Flyers

Three straight games, three straight shootouts for the orange and black and gasp! Ilya Bryzgalov was the starter meaning that yes he would have to be in net for the shootout. Wouldn’t you know that he finally made not only one, but two stops in the shootout, yet it would not be enough to get the W. Before we get there let’s do the preliminary background information.

48 games have been played, and 34 remain.  Despite the numerical imbalance, the games following the All-Star break are typically referred to as the second half of the season. The remaining games have on more important focal point on February 27, which is the trade deadline. Teams have approximately 4 weeks to decide whether or not they still have hope for this season, or if they need to make maneuvers for the future.

Once upon a time this season Scott Hartnell looked lost out on the ice. His line mate of two seasons Villie Leino was signed by the Buffalo Sabres, leaving head coach Peter Laviolette in a tough spot. Where was Hartnell going to fit in with all of these new pieces on the Flyers?

I’ve been to a handful of Flyers games at MSG. They’ve won every time, and it felt great. There’s just something different about going into enemy territory and coming away victorious. And since I’m just a fan; it must feel even better as a player. You’ve got 15-20,000 people cheering against you, in full support of your opponent. So in last nights 3-2 shootout win over the Florida Panthers, the Flyers didn’t dominate, but they must have felt pretty good to get 2 points. I think the video above kind of captures the entire feeling of a few people taking on thousands [...]

What’s with the Flyers having to face the Panthers before long breaks? Last season, as we were rolling through everybody, there was a meeting with Florida right before the holiday break. Clearly the Flyers were thinking ahead to their vacation plans, because they got rolled 5-0. It turned out to be an early sign of trouble for last years team.  It foreshadowed the teams biggest problem: motivation. The only thing that could stop last season’s team was complacency, and that’s what lead to their downfall.

Lost in the depths of championship weekend of the NFL was the most entertaining Philadelphia Flyers game that you will probably see all season. The recipe was there for a type of game like this, the Bruins humiliated the Flyers 6-0 in Philly the last time these two teams met on December 17th. Before that contest, the Flyers spoiled the Bruins championship banner celebration on opening night in with a 2-1 victory. This was the rubber match between two Eastern Conference powerhouses that after 10 combined goals needed a shootout to determine a winner.

During the 2009-2010 season, goaltending coach Jeff Reese got a ton of credit for the team’s success.  We started the year with Ray Emery, and finished it with a rotation of Brian Boucher, Michael Leighton and Johan Backlund.  All season long, somebody would get hurt, and another guy would step in. Then he would get hurt, and replaced by the next guy.  Throughout this rotation, the Flyers put together a run that saw them go from 14th in the Eastern conference in January, to 2 games short of the Stanley Cup. When the Flyers acquired Leighton out of nowhere, and he just started winning games, [...]

Yesterday’s 6-5 shootout loss to Boston was easily the most exciting Flyers game in a while. Neither team defense was able to help out their goalies much. But the scoring and the fighting made up for all of that slopiness to make the final product pretty damn fun to watch, even though we blew the game.