Philly started off the season with a 2-1 win against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins in Beantown, then recorded a dominant 3-0 shutout in New Jersey to end a 101-game drought during the regular season and playoffs combined. After giving up the first goal of the NHL season to Brad Marchand, the Flyers scored two goals in the final minute of the first period. Claude Giroux dangled his way to a goal with 50 seconds left, while Jakub Voracek scored with only three seconds to go on a turn around shot in the slot. Fortunately for Philly, this would be all they needed as Ilya …
The Flyers Win, WITH A SHUTOUT
The Flyers won their second straight game to open this 2011-12 season, with a 3-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils at the Rock. Ilya Bryzgalov provided the magic so many had hoped he would, saving all 20 of the Devils’ shots and providing the Flyers first shutout since the 2010 playoffs. Claude Giroux opened the scoring with a goal in the first while both Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds scored in the third period to extend the Flyers’ lead. Both teams power-play units failed to score a goal despite having a combined 13 man advantage opportunities. The Flyers had the first several chances of …
Five Questions: How will the Flyers make up for all the goal scoring they lost in the offseason?
Flyers Faithful asked Dave Isaac from Philly Sports Daily, Ryan from Flyers Goal Scored By…, Anthony Mingioni from The Hockey Guys,Center Ice Philly, and Sportsology, and our very own Frick five questions about the first half of the season. We are very grateful that they took the time to share their opinions and predictions with us. Each day of this week, we will run the answers to one of those questions. Today’s question is: How will the Flyers make up for all the goal scoring they lost in the offseason? Dave Isaac: They tried to put themselves in a good position in terms of having …
Bring Back Gagne? A look at the pros and cons.
We have 25 days until free agency and I’m sure each and every one of those days will be rumor laden until July 1 arrives. Paul Holmgren was fairly active last season, adding Andrej Meszaros, Sean O’Donnell, Jody Shelley and Nikolay Zherdev, while retaining Darroll Powe and Daniel Carcillo. However all of that activity caused casualties of the cap. Arron Asham signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent and Simon Gagne, the longest- tenured Flyer at the time, waived his no-trade clause in a much maligned deal with Tampa Bay, while we took on Matt Walker — or more precisely, his two hip surgeries. …
An open letter to Paul Holmgren
Dear Paul, We’ve had our differences in the past. The lack of value you see in draft picks and prospects worries me. Your willingness to give picks away in trade, and hand out no trade clauses like candy was mystifying at one point, but now I have become numb to it. Additionally, the idea of putting all of your eggs in one basket, like you did this season, is far from an approach I prefer take. There’s still no guarantee that you’ll win the Stanley Cup, as we saw, and now we’re left in the same spot where we always seem to …
RICE & MICE: Wrist cartilage tears (aka TFCC tears)
Flyers players Mike Richards and Andrej Meszaros both had wrist surgery on Wednesday morning. Both had cartilage tears. It’s reported that Meszaros had some ligament involvement with his surgery. It seems that there’s a lot of uncalled for speculation going on about Richards’ wrist procedure. When did he hurt it? How did it happen? Why didn’t he have surgery during the season? Even a sighting of Flyers (including Richards) at the Wednesday evening Philadelphia Union match, left the doors open for comments about his quick recovery from surgery. Seems to be everything just shy of questioning whether the injury is real. …
Flyers’ offseason surgery roster revealed
No less than eight Flyers, including captain Mike Richards, have at least the possibility of surgery if not the spectre of actual repairs, looming in the offseason, according to club general manager Paul Holmgren. Holmgren revealed the news during his end-of-season news conference and said Richards, who has been bothered by a wrist injury since training camp, will need to have surgery done. Holmgren also revealed that four additional players will have a date with the surgeon’s table: defenseman Andrej Meszaros (wrist); forwards Kris Versteeg (stomach muscle) and Blair Betts (finger) along with goaltender Michael Leighton (hip). Forwards Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell will be evaluated further to see if …
What’s wrong with the Flyers?
It’s too easy to blame Brian Boucher for this loss. After all, he gave up four goals on 20 shots and was pulled from the game. Regrettably, he has not performed above his abilities during the playoffs this season. He’s let in some soft goals and been pulled more times than a sixteen-year old’s wang. His .800 SV% tonight was also woeful at best, but let’s not hang him out to dry just yet. Bill Meltzer likes to state that bad things happen when you don’t move your feet. The Flyers skaters are providing him with plenty of evidence to …
Chara Scores Twice, Flyers Lose 5-1
Hopefully the Flyers can reenact the second portion of their 2010 playoffs after dropping Game 3 tonight by a 5-1 count. They are now one game from elimination. Zdeno Chara had two goals and David Krejci added three points while Tim Thomas made 37 saves as Boston has now out scored Philly 15-6 in the series. Andrej Meszaros had the only Flyers’ goal on the night, but it meant very little as the Bruins already enjoyed a 4-0 lead. Last game it was James van Riemsdyk, this game it was Chara. Just over 30 seconds into the game, Chara walked into a …
Flyers Fight Back, But Fall Short In Overtime
After falling in a 3-0 hole before the end of the first, the Flyers fought back to tie it at three only to lose in overtime. Tyler Ennis opened the scoring and closed the scoring for the game netting the overtime winner 5:31 past regulation. Ryan Miller had 36 saves while Michael Leighton (yup, that Michael Leighton) gets the loss in a relief appearance for Brian Boucher. Nothing takes the energy out of the home crowd faster than an early soft goal. Ennis let the Flyers experience that with a weak shot to Boucher’s right that found it’s way in …