Two former teammates square off, Aaron Asham v Cam Janssen. Asham keeps it classy at the end with a respectful tap on the helmet. I’d call it a draw.
Right after David Backes made it 3-0, the Captain tried to give his team some jump by taking on Dan Hinote. A couple early shots by Richie added to the take down probably give him the edge in this one.
The Flyers were outworked, outhit, and outscored 4-0 by the Blues tonight in St. Louis.
Possible Excuses
I don’t care. You just lost 4-0 to the worst team in the Western Conference. That cannot happen. Period.
B&P’s Take: The Blues just beat the Flyers in every aspect of the game tonight. Chris Mason was astonishing, stop all 36 of the Flyers shots. Antero Niittymaki wasn’t bad either, but the rest of the team didn’t hustle in front of him.
When you go 0-for-11 on the power play, you don’t win. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. The special teams, or lack thereof, lost the Flyers the game tonight.
The Blues are a young team with a lot of talent, and if they were fully healthy, they’d be threatening to make the playoffs. They’re a physical team, and boy did they take it to the Flyers tonight.
The flu keeping Jones and Coburn out meant Luca Sbisa and Lasse Kukkonen both got a chance to play. The pairing of Sbisa and Matt Carle was a minus-2.
The officials were busy tonight, and it didn’t help that one of the linesmen went down with an illness before the game. It was interesting watching two refs and a linesman try to officiate the game, though… especially one that featured 23 minor penalties.
This game sucked. I’m done talking about it. Forget it, move on. Three full days to focus on Boston.
Questions With Answers
1. Do the Flyers focus on St. Louis or do they play like they’re looking ahead to Boston? It certainly didn’t look like it. They just didn’t play well tonight at all. As soon as the Blues scored that first goal, which came immediately after they killed a two-minute-long Flyer 5-0n-3, you had a feeling it was going to be a rough night.
2. The Flyers lead the league with 52 fights, but St. Louis isn’t far behind with 43 (fourth in the NHL). Cam Janssen is the Blues leading tough guy. Former teammate of Aaron Asham. Sounds like a fight to me? It certainly was a fight, and it was a good one. I’d call it a draw but it was a little unfortnate the stripes jumped in so early. I’ll throw up the video when it pops up on the YouTubes.
3. Mike Richards broke out of a little slump last night with three big points. What’s he do for an encore? Well, he got in a second period fight with Dan Hinote to try to boost his team. It didn’t work, but at least he tried.
Comprehensive playoff update, as well as a roundup of the rest of the action in the NHL tonight after the jump…
Philadelphia Flyers (26-13-9, 61 pts) at St. Louis Blues (19-24-4, 42 pts)
Scottrade Center - 8:30 PM EST - St. Louis, MO
TV: CW57 (HD?), Fox Sports Midwest HD
Radio: 94.1 WYSP FM, XM 208
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: St. Louis Game Time
What To Watch For: The Blues? They’re a hockey team?
Seriously, it’s hard to get up for a game when the team you’re playing is a) the worst team in the Western Conference and b) a team you play once every nineteen years. The Flyers and Blues haven’t met since February of 2007 and they haven’t played a game in St. Louis since 2005. Crazy.
But let’s hope the Flyers do get up for this one, because it’s very similar to last night. There can be no looking ahead to Boston tonight, even though we all want to. They need to take care of business against the teams they should be beating, just like they did against Tampa.
The penalties have to stop. St. Louis, for all of their flaws, are a quality power play team — ranked seventh in the NHL and converting at 22 percent. They take a lot of penalties though, too. Compared to the Flyers, who take 18.7 PIM a game, St. Louis takes 16.2. The Flyers lead the league and the Blues are fourth.
St. Louis is coming off of a 3-1 loss to the lowly Ottawa Senators, but before that they took two impressive wins on the road against Chicago and Boston. That’s right. Chicago and Boston.
The Blues cannot be overlooked. They’re led by leading scorer Brad Boyes, who has 20 goals and 17 assists on the season. Keith Tkachuk, Patrik Berglund, and David Backes are also scoring threats.
