Despite racking up an early three-goal lead and chasing Ryan Miller in the process, the Flyers saw all but one of those early scores go to waste, holding on to beat the Sabres 3-2 tonight in Buffalo. With the exception of two unlucky bounces, Ilya Bryzgalov provided another stellar performance by making 29 saves, while ex-Flyer Ville Leino had no points in his first game against Philly since departing as a free agent. Nine different Flyers registered a point tonight with Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk, and Scott Hartnell providing the goals within the first seven minutes of the game. Miller, who was yanked …
Flight Plan Week of 10.30.2011
The Philadelphia Flyers split their four games this week. After a big win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers dropped a bad one to the Montreal Canadiens where they looked all sorts of out of sorts against a team who was desperate for a win. Then, the Flyers continued looking discombobulated up until the end of the second period against the Winnipeg Jets in a crazy 17-goal back-and-forth shoot out at the Wells Fargo Center, the Jets barely getting out of dodge with a win they should have had locked up. Wrapping up the week, Philadelphia was able to …
Considering the possibility of a Bobrovsky trade
There’s something humorous about the fact that the Flyers waited until they had arguably their best goaltending prospect in ages before acquiring a bona fide starter. As a result, Sergei Bobrovsky, a once little-known goalie who posted solid numbers for Novokuznetsk Metallurg, a bad KHL team, ceased being the goalie of the future and became perceived as an overpaid, expendable backup in the mere bat of an eyelash. Barely a year after committing three years and nearly $3 million to Bobrovsky, it was reported that the Flyers began shopping him. It’s a long fall for someone who showed such promise and …
Flight Plan 04.03.2011
Sometime in June, anybody who cares about hockey played in North America will look back on the 2010-2011 season and try to analyze numbers and streaks and teams and players and everything. All of them will search to find turning points and why a struggling team got it together or why a team that had been good all year fell apart or why a team that was good all year turned it up a notch in the playoffs and won it all. Right now, anything anybody says is purely speculation. In June however, everything everybody says will be based on …
Looking at the impact of the Halak trade
Jaroslav Halak, the 25-year-old Slovakian netminder, was the arguably the best available goaltending asset this offseason. His stock skyrocketed after an unprecedented playoff run where he backstopped the 8th seed Montreal Canadiens to victories over the top team in the East and the defending Stanley Cup champions while boasting the best save percentage in the playoffs. GMs were apparently told a while ago that he was on the block but the trade of Halak to St. Louis for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz came as a shock to the rest of us. Carey Price was supposed to be Montreal’s next …