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Top 100 NHL Players – Any Flyers? Let the Debate Begin!!!

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 26, 2012 at 2:45 pm

While waiting for the Flyers 2nd round playoff opponent, and waiting on The Fightin’s to get back home, or at least to the Eastern Time zone and the 76ers to start the playoffs, oopps, did we forget the NFL draft tonight, we found some time to find a hockey article that we found to be very interesting.

On April 21, Bleacher Report posted an article, credited to Andre Khatchaturian, listing the 100 Best Players in the NHL – Right Now. This post was especially interesting coming off the Flyers recent dismantling of the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. We’re not going to go through the entire list of 100 names with you; however, we’re going to tell you where the Flyers ended up on the list as well as the final seventeen players. So without any further ado hockey fans here you go:

# 94 Matt Carle

#83 for ole time sake – Mike Richards

#76 Scott Hartnell

#48 Chris Pronger – Not sure I get that one!!

Take a deep breath and ask yourself how you like the list so far.

#17 Claude Giroux – That’s right our Claude Giroux. The Flyer that just put the team on his back and carried them to the playoff victory.

#16 Tim Thomas

#15 Alex Ovechkin

#14 Jaraslav Halak

#13 Corey Perry

#12 Kris Letang

#11 Ilya Kovalchuk

#10 Henrik Lundqvist

#9 Jonathan Quick

#8 Pavel Datsyuk

#7 Shea Weber

#6 Daniel Sedin

Well, what do you think so far? Who’s missing from the list? What order should they be in?

Here ya go!!!

#5 Henrik Sedin

#4 Zdeno Chara

#3 Steven Stamkos

#2 Evgeni Malkin

#1 Sidney Crosby

There you have one man’s opinion.  I can’t say I disagree more.

WHAT DO YOU THINK????

 

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“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Flyers-Penguins, Game 6, The Clincher

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 23, 2012 at 5:35 pm

In today’s “View from the Philly Pressbox” we look at the Flyers dominating, 5-1, series closeout, victory over the Penguins in Game 6 of the 1st Round at the Wells Fargo Center, Sunday afternoon.

In our series preview we identified the four keys for the Flyers to win the series and they didn’t change throughout the series.

  • ·        Don’t fall behind early in games
  • ·        Ilya Bryzgalov
  • ·        Staying out of the penalty box
  • ·        Stay healthy

Don’t fall behind early in games. The team that scored first in the first five games of the series had lost the game. Claude Giroux and the Flyers would have none of that in Game 6. Giroux started the game with a bone crushing hit on Sidney Crosby, 5 seconds in to the game, that set the tone. Giroux completed his shift by shooting a laser shot, just inside the pipe at the :32 second mark. The route was on! The Flyers fought off a Danny Brier high sticking penalty at the 2:08 mark and then put their lethal power plant to work. With Matt Cooke off for interference, Scott Hartnell poked a goal past Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 2-0. Giroux and Jakub Voracek added assists at the 13:01 mark. The period ended with 10 shots for the Flyers and 9 for the Penguins. The Penguins were buzzing throughout the period but it was very clear from the start of the game that there would be no lead change in this game. The Flyers were in a defensive lock-down mode from the drop of the fist puck.  This was the type of period that we had been expecting all series long.

Ilya Bryzgalov – Bryzgalov stopped 30 of 31 shots in the game and never wavered. He played well. The only goal he allowed was a screen shot by Evgeni Malkin that he had little chance of stopping. Bryz, along an outstanding team defensive effort, never wavered throughout the game. He was solid.

This was an interesting series for goaltenders. Bryz, and the Flyers, allowed 26 goals, while Fleury, and the Penguins, allowed 30 goals. Bryzgalov and Fleury were both under fire in this series and both replaced during the series once, but we know that these are both quality goalies. If ever you could say that hockey is a “team” game that has to be played by everyone on the ice, it was this series. When the total team effort was put in play, by the Penguins in Game 5 and the Flyers in Game 6, the goalies showed their stuff.

Stay Healthy – James Van Riemsdyk was back in the lineup again for the second straight game after missing a good part of the season with various injuries.  JVR saw only 6:46 seconds of ice time in his second game back. His return to full action is still a work in progress.

Nick Grossman was unable to play again due to an “upper body injury”. Grossman has been a big part of the defense down the stretch and a very important member of the blue liners. However, Grossman being out may have been a blessing in disguise for the Flyers. With Grossman out, Peter Laviolette didn’t have to make a decision regarding which defenseman to scratch. That left rookie Eric Gustaffson in the lineup. Gus responded with his first career playoff goal, logged the third most minutes of any defenseman, 22:09, blocked a team high seven shots and tallied a +3 for the game. Gustaffson’s ability to step in and play well against Malkin and Sidney Crosby allowed the ice time to be spread out among Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle, Kimmo Timonen and Andreas Lilja more evenly. Pavel Kubina saw only 4:31 second of ice time. Tired players make mistakes and the Flyers couldn’t afford mistakes on the back end in this game.

With the Flyers earning a few days rest, awaiting their next opponent, there will be a better chance of getting Grossman back for Round 2. Also, more time may allow the Flyers to get Andrej Meszaros back from injury as well. It will be a big boost to get both of these guys back. Lavey could have tough, but good, decisions to make.

Staying out of the penalty box will be critical. The Flyers were whistled for five minor penalties in the game, with one resulting in the Malkin goal. Moving forward in the playoffs, the Flyers must remain disciplined and stay out of the box. Five penalties, not many in a regular season game, are too many in a playoff game. The Penguins were charged with three minor penalties, resulting in one Flyer power play goal. On the flip side, the Flyers penalty kill combinations were excellent. Forwards Max Talbot, Giroux and Matt Read, along with defenseman Coburn, Carle and Timonen were all over the ice, smothering the Penguins power play.