They’re also ridiculously injured though. List time:
Yeah, that’ll hurt your chances at success for damn sure. Philly also owns the Blues. How’s 8-1 since 2000 sound? (come to think of it, I think I was at the one loss. check: yup, I was) Five straight wins in St. Louis. The Flyers have outscored the Blues 39-19 in that time. It’s like Niittymaki-on-Atlanta ownage.
It looks good for the Flyers, but I’m sure it did for Boston on the 19th too.
Between the Pipes: Both goalies are kind of up in the air right now. For the Flyers, if you ask me, Niittymaki deserves to play after his performance last night. Ride the hot goalie, as they say. But, with that said, if I were betting money I’d put it on Biron. Stevens uses the logic that, since the Flyers are off until Wednesday after today, sitting Biron would be keeping him out of action for too long. We’ll see in a few hours, I guess.
UPDATE: Antero Niittymaki will go for the Flyers tonight. I was (happily) wrong.
For the Blues, I’m just not sure. It could be Chris Mason or Manny Legace — they basically share the workload. Legace has played in 28 games this season, compiling a 3.21 GAA and a .888 save percentage. Weak. Mason has done a tad bit better, but don’t ask for any trophies, Chris. In 22 games, Mason has a 2.94 GAA and a .905 save percentage. While Mason’s numbers are better, the team sucks when he plays. He’s got a record of 5-14-1, while Legace is 13-9-2. Strange.
Questions To Answer
1. Do the Flyers focus on St. Louis or do they play like they’re looking ahead to Boston?
2. The Flyers lead the league with 52 fights, but St. Louis isn’t far behind with 43 (fourth in the NHL). Cam Janssen is the Blues leading tough guy. Former teammate of Aaron Asham. Sounds like a fight to me?
3. Mike Richards broke out of a little slump last night with three big points. What’s he do for an encore?
A look at the playoff race after the jump…
That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Flyers. The guys waltzed into Tampa and rolled over the Lightning, 6-1. Mike Richards had three points including two goals, and Jeff Carter added two goals himself. Antero Niittymaki made 41 saves to shutdown the Tampa attack.
B&P’s Take: It was a bit of a strange game, with two overturned goals and a penalty shot, but everything went the Flyers way tonight. Mark Recchi DID score on his goal that was reversed (they said he kicked it, he didn’t), but the Steven Stamkos goal that was overturned was tough to argue either way against. The War Room in Toronto has more angles than we do watching on TV though, so these situations are tough to complain about. Why would we, though? They both went in our favor.
And perhaps that helped the Flyers jump out of their cage. It was 1-1 when Rex’s goal was taken away, and it came toward the end of the first period. Philly came out in the second period storming, and Randy Jones scored on the PP to make it 2-1. A few minutes later, Richards scored his second of the night and the Flyers were breaking the game open.
Tampa had a few more chances to get back in it though. They peppered Antero Niittymaki with shots, but the Great Wall of Finland held strong, just as he has in his entire career against the Southeast Division. He’s 19-1-1 against SE teams — unreal. Kimmo Timonen hooked Martin St. Louis on a breakaway about five minutes into the third period and the referees awarded St. Louis a penalty shot. Nitty might’ve gotten a piece of it as it sailed up and over the crossbar. About two minutes later, Stamkos batted in his disallowed goal with a high-stick.
From there on, the Flyers closed the small door Tampa still had open. Carter scored two down the stretch (he passed Ovechkin for the league lead with 32 in the process) and Scott Hartnell added one to help the orange and black to a 6-1 win. It was just what they needed — a strong win against a team they should beat.
Offensively, the Flyers destroyed Tampa. The Lightning defense was pretty much non-existent and Mike Smith had literally no help back in the cage, and the Flyers took advantage.
The only down side for tonight were the penalties, but it’s a serious problem. Thankfully, Tampa isn’t exactly a potent offense, but the Flyers gave them nine powerplays by taking 12 minor penalties. It’s ridiculous and it has to stop.
How overrated was Stamkos in that draft last year, anyway? Man… not impressed.
Also, I don’t miss Steve Downie. At all.
Behind Enemy Lines: Cassie at Bolts Blog has the Tampa perspective on the game.
50 down, only 32 to go….
…
You certainly can’t accuse Tampa Bay’s top line of slacking. Not when those three guys had half the shots for the team. St. Louis had nine shots, Lecavalier eight, and Prospal four. I thought that Prospal had a pretty good game, actually. And St. Louis got a penalty shot attempt, too. Like I’d said, tho, it was one of those games, so they weren’t able to put anything in the net.
