senators scored to tie the game at one. The second period, particularly the end, was probably the most exciting. Mike Richards scored yet another power play goal, Senators scored on a power play, and then the Senators scored on a breakaway (which was mainly the fault of Mezaros and Timonen) all within five minutes making the score 3-2. To add insult to injury to Bobrovsky, the beginning of the third started out with a goal from the Senators. However, without the help of Bobrovsky, the game could have been much, much worse. The game ended with an empty net goal to make the final score 5-2.
After the score was 3-2, it was almost certain in my mind that the game was over. The whole team seems to be playing lazily, effortlessly, and just plain sloppily. The games have been boring for the most part, and this isn't the time for the team to be getting into a slump. They have officially dropped down to second place in the Eastern Conference and only seem to be going down from there. I hope that Chris Pronger is back early into the playoffs so hopefully there can be a defense again. I do have some hope, however, that this is just a way for the team to stay in shape for the playoffs and that they will be back to the team we know and love when playoff time comes.

Flyers vs Pittsburgh Penguins

This game showed more of the old time Flyers. While the Penguins scored first, the game ended with a score of 5-2. A lot of effort was put out by the whole team, goalie included. Bobrovsky had a total of 25 saves, and only let two in early in the game. There was a strong effort as far as shooting goals, which is probably why they won the game. They may not have been very organized, but they didn't need to be. Jeff Carter got the Flyers on the board and tied the game at one. Even though the Penguins scored again, the Flyers had the next, and last, four goals with Ville Leino having two of them. What happens when Ville shoots more instead of just passing? He scores more, a lot more. Common knowledge would say that he should shoot more, so lets hope he does. Bobrovsky made some extremely good saves, probably saving the game. At one point, he made three saves right in a row and kept the Flyers in the lead. Not only was defense defending better but the offense was playing more aggressively which resulted in the five goals. No doubt that this game was payback for their 2-1 shootout loss during the last game. It was also a low penalty game, but the Flyers still managed to score a powerplay goal for once. Overall, I felt that they played more like the team they were early in the season and I hope that they can play more like this during the playoffs instead of the way they have been playing.

Flyers vs New York Islanders

The Flyers seem to be back to their old selves this game, for now anyway. The game could have gone either way with the Islanders being at the bottom of the Eastern conference, but playing hard. The game started out with two fights in the first minute of the game from the team bullies Dan Carcillo and Sean O'Donnell. Soon after, Jeff Carter started the game off with the first goal. And only 22 seconds after that, another goal by James Van Reimsdyk. The game looked promising for a win and maybe even a shutout. That dream was diminished, however, when the Islanders got their first and only goal of the game. The eventful first period ended with another goal by Van Reimsdyk. You could tell it was going to be just one of those games with the Flyers getting four penalties in the first period, two of them being for fighting. The Flyers ended with 7 penalties, 3 being for fighting, and the Islanders ended with 5, with 3 being for fighting and one being for misconduct. Van Reimsdyk got his first career hat trick in the third period and ended the game with 4-1. Many of the saves by Bobrovsky kept the game within 2 or 3 points. It was surprising to me that he played so well considering he just played in the last game on Tuesday and usually does not do as well in his second game. Hopefully, this is how the Flyers will play in the playoffs and will not have every game go into overtime like they have been doing lately.

Flyers vs Pittsburgh Penguins

After a terrible first two periods last game against the Capitals, Coach Laviolette made a risky decision to put in Sergei Bobrovsky. However, he did make an amazing save on a breakaway. Without their two superstars (Crosby and Malkin), it must be very hard for the Penguins, considering that the whole team relies on those two players. With five minutes left in the first, Mike Richards scores a goal on Marc-Andre Fleury which, as he says, is very rare for him. The first period ends with a bad call from the refs on Nodl for goaltender interference and a score of 1-0. The Penguins come back for an unfortunate goal on their powerplay, which they shouldn't even have gotten in the first place. The Flyers only get their second power play of the game and, with no surprise, did not score. Even with it being a low penalty game, Giroux gets a penalty. Bobrovsky made another amazing save, laying down in front of almost the whole net. He does well to keep the game tied at 1 at the end of the second. During the first half of the third period, the offense decided that it was time to take a nap while the Penguins offense decided to step up. Therefore, the Flyers defensemen were forced to step up their game as well. Even with a lot of pressure from both teams during the last period, the game still went into overtime for the fourth game in a row. Not only was it the fourth consecutive overtime, but the fourth consecutive shootout. In my opinion, going into this many shootouts and overtimes this close to the playoffs is a little bit ridiculous. They need to start playing harder and winning in regulation because tonight ended in another loss because of a shootout. The playoff season is looking grim for the Flyers if they keep playing like this. They lost 3 out of their last 4 shootouts and the team's record is tarnished once again. Up until this game, the team was 100% for all their games whenever Mike Richards scored. The team has 9 games to go before the playoffs and they better start resorting back to winning in regulation because they won't survive.