Special Teams is always critical in the playoffs. The Flyers held the advantage in 5 of the 6 games of the series, including Game 6. For the series, the Flyers scored on 11 of 23 power play opportunities, an unbelievable 47.8%. The league average is slightly above 20%. They added 3 shorthanded goals as well.

Following the Game 5 loss in Pittsburgh, Scott Hartnell stated, “Five-on-five, we got badly outplayed, badly outscored; now we’ve got to regroup.” The Flyers did exactly that, scoring three even strength goals as well as an empty net goal. Just as importantly, the Flyers did not allow a Penguins an even strength goal. They held Crosby to only three shots and a -3 for the game. Crosby was held to zero points in the last two games of the series. Malkin managed a total of six shots and a -1 while logging the most ice time of any forward in the game, 27:43.

The reason for the Flyers success in Game 6 was a total team lock down defense that started with the first dropped puck. The Flyers blocked a total of 40 shots to go along with Bryzgalov’s 30 saves. The fore-checking and back-checking was outstanding. Sean Couturier’s work on Malkin was tremendous throughout the series. Malkin did score three goals in the series but he earned them. His frustration with Couturier was evident early in the series and got worse, or better depending on who you were rooting for, as the series went on. It was an outstanding effort by the rookie.

Our prediction was the Flyers in 6 games. We hit it right on the nose. I can’t say it happened anywhere close to how we expected it but the result is the same. We expected to see six games played like the last two. The Penguins took themselves out of the series early by deciding that hitting, clean and dirty, was more important than scoring goals. Their early series antics cost them the first three games and ultimately the series. It was also interesting the response from Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, “I want to congratulate the Flyers organization on the series win but, I really can’t wish them good luck though.”  That classless attitude fom the coach is the same one that his team brought to the series and the same one they’ll carry with them as the losing team. Leadership starts at the top and this is a good indication of the Penguins leadership.

While the Penguins were suffering from leadership problems the Flyers leadership was just starting to show its face in the name of Claude Giroux. Peter Laviolette said this following the game about Giroux,  “When the best player in the world comes up to you and says, ‘I don’t know who you’re planning on starting, but I want that first shift,’ that says everything you need to know about Claude Giroux right there.” He added, “His game tonight was monstrous. He was so adamant he wanted that first shift. He wanted to make a statement. You see the skill, but sometimes you don’t hear that, you don’t know that, you don’t get that feel for him. Or maybe you do, but we do. For him to come up and say that, that speaks volumes for him – not just as a player but as a person.” Briere added, “About 10 seconds before they dropped the puck, he came over and told me, ‘Watch the first shift. He set the tone. That first shift, that was beautiful to see. That’s the sign of a great leader.” However the most telling compliment may have come from Timonen who stated, “We talked about getting off to a good start. He got us off to a great start. To me, he’s the best player in the league right now.”

Lastly, it’s tough to talk about individual play in a series like this because you will always miss guys that played well, however, we would be remiss to not talk about the goal scoring of Briere, 5 goals, the overall play of Jaromir Jagr, Hartnell, Talbot and the rookies, Couturier, Read, Brayden Shenn, an empty net goal, and Eric Wellwood. Most importantly was the play of Coburn and Carle throughout the series. They logged between 25 and 30 a game, every game of the series. They were a wall on the ice and had very few breakdowns while keeping the high powered Penguins in check. Hats off to them for an outstanding series!!

Finally, hats off to the Flyers fans that had “The Well” rocking every game from the start of the game to the finish. Kate Smith and Lauren Hart can do that to you if you need a boost.

Bring on the next opponent, the Penguins are history, whoever they are! The Flyers will be ready!!

 As Gene Hart would say” GOOD NIGHT and GOOD HOCKEY”

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“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Flyers-Penguins, Game 5

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 21, 2012 at 6:29 pm

In today’s “View from the Philly Pressbox” we look at the Penguins, 3-2, closely played, Game 5 of the 1st Round series. The Flyers now lead the series 3-2 as the series comes back to the Wells Fargo Center for a Sunday noon game.

In our series preview we identified the four keys for the Flyers to win the series and they haven’t changed.

  • ·        Don’t fall behind early in games
  • ·        Ilya Bryzgalov
  • ·        Staying out of the penalty box
  • ·        Stay healthy

Don’t fall behind early in games. The team that has scored first has lost all five games of this series. The Flyers jumped out first with a power play goal by Matt Carle at the 11:45 mark of the 1st period. The Penguins bounced right back with a power play goal of their own when Steve Sullivan scored at 14:51 with Braydon Coburn in the box serving a mystery interference penalty. Numerous replays couldn’t find the penalty. The Flyers came right back with their second power play goal of the period when Scott Hartnell scored at 17:35, finishing up a perfect set-up from Danny Briere and Claude Giroux.

The period was very well played by both teams. Both teams were on defensive lock down with the Flyers leading in shots on goal, 7-6. The offensive fireworks we’d seen throughout the series are finished. Ilya Bryzgalov was playing well and the Flyers had gotten off to the good start they needed.

 Ilya Bryzgalov – Bryzgalov bounced back from his awful Game 4 with a decent showing. He made several big saves with the game on the line early in the 3rd period. Two of the Penguins goals were defensive break downs that allowed Penguins players to shoot lasers from in close that Bryz had no chance to stop. Overall, we feel, he played fairly well, stopping 20 of 23 shots. Bryz effort was overshadowed by the outstanding effort from the games #1 star Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury saw 26 shots, turning back 24 of them. He made several big saves in the final 10 minutes of the game as the Flyers desperately buzzed the net. It was a decent game by Bryzgalov, but advantage Fleury in Game 5. The Flyers need Bryz to be equally as good if not better in Game 6.

