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!