Flyers vs Dallas Stars

Another big game for the Flyers tonight for their second away game. After a very disappointing loss during the last game (a shootout loss of 4-3), the team seems to be more on top of their game. I have no doubt in my mind that they got a good screaming at from their coach and that may have got through their thick heads. No surprise that Jeff Carter got the first goal of the game and Mike Richards getting the second for the Flyers. It was also a very low penalty game which means not a lot of power play scoring chances (but hey, they never score on the power play anyway so what's the difference). Bobrovsky in net and making some amazing, almost miraculous saves. On one shot, he managed to get to the side of the net and while nobody else knew where it was, he managed to cover. Bobrovsky is a very good goaltender but needs more than one game to get his game legs back. When he has a few days to recover he can make some of the most amazing saves that surprises everyone (there wasn't even a question that he was the one with the save of the game tonight). Most people probably thought that this was going to be the first shut out of the season. Such a disappointment from Giroux tonight, especially when he missed a shot by hitting the post on a practically open net from a rebound. Because of that miss, the Stars were able to score within the last 5 minutes to tie the game. This was the third time in four games that the game did not end in regulation, and not only overtime but another shootout (the second in two games!). Claude Giroux made the first goal and almost made up for his miss earlier in the game. Amazingly, after a full 7 rounds in the shootout, Ville Leino makes the winning goal and the game finally ended. I don't know if I can take much more of the suspense from the Flyers, they need to start winning in regulation! The importance of this game was that with this win, no matter what happens, they can not lose their playoff spot. The next game is against the Capitals on March 22.

Flyers vs Florida Panthers

At the start of the season, it was all about the Flyers being a "third period team". Lately, however, they have been scoring early on in the game and then losing their stamina after the second and becoming more of a second period team. You can tell in this game because there was three goals in the first period, only one of which belonged to the Flyers. The second period turned over with the Flyers having the only two goals (both by Jeff Carter to be exact). This game was especially crucial in order for the Flyers to keep their number one spot in the Eastern Conference with the Capitals only one point behind. Lately the team as a whole has been slacking, probably because they have held the number one spot for quite a while now. With it being crunch time for the playoffs, most of the teams are stepping up their game to secure a spot while the Flyers seem to be, for lack of a better word, careless. Their lack of effort can be seen during almost every game including the last one when the Flyers were leading 4-1 (courtesy of a hat trick from Ville Leino) and then all of a sudden it was in overtime and they lost 4-5. When they are in the lead, all that needs to be done is to maintain, and they can't even seem to do that anymore. Defense is slipping, along with effort from both goaltenders. Certainly, Chris Pronger being injured doesn't help but he is definitely not the whole team and they should be able to deal without him.
This game was certainly better than the last, with defense stepping up, Boucher making some good saves, and players-especially Leino-seeming to get a boost of confidence as far as scoring with a win of 3-2. Since the Capitals also won their game tonight, they are still only one point behind the Flyers in standings. This time until the playoffs should be interesting to say the least.