Stay Healthy – James Van Riemsdyk was back in the lineup after missing a good part of the season with various injuries, most recently a broken foot. JVR saw only 7:31 seconds of ice time in his first game back.

The big injury news was the loss of Nick Grossman. Grossman is a big, strong, experienced defenseman that has been a major part of the Flyers success. Grossman is listed as day-to-day with concussion like symptoms; however, he didn’t make the trip to Pittsburgh. Grossman is day-to-day at this point.  Due to the injury to Grossman, Peter Laviolette had to make serious decisions on his defensive pairings. He went “all-in” with Carle, 29:40 seconds of ice time, Coburn, 29:11 second and Kimmo Timonen, 25:01 seconds. As a result of the “Big 3” playing almost half of the hockey game Eric Gustafsson, activated to replace Grossman, saw only 11:51 minutes of ice time while Andreas Lilja played just 7:09 seconds and Pavel Kubina 6:52 seconds. This was a huge risk by Laviolette, especially with the short turnaround between a Friday night game and a Sunday noon game. If Grossman can return for Sunday’s game the minutes can be spread out more. Tired players make mistakes and the Flyers cannot afford mistakes at this point in the series.

Staying out of the penalty box will be critical. The Flyers did a good job staying out of the penalty box. They were called for three minor penalties in the game. One of them resulted in a Pittsburgh goal. The Penguins were called for five minors that resulted in two Flyers goals. The referees, Paul Devorski and Dan O’Rourke, let the teams play on both ends of the ice. Both teams were very disciplined, for the most part, while playing tight defense in spite of some wide open offense. They also kept Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin off the score sheet. Malkin had 4 shots on goal in 21:14 seconds of ice time while Crosby had 2 shots in 20:05 second of work.

Special Teams remain critical to the playoffs. The Flyers had a slight advantage in Game 5 but couldn’t get one past Fleury on their only opportunity in the 3rd period in spite of several in-close opportunities. Briere had the best opportunity with a wide open top of the net but couldn’t get the puck over the pads of Fleury.

The biggest improvement the Flyers need to make in Game 6 is in their five-on-five play. The Flyers cannot wait for power play situations to score. For the second game in a row, the Flyers’ only offensive production came from the power play. They have not scored an even-strength goal in 139 minutes, 33 seconds. As Hartnell said following the game, “Five-on-five, we got badly outplayed, badly outscored, now we’ve got to regroup.”

Our prediction has been the Flyers in 6 games and we’re still on it. The series is now being played as playoff hockey that includes close, tight checking, discipline, good defense, good goaltending, some wide open offense and special teams. We stated in our “View from the Philly Pressbox” – Game 4 post the “The Flyers need to play well in Game 5 in Pittsburgh. Of course, we want them to win; however, what we need to do is play good, tough, discipline hockey as they have done in the first three games and there’s a good chance they could close out the series.” The Flyers did that. They will make the necessary adjustments and will win the series on Sunday.

I’d rather be ahead 3 games to 2 and coming home than trailing 3 game to 2 and going on the road. The Flyers are still in command of the series and will win.

 As Gene Hart would say” GOOD NIGHT and GOOD HOCKEY”

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“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Flyers-Penguins, Game 4

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 19, 2012 at 5:48 pm

In today’s “View from the Philly Pressbox” we look at the Penguins, 10-3, blowout of the Flyers in Game 4 of the 1st Round series. The Flyers now lead the series 3-1 as the series goes back to Penguins on Friday night.

In our series preview we identified the four keys for the Flyers to win the series and they haven’t changed.

  • ·        Don’t fall behind early in games
  • ·        Ilya Bryzgalov
  • ·        Staying out of the penalty box
  • ·        Stay healthy

Don’t fall behind early in games. The Flyers came out of the locker room and actually took a 1st period lead in a game for the first time in the series when Claude Giroux scored a power play goal just 1:16 seconds in to the game. Unfortunately it didn’t last long, 2:21 seconds to be exact, when the Flyers collapse began. Following the Evgeni Malkin goal, Matt Niskanen scored on the power play, another Zac Rinaldo penalty, 4:28 seconds later. The Penguins followed with a meltdown of their own, being called for three minor penalties in the span of 50 seconds. The Flyers capitalized by scoring two power play goals, one by Kimmo Timonen and one by Jakub Voracek.. The Flyers looked like they had regrouped. Again, it didn’t last long, the Penguins scored two goals in the final 3:41 of the period. The score after the period was 4-3 Pens.

Although the Flyers did actually have the lead for the first time at the start of the game, they never had control of the period. They didn’t come out of the locker room with any intensity and paid the price for it.

The disturbing thing about Game 4 is not that the Flyers couldn’t hold the lead in the 1st period but rather their failure to compete in the game. We’ve stated throughout the series that falling behind early is a problem. We continue to feel that way. The Flyers are still in control of the series; however, this area still needs to be corrected.

 Ilya Bryzgalov – Bryzgalov was awful!! Sergei Bobrovsky was equally bad!! Both goalies faced 18 shots and both gave up 5 goals. Pitiful! With that said, there’s equal blame to go around for the entire team and not just the defense. The Flyers were outworked throughout the game. They gave up four power play goals in nine chances. They likely wouldn’t have won this game if either of these goalies had played really well due to their lack of effort. Just as you win with a total team effort you can’t expect goalies to win games alone. It was a total team breakdown on both ends of the ice. Coach Peter Laviolette has his hands full in pulling the team back together and regaining the focus they’ve had up to this point. With that said. the goaltenders are required to make some saves to help the team win, in Game 4 that didn’t happen. Although 10 goals allowed balloons the statistics, the Flyers have now allowed 22 goals in 4 games and that’s not good enough!!

