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 »

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.

The Penguins waltzed into the Wachovia Center Tuesday night and took the Flyers eight game home winning streak, not to mention a bit of their pride, by winning 4-2.

B&P’s Take: The Flyers came out in the first period and didn’t necesarily look good, but there were no indications that Pittsburgh was going to play well either, and it seemed like the Flyers had control of the game. A weak goal was given up by Fleury when he tried to play the puck behind the net. It wound up bouncing right in front to Mike Knuble who buried it. The bounces went the Flyers way early, and although every six seconds the Flyers were giving away the puck, Pittsburgh couldn’t hold onto it themselves. It’s hockey, not hot potato, guys.

A weak goal at the end of the first would set up the second period.

And the second would be a different story. Pittsburgh woke up and the Flyers did not. They outskated, outhustled, outshot, and outscored the Flyers. They won every aspect of the game and Marty Biron didn’t help with some atrocious goaltending. Pittsburgh scored three goals and took a commanding 4-1 lead into the third period.

Penalties took the Flyers out of the game in the waning minutes of the third, and they were all legitimate penalties. Nothing to complain about except our team laying a fat old egg against our biggest rival (yeah, I said it, fuck the Rangers).

Speaking of the Rangers though, they won last night and regained first place in the Atlantic. Hell of a night.

Hopefully, the Flyers learn from this game though. They’ve been able to fall behind in games and triumphantly coming back in the third numerous times this season, and as I was waiting between intermissions last night, I had a feeling they could do the same. But they didn’t, and maybe this is a game where they realize they aren’t invincible.

The Penguins came in desperate, and they played desperate. The Flyers didn’t match their intensity and lost the game because of it.

Questions With Answers

1. Does Jeff Carter keep up his torrid pace? Carter was probably the only Flyer who had a decent game. He was, as usual, swirling around everybody on the ice trying to make plays. Only an assist to show for it, though.

2. Pittsburgh needs to take the rabid Philly crowd out of the game quickly, because if the Flyers strike quick and early it could be a long night for the Pens. Do they silence the faithful early? They didn’t, and the Flyers did strike early, but they couldn’t build or capitalize on Pittsburgh’s mistakes. The downfall began when Eric Godard rocked Riley Cote. Learn to fight again, please Riley.

3. Martin Biron is quietly playing excellent in net, and do I dare to say he looks like he did down the stretch and in the playoffs last night. Can he keep it up? No.

4. Do the Flyers keep Malkin and Crosby off the board? No. Crosby had two assists but he also missed from point black range at least three times. He doesn’t seem himself, which is fine with me. Malkin looked just fine though.

Stinging loss, but go get ‘em in Tampa Thursday night. Go Flyers.

The Flyers won yet another home game Saturday night, this time a 4-1 decision over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

B&P Take: This team just loves playing at home. They’re unbeaten in eight straight at home now, and it’s clear they feed off of the Wachovia Center energy. The coach and the captain agree.

“We feed off the crowd’s energy,” said Richie. “It’s more comfortable when you have 20,000 people cheering for you. It’s intimidating for the other team that’s coming in.”

“I think our guys love playing at home,” said the coach. “That wasn’t our sharpest game tonight, but I thought the crowd was effective and they gave us the edge we needed.”

The goalies were both fantastic. Vesa Toskala suffered his first ever loss against Philly, but he certainly played well enough to get the win. He made a number of big saves, and if it weren’t for the porous Leafs’ defense, he probably could have held off the Flyers attack longer. It was impressive that he was able to hold them at bay until the third though.

The Flyers defense on the other hand is slowly and quietly becoming another strong point for the team. Biron attributed much of his success Saturday night to their play. “Maybe they were getting the first shot through,” Marty said, “but we weren’t giving them the second or third opportunity and that was big. After I made the save, everything was cleared away and I wasn’t pressured.”

At the beginning of the year, it looked as if the guys on the blueline just weren’t good enough, but they’ve been helped by strong play from the best players — Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn — and better than expected play from youngster Luca Sbisa. Ossi Vaananen, while he didn’t play Saturday, had had an impressive season so far with the Flyers, and the moves Paul Holmgren made to improve the D have certainly helped.

Andrew Alberts, one of those midseason acquisitions, contributed offensively tonight, something that doesn’t come around too often. His goal was important, the Flyers third which gave them insurance in the third period. It was also Alberts first goal since 2006.

Questions With Answers

1. Brad May is in his second game as a Leaf and he’s already had a physical start to his Toronto career. How physical does this game get? Besides a fight in the first period between Riley Cote and Andre Deveraux, the game wasn’t as physical as expected. That probably had a lot to do with how close it was for much of the contest.

2. The Flyers should win. It’s simple, do they do the job they’re supposed to? The Flyers certainly took care of business against a much weaker Leafs team. I was listening to the third period on XM and it was the Leaf announcers… they said something like “This is how the Leafs are going to lose a lot of games; by simply being outskilled by the other team.” Seriously, he said that. That’s like saying “the team with the most goals is going to win.” Idiot. My point, though, is that the Flyers are the more skilled team and, like they should’ve, they controlled the hockey game.