Flyers vsToronto Maple Leafs

The team took on the Maple Leafs for round two in the past two weeks. Since Bobrovsky lost the game against the Leafs last time, Brian Boucher started in net. The game started out both bad and good for the Flyers. Carcillo was cross-checked into the boards and possible got hurt. The good thing that came out of that was a 5 minute powerplay from that hit and the guy that hit Carcillo getting kicked out of the game. For once, the Flyers scored on their power play to make it 1-0 from Andrej Mezaros! While the power play would usually end after a score, a 5 minute penalty is a major so they still get the other 3 minutes to try and score. Jeff Carter almost making a goal but the refs apparently can't even hear when they blew their own whistle. The second period started out more mellow as far as fights go. Right after another scoreless powerplay, the puck manages to just barely slide past the Toronto goalie to make the score 2-0. Soon after that goal, a Maple Leaf "takes one for the team" by taking a shot off his face and going into the net on a power play (talk about a bad way to lose a shut out). It came as no surprise that Giroux scored the Flyers' third goal of the game to make the end of the second come to a score of 3-1. The third period got intense with the Flyers trying to keep their lead and the Leafs try to score again. Within the first 10 minutes of the game, the Leafs make a great play and score on Brian Boucher. Boucher was faked out by the Leaf's player because Boucher though he was going to shoot it on the ice when he really shot it into the air and right into the top left corner of the net. The end of the game got even more intense when the Leafs got an extra attacker for an empty net. Boucher had the save of the game from flipping himself around to make an amazing glove save. In my opinion, Jeff Carter was the star of the game, obviously working very hard throughout the game and making a goal. The next game is the first day of spring (Saturday) against the Thrashers.

Flyers vs New York Rangers

After a disappointing loss of 5-3 during the last game, the game overall gets off to a bad start. The Rangers scored within the first few minutes and too many penalties to count! It seems that the refs don't know how to pay attention to more than one part of the game at once. A bad penalty was called on Richards for slashing when really it was the goalie that was hitting Richards from behind. Shelly getting a five minute major for fighting and they guy he was fighting with got the same but also got a 10 minute misconduct for mouthing off to the refs. Brian Boucher lets in another goal towards the middle of the period because he was anticipating a pass but the guy shot instead in all of the open space Boucher left in the goal. And the first ended with a 0-2 score favoring the Rangers. The second period went downhill for the Flyers with the Rangers getting two more goals and one of their players even getting a hat trick. As the hats were thrown down on the ice, Laviolette made a goalie change, putting Bobrovsky in net. The second period ended with a score of 0-4 Rangers. Once the Rangers score a fifth time, the game seems to be over. Unfortunately the game was not over. The Rangers went on to score yet again to make the score 0-6. The game gets even more embarrassing when they give up and let the Rangers score another to make it 0-7. With the loss of this game, the Flyers may drop down from being the first seed in their league, especially if the other two teams below them win their games. The Flyers made a new record, while not a good one, for losing four games in a row. All in all, the Flyers played horribly and were an embarrassment. In order to keep their respect (which they lost most of today) they need to step up their defense, offense, and play overall. The next game is Tuesday against the Oilers. Hoping for the best, considering that the Oilers are so low in the conference, they have no chance of making the playoffs even if they tried their hardest. I hope that Laviolette can do something about this pathetic playing.

Flyers vsToronto Maple Leaf

The team started off the game with an unfortunate penalty. However, they seemed to be playing harder to start out-which they need to considering that they are playing tonight with three of their top players: Carter, Carcillo, and Powe.They come back from having a man down by making one shot and getting two rebounds off of it. Chris Versteeg makes his second goal as a flyer, and against his old team at that. However, Toronto came back within a minute after to overcome Bobrovsky and score. Once again, the Flyers do nothing with their powerplay and the score remained at 1-1. Mezaros got two back to back penalties for slashing and cross checking. Not long after the Flyers killed those two penalties, another penalty comes to Sean O'Donnell for holding. Giroux saved his goalie during that penalty by clearing the zone during a rush around the Flyers' net. The first period ended with a score of 1-1 and a total of FOUR penalties! Chris Pronger back from his injury and showing his skill by having an assist on Versteeg's goal. The game really started getting interesting when Hartnell, who never usually gets into fights, decided to drop his gloves and go at it. Given, he "lost", but at least it got the team pumped up for the rest of the second period. Versteeg makes his second goal of the game with ANOTHER assist by Richards! Is this a new, developing line for Peter Laviolette? I guess we have to wait and find out. Somehow Mezaros ends up in the box for the third time of the game roughing (maybe the refs have a little grudge against him?). When the team got a penalty for too many men on the ice, that gave Toronto the opportunity to score right off the faceoff while they were on the powerplay. Only three minutes into the third period the Flyers go to a two man advantage, which once again they do nothing with. I think Peter Laviolette needs to work on his strategies for when they are on a powerplay. Just four minutes left in the third and Toronto makes the puck past Bobrovsky to make the score 3-2 Toronto which sealed the deal. This is the first time since December that the Flyers have lost consecutive games. Kris Versteeg was no doubt the star of this game with the only two goals with Bobrovsky needing some work after this game. The team needs to work on setups for when they are on powerplays and need to not get so many penalties considering they had 8 and Toronto had half of that. The next game is against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Flyers vs New York Islanders