Stay Healthy – As we stated previously the Flyers are close to adding James Van Riemsdyk back to the lineup and it can’t happen soon enough. Zac Rinaldo has got to be taken out of this series. Rinaldo is not capable of being on the ice without getting a penalty. He had 20 minutes in Game 3 and added another 26 minutes in Game 4 with only 3:39 seconds of ice time. The only possible injury in the game was to Nick Grossman, who took a shot to the head. Grossman is day-to-day at this point. Big Nick will be missed if he can’t play Friday night.

Staying out of the penalty box will be critical. The penalty box situation in this game was a joke. Sunday’s game was a blood bath full of cheap shots. Games 1 and 2 were action packed, hard hitting games that were physical and fun to watch. The referees took that out of Game 4 by calling the game so close that the players couldn’t play. There were a total of 26 penalties in the game, 20 of them were minor penalties with 12 going against the Flyers. That’s’ more than a full period of the game shorthanded due to “ticky tack” penalties. The Flyers also received 3-10 minute misconduct penalties and a game misconduct. The Penguins received 2-10 minute misconducts. With all of these penalties there were not even any fighting penalties.

Frankly, without sounding like we’re having a bad case of “sour grapes,” this game was a joke by the referees. It appears to us that the league instructed the referees to call the game so close that it took the game away. All of the power plays, 9, played in to the Penguins hands by creating opportunity after opportunity throughout the game.  There was a stretch in the 2nd period where the Flyers were called for five minor penalties in a row, the last one going along with a Penguins penalty. During that time the Pens scored three power play goals and blew the game open by taking a 4-3 game and making it a 7-3 game.

As stated in Game 3 when the Flyers scored five special teams goals they would win, well the same holds true that when you allow four power play goals you are most likely going to lose. Special Teams remain critical to the playoffs, and obviously the Game 4 advantage was to Pittsburgh after Games 1. 2 and 3 had gone to the Flyers.

Let’s face the facts here, it was not in the best interest of the NHL to have the Stanley Cup favorites, playing shorthanded due to league suspensions, eliminated early in the playoffs by being swept. The Flyers didn’t play well but had no chance of winning this game any way.

Again, we’ll show the same quote we showed in our series preview and after each of the first three games. We stated that “for the Flyers to win they need to get contributions from all of their lines. Obviously, the Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr line needs to be good. Danny Briere needs to step up as he has in past playoffs. Wayne Simmons, Max Talbot and Jakub Voracek will need to contribute as they have all season. Just as important will be the play of the Flyers rookies, Matt Read, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn. These rookies have played very well throughout the regular season; however, they need to lift their game to the next level that is playoff hockey!” In Game 4, no one showed up for the Flyers. Giroux did have a goal and an assist in the game. He also had a penalty and a -1 for the game. Danny Briere and Brayden Shenn were -4, Pavel Kubina, Wayne Simmonds and Matt Carle were all -3. Carle was called for two minor penalties while Simmonds and Kubina both had minor penalties and misconduct penalties.

Overall it was a bad game for everyone wearing orange and black and in black and white striped shirts. The Flyers need to put this one behind them and come back Friday night ready to play.

Our prediction had been the Flyers in 6 games. We felt a sweep in the series was too much to ask. We stated after Game 2 the Penguins “could come out with their elimination backs against the wall, play well, and win, or they could quit on the season and get ready for golfing”. What we saw in Game 4 from the Penguins is what we expected to see from them in Game 3 before they decided to “goon up” the game. The Penguins are a good hockey club and they showed it in Game 4. We changed our prediction from Flyers in 6 to Flyers in a sweep like everyone else that got caught in the emotion when we knew a sweep was very unlikely. We’re going to go back to Flyers is 6 games. The Flyers need to play well in Game 5 in Pittsburgh. Of course, we want them to win; however, what we need to do is play good, tough, discipline hockey as they have done in the first three games and there’s a good chance they could close out the series.

The Flyers are still in command of the series and will win.

 As Gene Hart would say” GOOD NIGHT and GOOD HOCKEY”

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“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Flyers-Penguins, Game 3

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 17, 2012 at 5:22 pm

In today’s “View from the Philly Pressbox” we look at the Flyers blowout of the Penguins in Game 3 of the 1st Round series. The Flyers now lead the series 3-0 with an 8-4 win over the crumbling Penguins at the Wells Fargo Center before a crazed sellout crowd.

In our series preview we identified the four keys for the Flyers to win the series and they haven’t changed.

  • ·        Don’t fall behind early in games
  • ·        Ilya Bryzgalov
  • ·        Staying out of the penalty box
  • ·        Stay healthy

Don’t fall behind early in games. Obviously, the Flyers didn’t get our post, AGAIN and AGAIN!! Although the Flyers fell behind 1-0 on a Jordan Staal goal at the 3:52 mark they were never reeling in this game. As the Penguins tried to figure out some way to stay in the game, with cheap shots and taunting, they never had a chance. Max Talbot scored shorthanded, again, at 6:44 and Danny Briere added the first of his two goals on the power play at 8:19 to give the Flyers the lead that they would never give up. Briere added his second goal, and fourth of the series, at 11:45 and Matt Read the first of his two goals at 15:40, wrapped around a James Neal goal. At the end of the 1st period it was 4-2 Flyers, and it was on from there.

The Flyers have spotted the Penguins leads in each of the three games of the series. We still feel this is a bad sign moving forward. The way this series has unfolded the Flyers are just the better hockey team; however, this habit needs to stop. It’s been a problem all season and isn’t a situation they want to put themselves in throughout the playoffs. So far they’ve survived.