But let’s give Niittymaki some credit. I’ve always thought that he was one of the more underrated goaltenders in the league. And he definitely shined in this game.
The Lightning’s defense weren’t helping Smith all that much. And the forwards weren’t helping the defense. The only thing that looked good were their special teams. Which was good, I guess, since they were either on a power play or killing a penalty for a good part of the game.
Questions With Answers
1. Can the Flyers stop taking so many damn penalties? No. It’s bad. Against teams like Boston and Washington and New Jersey, they aren’t getting away with this crap. They’ve got to find a solution and quickly: the Bruins loom on Wednesday.
2. Do the Flyers realize the urgency of this game? It seems that way. Regardless, they got the job done.
3. They should be Tampa. Do they play like they are the better team? They certainly did.
4. The Flyers have always struggled playing in the St. Pete Forum. Is it psychological? It was practically a home game for the Flyers tonight in Tampa… if you watched the game it looked like a whole section to the left of the benches there was an entire section of orange. Clearly, the demons the Flyers usually stuggle with in that building weren’t there tonight.
Playoff race update, after the jump…
Philadelphia Flyers (25-12-9, 59 pts) at Tampa Bay Lightning (17-22-10, 44 pts)
St. Pete Times Forum - 7:30 PM EST - St. Petersburg, FL
TV: CW57 (HD?), Sun Sports
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 206
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: Boltsmag, BoltsBlog
What To Watch For: Tonight’s game, although it’s against one of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams, comes at a crucial time for the Flyers. Coming off of a loss against Florida on Tuesday night, and with New Jersey seemingly unable to lose, and the Flyers staring a daunting home-and-home with Boston right in the face, they need points. Tonight is a key opportunity to do so against a Lightning team that’s had it’s fair share of turmoil this season.
But just because they’ve been the joke of the NHL doesn’t mean they’re complete pushovers. They’re 6-3 in their last nine with wins over Montreal, Buffalo, and the Flyers. That January 15th loss in Tampa is one the Flyers will be trying to avenge this evening.
Martin Biron started that game on the 15th, but Antero Niittymaki will go for the Flyers this evening. Thank God for that, because if you ask me, Marty hasn’t been all that stellar lately and his numbers tell the tale. He hasn’t won a game since January 10th against Toronto.
Tampa played last night and lost to Carolina, 3-2.
Injury Report: Darroll Powe has missed practice the past two days with the flu, so he might be limited tonight. Other than that, it’s the usuals for the Flyers… Briere, Hatcher, Kalinski, and Gratton all out.
Tampa is hurting. Gary Roberts is out with an elbow injury, Marek Malik is sidelined with an ankle problem, and Jamie Heward has a concussion.
Between The Pipes: As mentioned, Niittymaki will go for the Flyers tonight. He’s yet to lose in regulation in 2009. For Tampa it’ll be Mike Smith, and if he were on a better team he’d probably be a Vezina candidate. This guy is that good. He has a .919 save percentage and a 2.53 GAA in 40 games this season for the Lightning.
Questions To Answer
1. Can the Flyers stop taking so many damn penalties?
2. Do the Flyers realize the urgency of this game?
3. They should be Tampa. Do they play like they are the better team?
4. The Flyers have always struggled playing in the St. Pete Forum. Is it psychological?
Playoff Chase: There’s only one other game on the schedule tonight that means anything to us, and that’s Pittsburgh at New Jersey. The Devils are on a tear — seven straight wins, while Pitt is coming off of a big win against the Rangers on Wednesday. A Penguins win could put them tied with Florida for the eighth-spot, but the Panthers still have games in hand. We’re gonna have to cheer for the Pens tonight, as much as it hurts.
A Flyers win and a Jersey loss would put Philadelphia back within four points of the Devils with two games in hand. It would also put the Flyers just one point back of the Rangers with still two games over them. A Devils win and a Flyers loss could be very bad… the Flyers would be eight points back of first place with only those two games in hand.
A bigger game tonight than we may have expected, so let’s hope the team is ready. Go Flyers.