The game started off with a puck getting by Bobrovsky in the first few minutes of the game with such a good shot, he didn't even know that it went by him. Jeff Carter soon got a penalty for hooking which the Flyers killed. Bobrovsky kept it at 1-0 at the end of the 1st by making a glove save off a 1-on-1. Mike Richards starts off the second period right with a goal fired from the circle. Leino making a break for it almost had a 1-on-1 with the goalie but was tripped up by an Islander at the last second. JVR makes the third goal of the game with an assist by-no surprises here-Giroux and Carter. Needless to say this is a line that Peter Laviolette should keep. Giroux was all over the puck after that goal: checking someone to get him off the puck and laying down on the ice to help stop the shot on Bobrovsky. During the third period, the Giroux-Carter-VanRiemsdyk line on again and Carter gets the third goal for the Flyers with an assist by veteran Sean O'Donnell. However, shortly after the defense slipped up a bit and the Islanders score to make it 3-2. Unfortunately no defense was around the net to help out Bobrovsky. Not too long after, the Flyers get their first power play of the game. The Flyers showed good pressure during the power play but the Islanders killed that power play by playing defense well. Soon after the power play ended Bobrovsky made a good play when the puck got stuck in the net (on the back of course) and he swung his stick around and covered. With the end in sight for the Flyers, the Islanders decide on an empty net to get an extra attacker and manage to score with 27 seconds left in the period. During overtime play the Flyers kept pressure and Ville Leino decided to hold the puck instead of shooting and then passed it to Mezaros, who seemed to come out of no where, to win the game. The final score was 4-3 for the overtime win.

Note: Nikolay Zherdev has been waived down to the AHL; the game i previously posted on was the third time in Flyers history that they went the whole game without a penalty; Oskars Bartulis will be out for 10-12 weeks for surgery on his shoulder due to the hit he took during the last game

Flyers vs New York Rangers

The Flyers start out their fourth game on the road in New York. Brian Boucher starts out in net probably due to the fact that the last game at the Hurricanes was lost on the watch of Bobrovsky. The Rangers start off the game with a shot that managed to slip between Boucher's legs and go in. Not long after, the Flyers tie it up with a goal that got through the goalie the same way. Giroux passed to Carter just in time for him to shoot and passed very nicely at that. The game went to the first intermission tied at 1-1. The second period goes slow until the Flyers get a power play ans score in only the first few seconds. Its no surprise that it was Giroux with an assist from Carter who both seem to be on top of their game today. Towards the end of the second Danny Briere had a good try from his signature spot at the corner of the net. But there was a good save and deflection by the goalie and a defense man hitting the puck in the air to get it out of their zone. A surprise came from Carcillo who made the third goal for the Flyers by backhanding it into the net (for even more of a surprise, the goal was unassisted). The Flyers play well in the second with the only 2 goals of the period. The third period starts off a little rough with Boucher getting hit and staying on the ice for awhile but going out with a bang by making three saves. He toughs it out and stays in net but the Rangers take advantage of his injury by scoring and making it 3-2. The rest of the third the Flyers seemed to be burning out while the Rangers seemed to be fired up. Boucher still in the game by making some great saves including one that he caught out of the air, to keep the game at 3-2. Versteeg makes his first goal as a Flyer on an empty net in the last minute of the game to seal the deal. The Flyers win 4-2 with, in my opinion, Giroux being one of the stars of the game with great assists, passes, and one goal.