 Ilya Bryzgalov – Bryzgalov was not near as sharp as he was in Game 2 when he was tremendous. He allowed two goals that were cheap goals. that could cost a game at some point in the playoffs. Bryz seemed to be distracted slightly by the gooning and fighting that was going on around him. He cannot have breakdowns in his concentration and allow soft goals. The Pens explosive offense was well discussed coming in to the series. The Flyers have done a great job controlling Evgeni Malkin, 0 goals and 4 assists and Sidney Crosby, 2 goals and 3 assists throughout the series. Lost in the Flyers offensive explosion, 20 goals, is that the Penguins have scored 12 goals themselves. Four goals a game is a lot of goals to give up. Bryz needs to get sharp and stay sharp. Soft goals have to stop. We’ll say it until “The Stanley Cup” rides down Broad Street, hot goalies win playoff series and Stanley Cups and Bryz needs to be that hot goalie.

Stay Healthy – In the midst of all of the cheap shots, head hunting and fighting the Flyers came out of Game 3 without any injuries. The team is getting close to adding James Van Riemsdyk back to the lineup. JVR will be a nice addition in place of Zac Rinaldo. Rinaldo has tried to be physical when he can, but always seems to find his way to the penalty box. Renaldo has 20 penalty minutes in the 3 games. JVR will add some offensive skill and still be physical.

Staying out of the penalty box will be critical. It’s pretty difficult to talk about staying out of the penalty box when you have a game where you are being, thugged, mugged and gooned by your opponent. The Flyers did allow one power play goal in the game and now three for the three game series. Credit goes to the Flyers for defending themselves and protecting their players when they had to without losing control of their emotions like the Penguins did. The “thugs” were clearly the Penguins. The Flyers added four power play goals of their own, Briere, Read, Wayne Simmonds and Talbot. They added another shorthanded goal by Talbot, his second “shorty” of the series and the third by the Flyers. It’s safe to say that the team that gets five special teams goals is going to win!! Special Teams remain critical to the playoffs, and obviously the Game 3 advantage, like Games 1 and 2, goes to the Flyers.

Again, we’ll show the same quote we showed in our series preview and after Games 1 and 2. We stated that “for the Flyers to win they need to get contributions from all of their lines. Obviously, the Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr line needs to be good. Danny Briere needs to step up as he has in past playoffs. Wayne Simmons, Max Talbot and Jakub Voracek will need to contribute as they have all season. Just as important will be the play of the Flyers rookies, Matt Read, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn. These rookies have played very well throughout the regular season; however, they need to lift their game to the next level that is playoff hockey!” Again, we hit the nail on the head with that statement. Claude Giroux continues to be tremendous on both ends of the ice and as a team leader. Giroux, along with line mates, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr are leading the way, although Hartnell has been kept off the scoreboard he’s continued to impact the game. A big key in Game 1 was rookie Brayden Shenn, in Game 2 it was rookie Sean Couturier with 3 goals and an assist, Game 3 it was rookie Matt Read with 2 goals. Another rookie, Eric Wellwood has played solid hockey in less playing time. The rookies have combined for 6 goals and 6 assists in the series thus far. Add that to the solid play of Talbot, Simmonds, Jake Voracek and the incredible playoff goal scoring of Briere and you have a total team contribution.

Defensively, the Flyers have played solid throughout. Brayden Coburn has been a wall. Matt Carle has been solid along with Nic Grossman, Timonen, Pavel Kubina and Andreas Lilja. Each had to step up their game when they lost Timonen and each did their job.

Our prediction has been the Flyers in 6 games. We felt asking for a sweep in the series was too much to ask. We stated after Game 2 the Penguins “could come out with their elimination backs against the wall, play well, and win, or they could quit on the season and get ready for golfing”. We didn’t expect them to come out as “goons” before they went golfing. The Flyers need to sweep this series in four games. They need to get out with no injuries from any further cheap shots. The Flyers need to come out of the locker room with their foot on the gas from the start and not take any chances going back to Pittsburgh for a Game 5. The Flyers have the Penguins down and need to “kill the mosquito with the ax”.

 

As Gene Hart would say” GOOD NIGHT and GOOD HOCKEY”

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Flyers – Penguins Game 3 Debacle

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 16, 2012 at 11:31 pm

THEY USED TO CALL THIS A GOON!!!!

After having a night to sleep on the “Debacle on Broad Street” that was the Flyers – Penguins game on Sunday afternoon we have some thoughts on the game.

First, the Penguins knew coming in to the game that they couldn’t beat the Flyers. Here’s why. In trying to make sense of the “thug” actions of the Penguins we can only figure that they felt that by creating “cheap and dirty” penalties against the Flyers that the Flyers would retaliate and the both teams would be penalized, creating 4 on 4 situations that likely could favor the Penguins by freeing up ice space for their “star” skaters. It didn’t work because the Penguins went beyond creating penalties to downright “cheap and dirty” hockey. The Flyers have dominated 5 on 5 play throughout the first two games of the series. The Flyers have dominated special teams throughout the series, both on the power play and shorthanded. The only thing left was to try 4 on 4.

Frankly, the Penguins were an embarrassment to the new era of hockey that team owner Mario Lemieux so badly whined about several years ago. “We, as a league, must do a better job of protecting the integrity of the game and the safety of our players. We must make it clear that those kinds of actions will not be tolerated and will be met with meaningful disciplinary action.” – in reference to NHL’s lack of action for Islander’s Goonery vs Penguins. Mario needs to look no further than his own hockey club to see everything that he was preaching against. It starts with his superstar, Sidney Crosby. Crosby was the instigator in nearly every event that took place in the game, from continuing to swat at Ilya Bryzgalov glove after the whistle, to knocking away a glove from a player trying to pick it up, (talk about childish and bush league) to grabbing Scott Hartnell from behind, which started another melee, but would never drop his gloves. He pretended to throw a few at Claude Giroux when Giroux was being held by the referees and eventually down on the ice. When Brayden Shenn looked him in the eyes and asked him “to dance” he wanted no part of it.

NOW THEY CALL THIS A THUG!!!