The Panthers returned the favor and beat the Flyers by the same score as the first meeting between these clubs, 3-2. With the loss, the Flyers drop four points behind the Atlantic-leading Devils.
B&P’s Take: The story tonight was penalties, specifically how badly the Flyers were hurt by them.
Simon Gagne high sticked to the face of Jay Bouwmeester. He was slightly cut in the cheek and blood was drawn, giving Florida a four-minute-long man-advantage. David Booth scored on the ensuing power play, which came at a critical time of the game midway through the second period — a period the Flyers were stagnant in — and it put the Flyers in a 3-1 hole.
That infraction came during a stretch where four straight penalties were called against the Flyers, and when you’re spending that much time on the kill, it’s hard to get anything going offensively.
John Stevens had this to say following the game.
“We’ve gotta play the game to the letter of the law. We’ve gotta move our feet, we’ve gotta not put our sticks in a position where the referee is in the position to call a penalty. But we’ve got to stay aggressive. I think if we manage the puck a little better and play in the offensive zone, that’s not really a place where you take penalties.”
The Flyers entered the third period at that same 3-1 score, but they came out firing. Darroll Powe sprung Claude Giroux with a beautiful 90-foot long pass, and the rookie put a shot over the glove hand side of Tomas Vokoun to bring the game within a goal. It was Giroux’s first NHL goal, and I’m sure the first of many we’ll be celebrating over the next few years. Five minutes later, Vokoun was caught out of his net and Mike Richards threw it into the empty cage to tie the score….. or did he?
Arm up. Penalty. Kimmo Timonen, interference on the play for bumping into Keith Ballard in front of the net. It seemed innocent enough, and the players certainly weren’t happy with it.
“I was big time surprised. I saw it on the big screen up top. It’s a little suspect when — and no offense to Kimmo, but when he’s pushing guys around in front and they’re falling like that, well maybe the guy should hit the gym a little bit more. A little bit disappointed, obviously, we could’ve tied the game, it was a big goal. But you’ve gotta understand we’re the Flyers and we’re gonna get those calls called against us sometimes.” – Mike Richards
“Too many penalties, you know. And we’re the Flyers, we’re gonna get penalties, that’s for sure, and sometimes they’re not good ones, sometimes they’re bad ones, and we gotta live with that. I didn’t hit him that hard, he was already in a bad position, he fell down.” — Kimmo Timonen
The players clearly feel like they are being cheated in some regard. John Stevens didn’t comment on that aspect of it, instead deciding to focus on what the team needs to do to help themselves.
“You don’t want you’re team being tentative, but we’ve got the worst plus/minus differential in the league in terms of power plays and it’s taxing on your key people. We’ve had several [road] games where we’ve had one or two power plays the entire game, and you can’t expect to tax your key people the entire game and have that much energy and the end of the game. We’re going to have to look at what’s being called and do our part from having that many penalties called. You can’t continue to take them at that rate.”
Certainly, there is something to what the coach is saying. The PK unit guys get tired when they are constantly fighting off these kills, and it hurts the team in the long run. Whether or not the Flyers are getting an unfair shake, they need to do the little things to help put them out of harms way. Like Stevens said, moving your feet and being careful with your stick and playing in the offensive end. Obviously, the Timonen call was made in the offensive end, but as I said, the Flyers played stagnant and on their heels in the second period, and playing that way is a good way for the opposition to draw penalties.
The Flyers have got to do a better job of not taking their feet off the gas pedal (even for five minutes), because doing that is lazy hockey, which leads to killing more penalties, which leads to a lack of energy when you need to come back late in the game, as happened tonight. Read the rest of this entry »
Philadelphia Flyers (25-12-9, 59 pts) at Florida Panthers (21-17-8, 50 pts)
BankAtlantic Center - 7:30 PM EST - Sunrise, FL
TV: CSN Philly HD, FS Florida
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 209
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: Litter Box Cats
What to Watch For: The Flyers beat the Panthers just 11 days ago in South Florida by a score of 3-2 in a shootout. Simon Gagne was the hero for the Flyers in that one, scoring a power play goal and the only goal in the shootout. The Flyers start off the second half of the season tonight with exactly the same number of points as they had last year at this time.