Flyers vs Tampa Bay Lightning

With the fourth and last meeting between the two teams (not to mention the number one spot in the eastern conference on the line), its no wonder that the game was intense.  The beginning started out slow with the Lightning out-shooting the Flyers by about an eight point margin but the Flyers with the only goal at the end of the first period from NJ's own James Van Riemsdyk.  Only in the first minute of the second did the Lightning come back for a goal.  Hartnell made it 2-1; Powe's penalty shot (I guess the Lightning like to play dirty when they're losing?) made it 3-1.  Both teams seem to be extra aggressive with the Flyers getting 6 penalties and the Lightning with 5.  Amazingly, Boucher had 12 shots against him in the first period and he did not let a single goal in.  The game switched gears in the second period with the Flyers out-shooting the Lighting by a 9 point margin.  The exciting news is that the Flyers' new player (Kris Versteeg) is playing tonight and showing his aggressive side by doing a little pushing and shoving but with no penalties; nothing spectacular so far.  We can only hope that he lives up to his expectations and was worth giving up the first and third round draft pick this year.  A lot of good shots made but, generally, there was too much traffic around the net.  Despite great pressure by the Flyers during the last few minutes of the third, the game went into overtime.  Both teams put up tremendous effort during overtime and even though there was a few very close shots, the game went into a shootout.  After an extremely long game and a 7 shot shootout, the Flyers win 4-3 for the first time this season against the Lightning!
Note: James Van Reimsdyk earned the Bud Light player of the game tonight.

Flyers vs LA Kings

The first period started out aggressively with a lot of scoring chances for the Flyers and defensive plays by the Kings.  No surprise that Carcillo went to the box in the first 3 minutes for fighting with, ironically, number 13 from the other team (Clifford).  Danny Briere with a penalty for tripping with about 4 minutes left and came back with a vengeance, almost scoring a goal.  Flyers end with 15 shots on the Kings and Bobrovsky with 12 saves.  Let's not forget the ref getting hit in the forehead with the puck from a deflection off a Flyer's stick (even though it seems like he held it against them).  The second period was a little more eventful with a breakaway from the Kings and a split-save by Bobrovsky (no surprise that it was named the save of the game), a power play for the Flyers, and a fight between Jody Shelley and a King's player.  Although Bob let a goal go in only the first few seconds of the period, he had a lot of good saves and his flexibility obviously pays off.  Another penalty for the Kings for too many men on the ice (back to back) sends the Flyers to the power play.  Even though the Kings got another penalty and the Flyers got a 5-on-3, they could NOT keep the puck and the 5-on-3 quickly disappeared, along with the other power play, without a goal.  The third period starts out with a penalty on the Kings for tripping with which the Flyers do nothing with their advantage, again.  The Flyers get another chance for a goal, but Briere was pushed out of the way by a Kings player and unfortunately there was no penalty called.  Another bad call on the ref's part by not calling a boarding call when Chris Pronger's head went into the boards (a big potential for injury).  Not only did they not make that call, they call against Pronger for roughing (Pronger showed his frustration by slamming his stick against the glass of the penalty box).
Once again, nobody around the net after the puck is blocked in order to get the rebounds.  Plenty of chances to get a rebound goal, but nobody was there to shoot it so the King's defense got the chance to get  a stick on the puck and shoot it out of the zone.  This happened too many times to count, which needs to stop or at least decrease some.  Defense was well played throughout the game.  However, you can have all the defense you want, but if there is no offense to score the goals, you can't win.  The refs certainly did not help the team because near the end there was about 4 penalties that were conveniently not seen by the officials.  The Flyers certainly did try because Jonathan Quick had a big 40 saves throughout the game.  Hopefully they can step it up a little for the game against the Lightning on Tuesday.

Flyers vs Carolina Hurricanes

First Period: The team is playing against the all-star Eric Staal (named the captain of one of the all-star teams).  The Flyers had the past 4 days off and will start with Brian Boucher in net.  Generally, the team tends not to do as well when they have such a long period off.  However, the team started the game off aggressive with some good plays.  With a power play in only the first 2 minutes of the game from a high stick (maybe the Hurricanes are a little bitter from their last meeting in which the Flyers won 8-1?). Flyers had a lot of shots but not a lot of GOOD shots, which is essential.  Claude Giroux had  a good shot but nobody was there to pick up the rebound when it bounced off the goalie.  More people  need to be around the net in order to get these rebounds so there is a chance of scoring.  Despite the power play for the Hurricanes and the Flyers out-shooting them, the first period remained 0-0.
Second Period: Another good try by Giroux in the first minute but once again, not enough people for the rebound.  A power play for the flyers didn't go so well when Timonen got a penalty and made it a 4 on 4.  Defense and Boucher had a great penalty kill by blocking shot and plays.  With 7 minutes left in the 2nd, Laviolette calls one of his famous time outs which obviously didn't work because Mike Richards went to the penalty box for 2 minutes for slashing.  Not to mention Briere getting a penalty for hooking, even though it was countered with Ruutu getting a penalty.  The period ended scoreless, again.
Third Period: Jeff Carter started off the period right with the first goal of the game with an assist by Richards and Pronger.  Pronger showing his aggressive side again by getting a slashing penalty shortly after the goal.  The penalty was killed well with Boucher making good saves and keeping the lead.  The power play goes to the flyers after a retaliation on Coburn from rookie Skinner from the Hurricanes (even though there should be have been a 5 on 3, but the refs sometimes conveniently don't see things that would give the flyers an advantage).  Another power play for the flyers makes it the 5th this game.  First power play goal of the game scored by Danny Briere with a good passing setup by Giroux and Hartnell (Briere is now one of the NHL leaders in terms of goals with 27).  Only a few seconds later the Hurricanes scored making the game 2-1 and diminishing his dreams of the first shutout of the season.

