“They’re a team that likes to play physical. If they think they can bully you around, they’ll use that to their advantage. We’re going to make sure, first of all, that we establish our physicality in the game.” — Blues coach Andy Murray
Two of the highest penalized teams in the league tonight. Two of the top five teams in fights. It could be a circa 1970 West Division battle in St. Louis tonight.
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…
The Pride of Huntsville, Alabama and 2009 AHL All-Star Game MVP Jared Ross conducts a chat with theahl.com.
An excerpt:
Q: How does it feel to get to continue to play with former University of Alabama-Huntsville teammate Scott Munroe in Philadelphia? – Virginia from Huntsville, Ala.
Ross: It’s awesome. When I was in Chicago, I thought about getting traded the year I did get traded – thinking if there’s any team I’d want to go to, it’d be Philadelphia just because of the organization and my buddy Scott Munroe’s there. I thought it’d be fun playing together. It’s a thrill to have him playing on the same team as me – we’ve been around each other the last six or seven years now and have become really good friends. Practices are so much more fun being able to shoot on him, and we were roommates on the road. It’s just to have someone that you’re a really good friend with and have known for awhile, and Scott’s a great guy, so I’m really happy to be on the same team with him.
Q: What was the experience like making your National Hockey League debut with the Flyers earlier this season? – Kevin from Boston, Mass.
Ross: It was awesome, everything I thought it was going to be. It was opening night for the Flyers, just playing that game it was unbelievable, wearing the Flyers jersey. Realizing that I was the first hockey player out of Alabama to play in the NHL, I was pretty proud to be able to do that. Just to have everybody calling and texting me from Alabama to offer congratulations, it was a really great feeling.
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…
“I considered returning to the Avalanche, but they are struggling (losing six of their past seven) and I didn’t want to take any space under the salary cap. I didn’t want to return to the Flyers after all my foot problems the last time I was there.” –Peter Forsberg, via Toronto Sun
Thank you, Peter. If he ever does get 100% healthy, I’d love him as a Flyer again. But we all know, and it looks like he does too, that it’s probably not going to happen.
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.
Now that we’re close to February and the playoff chase is heating up, this is going to be a daily feature around here. The Flyers are in a bit of a weird position right now. See, there are pretty much three groups of teams in the Eastern Conference. One, there are the team’s that have no shot — Tampa Bay, NY Islanders, Ottawa, Toronto, and Atlanta. Two, there are the teams that are right on the cusp of the playoff picture — Carolina, Pittsburgh, Florida, and Buffalo. And then there are the teams that have distanced themselves from that pack behind them — Boston, Washington, New Jersey, Montreal, and the Flyers.
But the Flyers are toward the back end of that pack. They are only four points behind New Jersey for third in the conference and first in the Atlantic. But, they sit just four points ahead of Buffalo and just eight points ahead of the eighth-place Panthers. Yes, Tuesday night’s game may have been a lot more important than we could’ve thought.
Last night, there were only two games in the Eastern Conference, but both affected the look at the playoffs. It’s rare that a Penguin win is a good thing for the Flyers, but that was the case last night as Pittsburgh rolled over the Rangers 6-2. With the win, Pitt moved one point ahead of Carolina and one position up in the standings. They now sit with 52 points, tied with Florida, but they have played two more games then the Panthers.
But it also meant a loss for the Rangers. That adds another game to their conference-leading total of 50, and another loss, giving the Flyers an extra game to pick up those three points they trail the Rangers by.
The other game that mattered saw Buffalo, the team directly behind the Flyers, fall in Calgary by a score of 5-2. A Sabres win in that game would’ve made things a lot more interesting and would have brought them closer to that next echelon of teams. They would’ve been just two points behind the Flyers and just three behind divisional rival Montreal. Instead, they’re just three points into the playoffs as we currently stand.
The next couple games are very important for the Flyers, as they will set the tone for the month of February. They need a win against Tampa Bay on Friday night. It is absolutely imperative, not only because of the playoff situation, but because they need to prove to themselves that they can beat the lesser teams they are supposed to beat. Also, this game and Saturday’s game against St. Louis come right before a home-and-home stretch with Boston. Losses against Tampa and the Blues could quickly turn into four straight, and then we’ve got to worry.
Programming Note: If you missed the AHL All-Star Game and Phantom Jared Ross’ all-star performance and you’re in the Philly area, you can catch a replay at 7 PM on Comcast SportsNet.
Brian Startare, the guy that does pre and post-game on 610 WIP, has written a new book about the Flyers.
On the pages of Flyer’d Up, there will be extensive trivia along with stories and quotes from the Broad Street Bullies, along with players from the 80’s, 90’s and today. There will also be contributions from such noted hockey writers and broadcasters as Al Morganti, Anthony SanFilippo, Bill Meltzer and Glen Macnow, along with touching dedications to Flyers great Pelle Lindbergh and legendary broadcaster Gene Hart, right from the pen of his daughter Lauren, who is currently the teams’ anthem singer. You will also enjoy great photos and hand drawn illustrations, along with some fun tidbits of information along the way.
There can never be enough Flyers books out there, and I like the way this one sounds with so many different contributors and perspectives. It can be pre-ordered now and it’s supposed to in print in time for the Carnival.
Check the website here. I’ll probably give a review sometime in the summer months, so you know you’re gonna mark that on you’re calendar… right… now.
Of course, I got some valuable experience because it was my first season in the NHL, my first playoffs. We started the playoffs very well, but it didn’t happen for us against Philadelphia. We just didn’t score enough. Last season during the regular season, we were the best team on power play, and I think we won a lot of games because of that. But in the playoffs we couldn’t score as often as we did in the regular season. Maybe that’s why we lost to Philadelphia, because we certainly weren’t weaker than them. Quite the opposite.
– Sergei Kostitsyn, via Puck Daddy
Didn’t score enough, Sergei? 19 goals in 7 games against Boston. 13 goals in five games against the Flyers. Sixth out of 16 playoff teams in goals per game. 33 total goals in the playoffs, which ranks fifth… that’s tops out of all the teams that exited in the second round. But nevermind that fact that you’re flat out wrong, if you’re saying is that you lost because you didn’t score enough, well that means you’re the weaker team.
You’re an idiot. Go back to getting dropped by Tim Thomas.
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 »