As we all know, the team collapsed down the stretch, and lost 10 straight games in February. It was a struggle to regain playoff position, but they did make it and played a great stretch of hockey in the playoffs to get to the Conference Finals as the sixth seed. But they know a similar comeback isn’t likely this season, and they can’t afford to put themselves in the position. The Flyers need to continue their first half success into April and the playoffs. There cannot be any layoff this season.
But the last few games have perhaps shown an unsettling pattern. In the previous four games before the all-star break, the Flyers jumped out to an early lead before blowing it later in the game. They cannot afford to give up the lead in a game just as they cannot afford to give up an early lead in the standings. Let’s hope these recent games are not a microcosm of the overall season.
Philly is just two points behind the Devils heading into the night, and with a Devils loss the Flyers can take sole possession of first place. The Rangers also play tonight, and they would have one more point than the Flyers with a win tonight, but they also have two games in hand. New Jersey has also played one more game than the orange and black.
Quoted
“Everybody who was here last year remembers it and what a frustrating time [the losing streak] was. It’s something we can control and something that’s not going to happen again.” — Mike Knuble
Luca Sbisa: The Inquirer is reporting today (h/t to Bill Mason in the comments) that Sbisa made the trip with the club. Scratched in four games and from this Stevens quote it looks like he’s not in the lineup again, unless necessary. “He makes us better by being here,” Stevens said, adding that the defenseman could be used as a forward if the need arises. If the kid is just going to sit around, he should be in Lethbridge. He’s 18 — he needs to be in an everyday lineup… no matter where that is.
Scouting the Enemy: The Panthers are currently sitting in ninth place in the East, tied with 50 points with the Penguins, althoug Pittsburgh has played two extra games. They are just one point out of the playoff picture, and the once strong Jay Bouwmeester-trade talk has died down because of their newfound relavance. James Mirtle has a good post today on J-Bo and his introverted style. (His personality and Harry Potter-looks don’t seem very Flyers, but I think I could deal with his hockey.)
Between the Pipes: Martin Biron is going for the Flyers tonight, and given Antero Niittymaki’s numbers (4-2, GAA just barely a hair over two) against the Panthers, I feel like this move is a vote of confidence for Biron from John Stevens. It’s his message to Biron saying, “hey, it’s your job to lose.”
Tomas Vokoun is in net for Florida. He’s had a below-average season with a 12-13 record but he’s 4-1-2 in his last seven. He made 26 saves in the losing effort last time these teams met.
Playoff Chase: Looking around the rest of the Flyers competitors, the Devils are in Ottawa tonight to take on the Senators at 7:30. The Rangers host Carolina at 7, and Montreal joins the Flyers in Florida, cross-state against the Lightning at 7:30.
Questions To Answer
1. Third game in 11 days. How do the Flyers respond to so much time off?
2. Is Luca Sbisa a Philadelphia Flyer?
3. Marty hasn’t played since the Tampa Bay game back on the 15th. How sharp is he?
4. The Panthers are in a heated race for the playoffs. A win can potentially push them into that eighth seed. Do they come out blazing?
Atlanta stormed out of a 3-0 hole to tie the game at 3 in the third period, but Mike Knuble scored two goals in the final ten minutes to lift the Flyers to victory, 5-3, in their final game before the all-star break.
“Guys can take a break and relax and re-energize and not have to think about one that slipped away. All is good.”
– Mike Knuble
B&P’s Take: The Flyers stormed out of the gate to take a 3-0 lead, with goals from Scott Hartnell, Darroll Powe, and Randy Jones. But in the second period they relaxed a little bit, and the Thrashers started to pick up their game. The Flyers wouldn’t allow anything in that period, but the Atlanta came out blazing in the third period. A little under five minutes in, Eric Perrin trimmed the lead to 3-1. Five minutes later, the ever dangerous Ilya Kovalchuk netted his 20th, and then just a minute later Chris Thorburn tied the score. It was suddenly tied, the crowd was pissed, and the Flyers were shocked.
It seemed like this game was going to slip away, and what a horrible time for that to happen. A loss like the one we all expected when Atlanta tied the score would have been seriously deflating heading into the all-star break.
John Stevens took a timeout.
“I felt in that for the early part of the game we did the right things against a team that played the night before … and I sensed in the second period we started to cheat a little bit. And [in the timeout] I just said that we’ve been controlling the hockey game, doing the little things well.”
