Flyers Dethrone Lundqvist
They might call him King Henrik up on Broadway, but around Broad Street he looked like nothing more than a pauper. The Flyers mustered only 21 shots last night against the Rangers, but 4 of them found their way in. Emerging rookie sensation Sergei Bobrovsky only let one in, on a play he had no chance on. Overall, this game definitely lived up to my expectations from yesterday.
We lost a few battles along the way (Boogaard over Shelley; Prust over Carcillo) but ultimately won the war. The first period was a bit tight, but the Flyers looked a lot better. They didn’t give the Rags any breathing room, allowing only two shots in the first period. Both teams failed to convert on a pair of powerplays in that period. Everything changed in the second, however. After Dubinsky scored on the powerplay after Bobrovsky was forced out of position, leaving the net empty, the Flyers kicked into gear.
Giroux made everyone jump out of their seats in awe when he pulled a puck out of a scramble and sent a blind, behind the back cross to Richards, where he one-timed it over Lundqvist. My phone immediately rang, and the following coversation occurred:
"Friend: Holy shit!Me: Holy shit!Friend: Later.Me: See ya!"
The pass was that damn amazing, but there’s no extra points for style. So the score remained 1-1 for a whopping 4 minutes. Hartnell chased a defenseman behind his net, and as he emerged from the other side, Betts swooped in, stole the puck, and knocked his own rebound past a sprawling Lundqvist. Things didn’t end there, as Zherdev got one against his former team to cap the scoring in the second. He flicked an easy shot at the net, but the puck rolled up Henrik’s body, over his shoulder and in. In the third, Pronger’s blast from the point went through Carter’s legs and past a well screened Lundqvist.
Along the way we had the two fights, and a ton of great hits. Avery was mostly quiet, focusing more on hockey than bullshit. He had Giroux lined up for a big hit, but Claude saw it coming and spun out of the way easily. Timonen sent Callahan headfirst into the boards, but he was fine after that. Carcillo might have been headhunting when he dropped Fedotenko, but there was no penalty on the play. Still, we might hear about it later from the NHL. Torts wasn’t too happy when he saw the replay, but he’s a miserable puke most of the time anyway, so screw him.
There was also a funny moment just prior to the Carcillo/Prust fight. Boogaard decided that he wanted to go with Carcillo, and he begged Car Bomb to dance. Boogaard is 6’8″, Carcillo is 5’11”. Really dude? He reminds me of an massive dog that doesn’t realize it’s not a puppy anymore and keeps climbing on the couch. Down boy! You’re not small enough to do that kinda shit!
A few other notes:
- Carter did a great job screening Lundqvist on thePronger goal. He parked his ass right in front of the goalie, and didn’t let him see anything.
- Zherdev looked energetic, hungrily going after the puck when the Rangers had possession. I think he’s finally starting to buy into the system a bit more.
- The defense is getting better and better, and it’s making life a lot easier for the goalies. Shots against during the 5 game win streak are bit skewed, because we were up in all of the games and pretty much sat back and weathered the storm.
- Shelley now lost two straight fights. Do we really need this guy?
- Eric Wellwood has looked pretty good in both games he’s played in. He looks confident when he’s got the puck, and isn’t afraid to play a bit physical. Let’s see if he can do this consistently, while he’s got the opportunity.
Thanks for reading!
You can follow me on Twitter by visiting www.Twitter.com/BroadStreetBuzz
Check out our great NHL site, Too Many Men on the Site
Fansided is also on Facebook: Fansided Fan Page