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.