“There wasn’t any screaming and yelling. I think the guys know me well enough that I’m very matter of fact — this is what I’m seeing, this is what we need to do — there’s no time to start screaming and yelling.”
“To see a three goal lead evaporate like that heading into a break, well that was the last thing we wanted to see. I’m thankful that we stepped right up and scored a goal and that we’re heading into the break on a winning note. There’s no doubt in my mind that this break is going to be a lot easier to relax mentally for our players after winning that game because the most important part of our season lies in front of us.” — Coach Stevens
Knuble was the one who put one home the game winner at 12:12 of the third, and he would seal the deal with an empty netter at 19:19.
Offensively, the story tonight for the Flyers was not the two goal scorer, though. It was the line up Scottie Upshall, Darroll Powe, and Claude Giroux, who teamed up to score the Flyers second goal. And while on the scoresheet that line only had the one goal to show for themselves, they threatened each time they were on the ice. Upshall had a few breakaway attempts thrwarted at the last second, and he was buzzing around the ice like a honeybee every second he was out there.
Of course, this is the Flyers 13th straight win over Atlanta, and Antero Niittymaki’s 12th win of his career against them. Niittymaki has also never been beaten by his countryman, goalie Kari Lehtonen, in professional play.
Questions With Answers
1. Does Antero Niittymaki continue his domination of Atlanta? Yes, he does. He is 12-0 with a 1.75 GAA in his lifetime against the Thrashers. He is the one of only two goalies to have an unblemished record with at least 10 games against one team — the other is Chris Osgood who is 17-0 against Tampa Bay.
2. Can Atlanta keep up it’s surge, in particular Peverley? Atlanta definitely gave the Flyers a run for their money, and showed off their offensive might at the same time. Peverley was a big part of that, as was Kovalchuk, his linemate.
3. Does the five day layoff hurt the Flyers? The team came out flying in the first period, and completely dominated that first 20 minutes. I don’t think the layoff hurt them one bit.
4. Can the Flyers convert on PP chances against the leagues worst PK? There were a ton of penalties in this game, and not surprisingly, most of them were against the Flyers. But they still got their share of PP chances and couldn’t capitalize on any. Atlanta didn’t score with the extra man either.
It’s six days off for the Flyers until their next game. It’ll be in South Florida against the Panthers after the all-star break. But for now, the orange and black end the first half on a winning note. Go Flyers.
Atlanta Thrashers (17-25-5, 39 pts) at Philadelphia Flyers (24-12-9, 57 pts)
Wachovia Center - 7 PM EST - Philadelphia, PA
TV: CSN Philly HD, SportSouth
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 207
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: Bird Watchers Anonymous
What To Watch For: Looking at the standings and the Flyers recent history against the Atlanta Thrashers, you might think that this is a given matchup to chalk up in the win column. But, the Thrashers have been competitive lately, winning three straight coming into their matchup with in Philly. That three game stretch included an 7-2 schlacking of the Nashville Predators and an impressive 4-2 win last night in Montreal.
But, of course, Antero Niittymaki is in net for the Flyers, and he’s completely owned the Thrashers in his career. You can even take his Atlanta success a little further, considering that he was the goalie during the Phantoms 2005 Cup run, in which they defeated Atlanta’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, in the Finals.
Best home PP faces the worst PK in the league. That should equal PP goals for the Flyers.
Scouting the Enemy: The Thrashers are surprising right now, but their season has been as expected to this point. They are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings in 14th place. Only the lowly Islanders have less points than Atlanta. So while their strong play at the moment is encouraging, work is clearly still needed.
From today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution:
[The Thrashers] need to rise further from the bottom of the NHL in defense. They need to do more than flash signs here and there that they actually can score. They need to have Ilya Kovalchuk continue to resemble other true stars around the league, and that is, he must continue to lead on the ice as well as in the locker room. They need to keep more fans from becoming allergic to their turnstiles, with Philips Arena less than half full again despite having the historically popular Canadiens in town.
Mostly, they need to acquire more talent, period, especially with the trade deadline barely six weeks away.
