10/8 vs Pittsburgh Penguins
With all the history that has been made so far this season from a franchise standpoint, you wouldn’t think there was much left to be done. However, Ray Emery was looking to become the first goaltender in Flyers history to start the first 4 games of the season and win them all. Unfortunately, the 4th game was against the Pittsburgh Penguins who lost last night to the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-0. Many people expected another shootout game, resembling the 6-5 OT win on Tuesday, and they weren’t disappointed.
A questionable penalty in the first minute by Tuesday’s game winner, Daniel Briere, put the Pens on the power play. Shortly after, Evgeni Malkin would capitalize on a shot from the point to give the Pens the early lead. Briere would redeem himself just short of the 12 minute mark as he would put one past a stretching Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the score at one. The tie would be short lived though when Malkin found a streaking Jordan Staal who beat Ray Emery on the backhand to put the Pens up 2-1 going into the locker room. Malkin caught Ryan Parent and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen on a line change and pinched on the right boards to create the turnover that would lead to the goal.
The second period started as the first one ended. Physical play all night long and when you’re always on tilt, mistakes will get made. A Chris Kunitz tripping penalty would put the Flyers on the power play early in the period and Daniel Briere would score his 2nd of the night, 3rd of the season, when a pass from Jeff Carter to Chris Pronger across the slot got blocked and found it’s way on to his stick. Another Penguins breakaway chance would end this tie when Bill Guerin found himself one on one with Emery to give the Pens the 3-2 advantage. In the post game, Al Morganti only described what happened next as, “Strange things happen.” Braydon Coburn plays the puck below the red line, behind Emery, where he’s met by former Flyer, Ruslan Fedotenko. Coburn tries to play the puck behind the net, but Fedotenko’s stick doesn’t allow it. The puck goes into the crease, off Emery’s skates and into the net putting the Pens up 4-2. Credit for the goal was given to Alex Goligoski. Jef Carter would notch his 3rd goal of the season on a 5 on 3 advantage late in the period thanks to Crosby (tripping) and Staal (slashing), closing the deficit to 1.
An inspired Flyers team came out in the third, but Fleury stood strong turning aside 3 quality scoring chances in the first 4 minutes of the period. After the 8 minute mark, Tyler Kennedy capitalized on a Coburn turnover and poked one past Emery to make the lead 2 once again. Jeff Carter would score his 2nd of the game with less than a minute left in the game by beating Fleury high to the stick side while Fleury was using Brook Orpik’s stick, closing the gap to one again. but it was too little, too late in this case and the Flyers would lose to the Penguins, 5-4.
On to the highs and lows.
Highlights:
1. Jeff Carter – A 4 point game tonight showed that the Jeff from last year hasn’t gone anywhere. We know we can expect great things from him this season.
2. Daniel Briere – Danny turned around a mediocre showing Tuesday night against the Pens, before the game winner in overtime of course, and silenced the skeptics with a strong 2 goal night.
3. Mike Richards – As I love to say, Captain, oh my Captain. The primary assists on both of Jeff Carter’s goals, cracking the assist column for the first time this season to go along with his 5 goals.
Lowlights:
1. Braydon Coburn – This isn’t even about the goal off Emery’s skate. This is about his lack of basically anything on the ice. Turnovers, bad decisions, where should I start? I just want to know when it will end.
2. Matt Carle – From the penthouse to the outhouse for my 2nd favorite Flyers d-man. True, he added another assist to his point total (tying him with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter for the team lead), but 2 holding penalties and 1 tripping penalty will not win you any love in my heart or should in anyone else’s.
3. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen – It was a game time decision to scratch Danny Syvret and play OKT. Who made that call?
Overall, some players took big steps after shaky outings on Tuesday. Ryan Parent and Daniel Briere stepped up tonight, showing their legitimacy. Coburn on the other hand…
And here I thought they sent Jones to the Phantoms?
The Flyers are off tomorrow. On Saturday they welcome Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and the rest of Chris Pronger’s former team, the Anahiem Ducks, to the Wachovia Center, looking to improve to 4-1. I’ll have a post-game wrap-up here.
Until then, keep your chin up, your eyes on the puck and you can never go wrong with high to the stick side. Oh, and keep your fingers crossed that they let JVR play. 😉
Thanks for reading,
Paul Pickett
Facebook: Paul Ca Pickett
Twitter: PaulakaBFTW