3. Can Carter get on the board? Did he ever. He’s been a little slow as of late, but he was flying tonight. He scored twice, including the empty netter, but he could’ve had one or two more if it weren’t for Toskala’s strong goaltending.

The struggling Penguins (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) visit the Center on Tuesday night. I’ll be there, too. Will Michel Therrien?

Go Flyers.

The Flyers returned home to South Philly for the first time in 2009, but the results were just as good as 2008 as they beat the Wild 3-1.

B&P’s Take: It was a slow start, but when the Flyers got going last night, they looked like the damn good hockey team we remember from prior to the road swing. Now that’s not to say they played poorly on the road, but they weren’t the same white hot team that just trounced everything in sight. Last night, the Flyers shook off any rust they may have had, gave a giant middle finger to the injuries that they’ve suffered, and rolled to a 3-1 victory.

The ridiculous amount of stupid penalties has to stop though. There were four taken in the first period alone, not counting Aaron Asham’s fighting major, and that surely was part of the reason the Flyers started so sluggish. Thankfully, the penalty killing was fantastic, and it was without a doubt the reason the game turned out a W.

Perhaps the best part of the evening, besides returning home and delivering a solid win in front of a raucous crowd, was the fact that the Flyers ended Niklas Backstrom’s shutout streak. When Scott Hartnell scored at 7:10 of the second period, it halted the streak at 149 minutes, 9 seconds.

Quoted

“Terrible, terrible. We gave them the game. We couldn’t even score a goal on [eight] power plays.”
– Kim Johnsson

“The penalty killers were huge and they won the game for us tonight.” — Scott Hartnell

“The way we’ve been able to absorb the amount of injuries we’ve had, I think it’s a credit to the organization because the depth here has been terrific. We’ve had guys come in and play — Nodl comes in and plays, Powe comes in and plays, Sbisa plays forward, so the depth here has allowed us to continue to win hockey games. — John Stevens

A blowout win against a very good opponent and there’s still not complete satisfaction… the sign of a focused hockey team.

But of course we’re not complaining with a 7-1 win.

Devils tomorrow afternoon. Go Flyers.

Holy shit. The Flyers stormed back from a 5-1 deficit entering the third period to win 6-5 in a shootout last night.

Game recaps: NHL.com | Daily News | Inquirer | NHL.com Highlights

B&P’s Take: This game just seemed destined to be a loss. Carolina began celebrating their third goal as Lou Nolan was announcing the Flyers first one over the PA. The refs were atrocious, with Scott Walker boarding Andrew Alberts, the Flyers coming to their teammates aid, and then somehow going down five-on-three.

It was 5-1 after two. I mean, seriously?

Scott Hartnell had an awesome game, with a fight and a hat trick… just an assist shy of the Gordie Howe version. As the Flyers were storming back in the third period on goals from Hartnellx2, Upshall, and Gagne, Antero Niittymaki was stellar at the other end, with his biggest save perhaps coming with about 2 minutes left on a Carolina 2-on-1.

During overtime, the Flyers were again forced to go on the defensive following a too many men on the ice penalty. But at this point it didn’t matter. The Flyers weren’t going to be denied. Momentum means so much in this sport, and the good guys had absoultely every possible ounce of it. Nitty came up huge with several big saves, and the Flyers got it to the shootout.

I can’t remember the last time the Flyers won a shootout, honestly, but I also can’t remember a goalie performing as badly in one as Michael Leighton did last night. He committed to Gagne’s shootout attempt REALLY REALLY EARLY and wound up out between the faceoff circles while Gags tossed it into the empty net. It would be the game winner, as Mike Richards would score and Niittymaki would make three stops to secure the victory.

Unbelievable game. It was the first time since 1975 that the Flyers came back from a 5-1 deficit in the third period to tie the game. This is one that shows us what this team really is made of.

You can fall down 5-1 pretty easily, but to come back from that and win takes a full team effort, and everybody on that team, from John Stevens to Luca Sbisa to Aaron Asham to Gagne and Hartnell all deserve credit. The Hurricanes may have pulled a bit of a New York Met-like performance, but very much like those World Champion Phillies, the Flyers were there to capitalize.

Eastern Conference, look out. The Flyers are good.

B&P’s Three Stars

1. Scott Hartnell
2. Simon Gagne
3. Antero Niittymaki

Turning Point of the Game: John Stevens gave a speech during the second intermission, and the motivation he used for his team was something I’d never heard before. He asked the team to do it for the fans. Stevens, in his post game press conference:

We had fans that battled through the rain here tonight to come watch our team play and we weren’t doing a very good job of pleasing them to that point. And I thought the guys came out and responded with a great effort, and it does show a sign of the character of our hockey team ’cause it wasn’t just one guy. It was across our lineup right back to the guy in the net that stayed with it and got it done.

In the Doghouse: Normally I would say the refs, but I just can’t be angry after a win like tonight.

The Penguins crushed the Islanders 9-2 last night. The Flyers host Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Go Flyers.