 The fact is the Penguins can’t play with the Flyers!! Plain and simple. As far as Crosby, he needs to take a lesson in leadership. When you want to be a leader you “step-up” and be a man, whether you “get whipped” or “do the whipping” your respected by your teammates and opponents for trying to be the man. In Crosby’s case his “cheap shot”, childish antics took him from, arguably, the greatest player in the league to the most despised player in the league. He far exceeded his normal whining with his bush league play. Even the New York Ranger fans are rooting for the Flyers because of Crosby. And just so we’re not being over critical since we’re Philly fans, listen to Don Cherry, possible the most respected hockey man in Canada, Mike Milbury, Barry Melrose, and every national broadcaster on every channel that covers the NHL.

Above all listen to their own fans. There’s a terrific article that we’ve attached from a lifelong Penguins fan that tells the whole story.  http://mobile.pensburgh.com/2012/4/15/2950810/an-open-letter-to-penguins-management. An Open Letter to Penguins Management – www.pensburgh.com. Even their own fans are embarrassed by them!! Ron Cooke a very highly respected columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and a known Flyer hater was on the WIP Morning Show this morning and ripped the “thuggery”. His words not ours!!

For the Flyers, it’s time to finish the frauds that are the Pittsburgh Penguins and send them home to start golf season. The Flyers need to remain disciplined and stay out of the penalty box, skate with their heads up and score another 8 goals. The first three games have been very entertaining for Flyers fans so we might as well finish it up with a sweep!!!

The Fat Lady is Warming Up!!!!

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“The View from the Philly Pressbox ” Flyers-Penguins, Game 1

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 12, 2012 at 10:06 pm

In today’s “View from the Philly Pressbox” we look at the outcome of Game 1of the 1st Round series between the Flyers and the Penguins.

In our series preview we identified the four keys for the Flyers to win the series.

  • ·        Don’t fall behind early in games
  • ·        Ilya Bryzgalov
  • ·        Staying out of the penalty box
  • ·        Stay healthy

Don’t fall behind early in games. Obviously, the Flyers didn’t get our post and came out and got crushed in the 1st period, falling behind 3-0. They were outshot, 13-6, and severely out hit. The Penguins took their foot off the gas and the Flyers showed tremendous resiliency in holding their composure while the Consol Center was in a frenzy. As we stated in our series preview the Flyers must figure out a way to come out of the locker room ready to play and control the energy of the game. Everyone knew that the building would be crazy and that Pittsburgh would come out ready to play. The Flyers had no way of slowing them down, let alone stopping them. Don’t expect the Penguins to let their foot off the gas again if the same situation occurs. Although the Flyers survived Game 1 we still feel, more than ever, that this is critical to the Flyers winning the series. When asked what you’re thinking in the locker room behind 3 goals after one period, Danny Briere said, “Sitting here after the first period all we were saying was that we’ve done it all year. Let’s start with a goal and you never know what can happen.”

Ilya Bryzgalov – We’re going to give Bryz a pass on the bad third goal, since we won the game. That goal was soft and looked like it was the final straw in the game; however, Bryz played very well the remainder of the game. The Pens ended up with 28 shots, only 15 after the first period and Bryz turned them all away. Any lose of concentration and a fourth goal would’ve put the game out of reach. The Flyers tightened up the defense and Bryz stepped-up his game

Stay Healthy – Of course another obvious key in the run to the Stanley Cup is staying healthy throughout the brutal playoff run. The Flyers appear to be as healthy as a team can be at this point. All indications are that the Flyers did not suffer any injuries in the game and will be at full strength for Game 2 Friday night.

Staying out of the penalty box will be critical. The Flyers were called for only three minor penalties in the game and killed all of them. Interestingly enough, of the 6 minutes in penalties, Sydney Crosby was on the ice for 5:00, Evgeni Malkin for 5:12, Kris Latang for 5:34, James Neal for 3:39 and  Chris Kunitz for 3:55. These are the big guns for the Penguins and they don’t need to be on the ice that long while the Flyers are shorthanded. Offensively, the Flyers were only on the power play one time and Brayden Shenn made them pay by scoring the game tying goal at the 12:23 mark of the 3rd period by redirecting a perfect pass from Scott Hartnell. Special Teams are critical to the playoffs, and the Game 1 advantage goes to the Flyers.

We stated that for “the Flyers to win they need to get contributions from all of their lines. Obviously, the Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr line needs to be good. Danny Briere needs to step up as he has in past playoffs. Wayne Simmons, Max Talbot and Jakub Voracek will need to contribute as they have all season. Just as important will be the play of the Flyers rookies, Matt Read, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn. These rookies have played very well throughout the regular season; however, they need to lift their game to the next level that is playoff hockey!” I think it’s safe to say we hit the nail on the head with that statement. Briere scored 2 goals; Shenn added a goal and 2 assists and Voracek scored the overtime game winner by positioning himself in behind what looked like two confused Penguins. It should be pointed out that Matt Carle, 27minutes, 13 seconds of ice time and Brayden Coburn, 26:49, turned in fantastic efforts for the Flyers defense as well. Kimmo Timonen and Nic Grossman also logged more than 20 minutes of ice time. It was a total team effort.

Our prediction is still the Flyers in 6 games. The Flyers are in the Penguins heads. This is why the meaningless game on the last day of the season was so important for the Penguins to win at home. They needed to prove to themselves that they could beat the Flyers, and they can’t. It will be interesting to see how the Penguins respond at the start of Game 2. Can they put the Game 1 collapse behind them or can the Flyers come out with the energy early and put them away and take a 2-0 lead back to the Wells Fargo Center? We thought there would be a split in Pittsburgh, however, we now think the Flyers will win Game 2 on the road and the Pens will win Game 3 in Philly with their backs up against the elimination wall.

