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.