Terry Murray must have thought he was a genius in the Spring of 1997. He had two quality goaltenders: Ron Hextall and Garth Snow. He had the benefit of home-ice advantage in the first round against a mediocre opponent — the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since Hextall faltered a bit down the stretch as the Flyers eventually lost the Atlantic Division lead and fell to third in the East, Murray hatched a plan so simple it was stupid: Start Snow and let him go as long as he performed well, and when he didn’t turn to the veteran Hextall. It managed to …
Boucher to start, Leighton to backup tonight
Sergei Bobrovsky fared poorly in his last start against the Buffalo Sabres, giving up three quick goals in seven shots. He looked shaky and unconfident. Bill Meltzer put it best when he said it was like Bob realized the enormity that is the postseason, and not in a good way. Still, he’s been known to bounce back from bad outings and is a better goalie on the road (.920 SV%, 2.51 GAA). After he was pulled from game 2, it was reasonable to think that he had a chance at starting the next game. Not so. This morning, Dave Isaac …
Tapping the Pipes 4/8/11
The Flyers’ well-publicized fall from grace continues to unfold before our eyes, seemingly with no end in sight. Closed-door meetings led by both Captain Mike Richards and stone-faced General Manager Paul Holmgren have been described by varying sources as “productive” and “intimidating” respectively as they players attempt to regain the spark that saw them rocket to the top of the Eastern Conference before the all-star break. If you ask any educated hockey fan, and even uneducated hockey fans who think that they’re educated, what the traditional issue with the Flyers is, they will immediately point to the goaltending. So great …
Forged Dialogues: Sergei Bobrovsky
Flyers Faithful would like to take a moment to thank Sergei Bobrovsky for taking some time out of his busy routine to sit down with us and answer some questions about his career. FF: Hello, Sergei. Thank you for meeting us at the Flyers Faithful offices to talk about hockey. How do you feel your rookie season has gone so far? SB: Bob! Ha! FF: Oh yeah, the Santa Coatesy thing. Very funny. So, tell us about your rookie year. SB: Bob! Hahahaha! FF: OK, I get it. Shouldn’t a translator be following you around every moment you’re not on …
Leighton clears re-entry waivers
Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that goaltender Michael Leighton cleared re-entry waivers and will report to the club later today. Leighton has made just one NHL appearance this season, allowing all four goals in a 7-4 victory at Los Angeles on December 30. He went 14-12-3 with a 2.22 goals-against average, five shutouts and a .923 save percentage for an awful Adirondack Phantoms club. Multiple sources in the region have reported via Twitter and other means that Leighton will accompany the Flyers to Buffalo for their game on Friday night. Several sources suggest the 29-year-old may start that …
Five Questions: Will the Flyers have another breakout star in the ’11 playoffs? If so, who will it be?
Flyers Faithful asked Travis Hughes from SB Nation and Broad Street Hockey, Matt P. From The 700 Level, Mark Trible from The Checking Line and our very own Pavialax five questions about the playoffs. 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: Will the Flyers have another breakout star in the ’11 playoffs? If so, who will it be? Travis Hughes: Last year’s playoffs had so many breakout stars — HBL, Giroux, Coburn… …
Five Questions: We’ve heard already who should be the starter in the playoffs. Who shouldn’t be the starter and why?
Flyers Faithful asked Travis Hughes from SB Nation and Broad Street Hockey, Matt P. From The 700 Level, Mark Trible from The Checking Line and our very own Pavialax five questions about the playoffs. 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: We’ve heard already who should be the starter in the playoffs. Who shouldn’t be the starter and why? Travis Hughes: Interesting twist. I think Brian Boucher should ride the pine to …
Tapping the Pipes
I suppose it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Sergei Bobrovsky read my column last week. Or at least someone he knows who speaks English pointed it out to him (yeah, I’m harping on the language barrier again. Sue me.) Because, since I stated last Friday that Bobrovsky doesn’t seem to want to take the reigns as playoff starting goaltender, he’s started to play like one. Including the Pittsburgh game at the Wells Fargo Center this past Thursday, Bobrovsky has allowed a grand total of 5 goals in his last 4 starts (that’s 1.25 goals per game, for …
Tapping the Pipes
I looked at my calendar today and did a double-take at what I didn’t see. March, on my calendar, wasn’t labeled “Flyers Goalie Controversy Month”. I was shocked. How could this be? The time in the stretch run of the NHL season where the historical goaltending woes of the Flyers rear its ugly head. Since the start of the month, the goaltender play which had been relatively solid throughout the season has started to fall apart. In the month, the Bobrovsky/Boucher tandem (as that’s the order it seems Coach Laviolette wants it to be) has combined for a .889 SV%, …
Flight Plan week of 02.06.2011
Consistent. If you’re a Philadelphia Flyers fan, over the past four years, you have never seen that word associated with the team you love. “Up and down” or “streaky” or “just plain bad” at times “unbelievably good” at times, but never were any of the teams over the past four years “consistent”. This team is the definition of consistent. They don’t win too many games in a row, they don’t lose too many games in a row, but they consistently show up and consistently get their points and that’s why they have the most wins of any team in the …