First year Thrasher Rich Peverley has played just four games with Atlanta since being claimed off waivers, and in those four games he already has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists). He is hot right now, but looking at his career thus far, it cannot be expected that he’ll keep up this pace, and that’s unfortunate for Atlanta because Peverley has been the major contributer in their recent surge. In 07/08, he scored just 10 points in 33 games with Nashville, his best NHL season. It can also be noted that he’s been playing with Kovalchuk, so keep that in mind.
Between the Pipes: As mentioned, Niitty goes for the Flyers tonight.
In net for the Thra shers could be Kari Lehtonen, making it a rematch of those Calder Cup Finals from back in 05, as well as a showdown between two Finnish goalies. Lehtonen played last night, which might lead one to believe that Johan Hedberg could get the start instead, but Lehtonen had an amazing game last night. He was named first star and he made 34 saves to get the win.
Lehtonen has never defeated Niittymaki as a professional.
Injury Report: As reported yesterday, Danny Briere is not returning tonight.
As The Falconer mentioned yesterday, the Thrashers have been quite lucky when it comes to injuries this season.
So how about the Thrashers this year? They have not be as fortunate in terms of racking up lots of bonus Shoot-out points this year, but they are healthier than average for a second season in a row. Mirtle’s man games lost put them at 24th out of 30 teams (or conversely the Thrashers are the 7th healthiest team).
Questions to Answer
1. Does Antero Niittymaki continue his domination of Atlanta?
2. Can Atlanta keep up it’s surge, in particular Peverley?
3. Does the five day layoff hurt the Flyers?
4. Can the Flyers convert on PP chances against the leagues worst PK?
Philadelphia Flyers (23-12-9, 55 pts) at Florida Panthers (20-16-6, 46 pts)
BankAtlantic Center - 7:30 PM EST - Sunrise, FL
TV: CW 57 (HD?), FS Florida HD
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 207
Check Here for Internet Streams
Behind Enemy Lines: Litter Box Cats
I apologize for the lack of posting about last night’s game, and of course tonight’s game in Miami (Sunrise… whatever), but I’ve been working on a cool new feature for the site. Look for it to debut sometime this weekend or Monday, depending on the amount of pond hockey played tomorrow and the amount of Eagles mania on Sunday.
But, on to the team briefly. The Flyers lost to Tampa last night by a score of 4-1, and believe it or not, they looked worse than they did against Pittsburgh at home on Tuesday night. They have no emotion on the ice and they have zero killer instinct, and even worse, they are getting outworked in every aspect of the game.
The past two games have been absolutely atypical of what we’ve seen from the Flyers over the last two months and it’s not a good sign. Mike Richards put it well following last nights loss.
It was really kind of embarrassing how much they outworked us, 44 shots to [32]. This is unacceptable for the team that we have, and really, a defensive-minded team that we have. We have to get back to [doing] the right things. If we outwork them [tonight] I like our chances, but that’s the biggest thing. It’s not X’s-and-O’s, it’s the work ethic.
We’re just getting outworked right now. I don’t know if our confidence was too high or it crossed into cocky. We really just got outworked the last two games. We just have to play better, myself included. I think that was the worst two games I have played in a while.
Those are very captainly words from the soft-spoken guy, and everyday he reminds me more and more like Bobby Clarke. But, his team is not playing like Clarke’s teams at the moment. One staple of Flyers hockey is hard work and that’s simply what they are not doing right now.
They better find the work ethic in a hurry, though, as they have another game in South Florida tonight. The Panthers come into the contest sitting in ninth in the East, but just one point behind Carolina with three games in hand. These are big times for the Panthers, and if they’re able to climb deeper into the playoff race now, it may determine whether or not Jay Bouwmeester stays or goes.
Kimmo Timonen is a game time decision after getting hit in the mouth with a puck last night in Tampa. The Flyers, for some reason, still found the need to call it an “upper body injury.” We all saw it happen, we know it’s a puck to the mouth, call it what it is… one of my pet peeves. I digress. UPDATE: Kimmo is playing, and the Flyers called it a “facial laceration”. Wins all around.
Danny Briere also plays one more game with the Phantoms this evening at the Spectrum.
It’s cold out there so get on the ponds while you still can. I know I will be all day tomorrow, and hopefully I’l be able to wear my Flyers jersey with pride after a big statement win over the Panthers tonight.
Go Flyers.