As Gene Hart would say” GOOD NIGHT and GOOD HOCKEY”

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“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Flyers-Penguins Series

In Philadelphia Flyers on April 11, 2012 at 9:57 am

In today’s “View from the Philly Pressbox” we preview the Round 1 series between the Flyers and the Penguins.

This is a pretty easy review from our standpoint. For the Flyers there are four keys to winning the series.

  • ·        Don’t fall behind early in games
  • ·        Ilya Bryzgalov
  • ·        Staying out of the penalty box
  • ·        Stay healthy

Obviously, there are a great deal of things that play in to the four things noted above. The Flyers have to come out of the locker room ready to play. They must put pressure on Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the opening whistle of Game 1 and every other game. They cannot continue to try to play comeback every game. Falling behind by one goal will be difficult to overcome, falling behind by two goals will be impossible. The effort required for these “comebacks” drains a great deal of extra energy. The Flyers need to jump on the Penguins early and force them to have to play from behind.

 The Flyers must play solid defense and two way hockey for Bryzgalov to be good. However, Bryz must step up his game, as he did in the last third of the season, and make the big saves when the defense breaks down.  Bryz brings 33 wins and a 2.48 GAA (Goals Against Average) in to the playoffs, but as we know the regular season statistics don’t mean anything. What is important is this, is the goalie playing well going in to the playoffs? In Bryz’ case he went from cold to white hot to cooling off some but still playing well at the end of the season.

 Of course another obvious key in the run to the Stanley Cup is staying healthy throughout the brutal playoff run. The Flyers appear to be as healthy as a team can be at this point. Bryz will benefit from having his full complement of defensemen. Having Nicklas Grossmann back will be big for the Flyers.

Staying out of the penalty box will be critical. The Flyers cannot let Sydney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, 50 g, 59a, 109 points with 12 PP goals, James Neal, 40g, 41a, 81 points and 18 PP goals have space to skate. The Penguins also got 26 goals from Chris Kunitz, 25 from Pascal Dupuis and 25 from Jordan Staal. They can be very dangerous on offense. The Flyers need to be physical throughout the series but cannot afford any bad penalties that could put them in a hole.

For the Flyers to win they need to get contributions from all of their lines. Obviously, the Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr line needs to be good. Danny Brierre needs to step up as he has in past playoffs. Wayne Simmons, Max Talbot and Jakub Voracek will need to contribute as they have all season. Just as important will be the play of the Flyers rookies, Matt Read, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn. These rookies have played very well throughout the regular season, however, they need to lift their game to the next level that is playoff hockey!

Our prediction is the Flyers in 6 games if they can manage the keys discussed above. These teams are very equal as the regular season showed. Bryz must be outstanding and Crosby and Malkin must be controlled. Obviously, the critical game is Game 1 tonight in Pittsburgh to gain series momentum. If the Flyers can gain a split on the road they will be in good position for two wins at the Wells Fargo Center in Games 3 and 4. A loss in Game 5 in Pittsburgh and the clincher in Game 6 back at home.

The talking is over; it’s time to drop the puck!

As Gene Hart would say” GOOD NIGHT and GOOD HOCKEY”

LET’S GO FLYERS!!!!!!

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Riddle Me the Flyers & 76ers??

In Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers on April 1, 2012 at 10:38 am

Riddle me this Philadelphia sports fans. Who are these Flyers and 76ers teams that we’re following, hopefully to the playoffs?

Let’s start with the Flyers. Last week in our review we stated that the Flyers had a somewhat light week with only three games, two of them at the Wells Fargo Center against Tampa Bay, and Ottawa with a trip to Toronto sandwiched in between. We stated that the Flyers needed at least 5 points, if not 6, for the week. Tampa and Toronto are likely out of the playoffs, so they needed to win those games. One, if not two points against Ottawa, would make a good week. Instead, the Flyers forgot that there was a game against the Lightning and stunk the place up, losing 5-3. They moved on to Toronto and took care of their business by winning 7-1. They closed out the week by losing another shootout to Ottawa, 4-3. That’s 3 of the possible 6 points for the week. The Flyers hold the 5th spot at this point with 99 total points. In the meantime, the 1st place Rangers won all three of their games. They now have 50 wins and 107 total points. The Penguins went 2-2, losing both games to the Islanders. The Pens are presently in the 4th spot with 102 points. There’s now just one week left in the regular season with each of the three teams having 4 games remaining. For the Flyers and Pens they control their own destiny. They play each of other twice this week, both times in Pittsburgh. The first game is this afternoon, Tuesday the Flyers host the New York Rangers, Thursday they host the Buffalo Sabers and close out the regular season next Saturday in Pittsburgh.  The Flyers must also be aware of the New Jersey Devils that are sitting just 3 points behind them. The Devils have 3 games remaining.

A big question mark for the Flyers will be the goaltending situation. The red hot Ilya Bryzgalov is fighting off a chipped bone in his foot. Sergei Bobrovsky has been getting the work. The Flyers need Bryz back at full strength heading in to the playoffs. If the playoffs were to start today it would look like this, #1 Rangers hosting #8 Washington, #2 Boston hosting #7 Ottawa, #3 Florida hosting #6 New Jersey and #4 Pittsburgh hosting #5 Flyers. As we’ve previously stated, being the road team against Sidney Crosby, he’s on fire with 3 – 4 point games since his return, and the Penguins isn’t the best match up for the Flyers.

The 76ers continue to mystify. They finished the week 2-2. We felt that they needed to finish the week 3-1. We didn’t expect them to beat San Antonio on the road but we did expect them to compete. They didn’t, losing 93-76. They beat Cleveland as expected but then laid their biggest egg of the season by getting blown out by the Washington Wizards, 97-76. The 76ers were never in the game and never showed they were interested. This was a game the 76ers had to win! The Wizards now have 12 wins on the season. That’s right, they are 12-39. How can you get blown out of that game?  With that lose the 76ers fell from 1st place, 4th seed overall to 2nd place and the 7th seed overall. If the season were to end today they would be in a first round matchup against the Miami Heat. That is not where they want to be.  