Recap: Overall, the team played a lot better than they usually do when they have a long break.  Giroux's name was heard a lot this game but not too much from the other big names except for the goals by Carter and Giroux.  One of the problems that should be addressed is that there needs to be more forwards by the opposing net to get rebounds.  Lets hope the defense can cover more players so they don't have time to set up and score, so maybe, just maybe, one of the goalies can get the first shutout for the flyers (hopefully its Boucher because he had a great game with 29 saves).  Next game is Sunday against the LA Kings.

Flyers vs Tampa Bay Lightning

So, I tuned into the game towards the end of the second period and I thought what?!  The score was 3-0 with the Lightning leading!  I had NO idea what happened.  Turns out that Bobrovsky let in all 3 goals just in the first period.  Needless to say, it was a good move on Peter Laviolette's part to put Brian Boucher in net. 
Not to mention the team doesn't even look like they are trying tonight.  With about 1-2 minutes left in the second, i saw a pass to Briere that he got, and tried to pass and somehow he hit the puck into a Tampa player about three times and then the Tampa player stole the puck for a breakaway.  Apparently Briere lost all his energy at the All-star game this weekend?  No one of the team seems to have energy, none of that Flyers spirit.  At least Boucher got the Southwest save of the game.  He blocked a shot from his ex-teammate Simon Gagne, lost the puck, then seemingly flung himself across the net to cover the puck and avoid a rebound shot.
Like the announcers said, why is Tampa Bay shutting out the highest scoring team in the league?  I have to say, this is definitely one of the more boring Flyers games I have ever watched.  It even seemed like my seven month old nephew was screaming at the TV telling them to step up their game (he watches the games with me).  The Flyers have yet to beat the Lightning during the regular season, but they still have one more game against them this season, so lets hope for the best.
Thursday I will be at the Wells Fargo Center watching the game live and in action against the Nashville Predators.  I'm HOPING that they play better than they did tonight so we actually have a good game to watch and cheer for.  Let's hope I can get back in time to post about it!

Flyers vs Canadiens

Ok, so I can't really post my opinion too much on this game about how they played because I only got to see the last 5 minutes of the game.  But just from the 5 minutes I seen, they were DEFINITELY playing better than last game.  So here are the stats: Giroux with only one goal, but hey, he's an all-star anyway so that's ok.  Chris Pronger with 4 assists and some good defensive moves, so remind me again why he's not an all-star?  Can't forget about Carter and Timonen starting it off with the first 2 goals, both with assists by Pronger and Richards.  Danny Briere with the final open net goal sealing the deal, no doubt that he deserves to be in the all-stars.  Let's hope Carcillo learned his learned his lesson by being scratched the last few games because he came back with a goal but he really needs to cut back on the fighting (due to the fact that he got 10 minutes for misconduct).  The whole team needs to cut back on penalty minutes.  Twenty-eight minutes is just TOO much time for the other team to score on a power play.  But it's the one-thousandth home game win!!!!!  Very exciting!  The team is heading to Florida next to play against the Lightning and their ex-teammate Simone Gagne on Feb 1.  Let's hope for another away win so they can keep their stats as one of the highest winning away teams in the league AND secure their FIRST place in the league over the Vancouver Canucks!

ps, I just saw 2 guys painted ALL orange with orange hats and everything, ha!

New!

On this blog, I will be talking about each game/player and how I think they are doing.  I'll talk about how they are doing in general as a team, some of the best players, and any player that I think is doing exceptionally well or exceptionally bad.  So, enjoy!