The 76ers have watched their Atlantic Division lead dwindle over the last month and now find themselves .5 games behind Boston and 2.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks. There are 14 games remaining in the regular season.

This week doesn’t get any easier except that there are only three games rather than four. They visit the Heat on Tuesday, host Toronto on Wednesday and host Orlando on Saturday. Reality says they will win only one of the three games. If they could manage to beat Orlando that would be a boost. They won’t beat Miami. In the meantime, the Celtics have an extremely difficult week. They host Miami and San Antonio before hitting the road for games at Chicago and Indiana. They could actually lose all four games. Looking ahead slightly, the 76ers and the Celtics play next Sunday.

As we stated last week the 76ers seem to be a team looking for a leader. Each night someone else picks up the slack but they’ve shown inconsistency night after night. Apparently, Coach Doug Collins agrees but isn’t planning on much change at this point in the season, “I don’t know what I could do, really,” he said before the meeting against the Hawks. “I think we’re still adjusting to the change I made before [by inserting Evan Turner into the starting lineup].

“We’re now in a position, hopefully, where we can start getting a little rhythm in what we’re doing. I wouldn’t want to make any other change right now.”

Coach, I hope holding steady is enough to win the Atlantic and get back to the #4 seed and a matchup with Indiana or Atlanta in the 1st round of the playoffs. Playing Miami will bring the season to a quick end.

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Flyers – 76ers and The Playoffs

In Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers on March 25, 2012 at 11:01 am

Last week in our review we stated that the Flyers needed to get all 8 of the available points for the week. We knew that would be tough with games against the Penguins, Panthers, Capitals and Canadians. The Flyers did earn 6 of the 8 points, losing a very well played 2-1 game to the Panthers. The week started with a fantastic come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh with 0.9 seconds remaining in overtime on a Scott Hartnell goal. The Florida loss followed. The Flyers bounced back with a 2-1 shootout win over Washington and a 4-1 dominating victory against Montreal. The Saturday night win clinched a playoff spot for the Flyers. The interesting statistic from the week, after spotting the Penguins a 2-0 lead on Sunday, the Flyers outscored their opponents 10-4 for the remainder of the week.

The standings didn’t change over the week. The Penguins presently hold the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference 3 points behind the 1st seeded Rangers. The Pens are still hot in spite of losing big to Ottawa on Saturday night with their backup goalie. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been on fire. The Rangers have cooled off but have managed to hold on to their lead in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. The Pens have 8 games remaining while the Rangers and Flyers have 7 each. The Flyers have 3 games this week, 2 of them at the Wells Fargo Center. Monday they host Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Stamkos is a scoring machine. He presently leads the NHL with 52 goals. The Lightning are likely out of the playoffs but could be a spoiler for the Flyers. This is a must 2 points for the Orange and Black. Thursday’s game is at Toronto against a Maple Leafs team that is also likely out of the playoffs. Again, this is another 2 points the Flyers must get. Saturday, it’s back home to “The Well” against the Ottawa Senators. The Sens are currently in the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. The Flyers need the 2 points in this game, but must get 1 point at the least. This weeks schedule is also favorable to the Rangers, 3 games against non-playoff teams and the Penguins, 4 games with only 1 against a playoff team, the Devils. This is a week where all three teams should gain points leading in to the final week of the season.

The Flyers continue to get outstanding play from goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. The defensive improvement can be seen every night with contributions coming from every player.  Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read and a couple goals on Saturday night by Danny Briere have led the way on offense. (See the link to our article on our MVP Scott Hartnell.) https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/flyers-mvp-scott-hartnell/

The final week of the season is heating up to be special with every game being important in the final playoff positioning. The Flyers have a game against the Rangers and two with the Penguins. Home ice and the 4th seed would be a good landing spot at this point. Making up 5 points on the Rangers and 2 on the Pens may be too tough to do with only 7 games left in the season.

The 76ers are a mystery team. Just when you thought they might be dead and gone they whip the Celtics again in another blowout at the Wells Fargo Center. We felt that the 76ers needed to beat the last place Charlotte Bobcats to open the week, they did. They needed to beat the revived New York Knicks but lost, 82-79, before bouncing back with the big 99-86 win over Boston. The 2-1 record for the week leaves the 76ers hanging on to a 1.5 game lead over the Celtics and a 3.5 game lead over the Knicks in the Eastern Conference.

There’s no rest this week. The 76ers have 4 games in the next 7 days with no room to slip up. They open tonight in San Antonio against a very good Spurs team. They come back home to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday. The Cavs are on the outside of the playoff picture. Friday night it’s off to Washington to play the Wizards. The Wizards have won only 11 games all season. Saturday night it’s back to the Wells Fargo Center to host the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks are also a good team. They’ve actually won two more games this season than the 76ers. The 76ers need to beat either San Antonio or Atlanta as well as win the two games they should win, Cleveland and Washington, to finish the week with a 3-1 record.

The 76ers seem to be looking for answers every night. One night the leader is Elton Brand, another it’s Lou Williams, another it’s Jrue Holiday. Evan Turner seems to have disappeared as quickly as he arrived. The 76ers have played all season with balanced scoring and good defense while not overusing any player. It seems it’s time to establish who the top six or seven players will be going in to the playoffs and use them down the stretch.

Congratulations to Head Coach Doug Collins on winning his 400th NBA game against Boston on Friday night. Collins has done a real nice job with this young 76ers team. It would be good to get by the first round of the playoffs.

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