Who would have thought a week that featured three games against mediocre Southeast Division opponents could provide such entertaining hockey (no sarcasm) and debate? An unusual scene in Tampa Bay, resulting in the equivalent of a puck-possession staring contest, has caused such a stir that the general managers needed to talk about it at their meetings, multiple short-handed penalty-shot goals were awarded AND converted, Braydon Coburn fought a former Philly scrapper in addition to scoring a goal, and the Flyers almost (I know I’m stretching it here) blew a two-goal lead in the final ten seconds of a game. Let’s start with …
Read Provides Unique Game-Winner as Philly Beats Florida 3-2
The Flyers leave the state of Florida on a positive note tonight as they beat the Panthers 3-2. Matt Read recorded his first game-winning goal in the NHL with a rarity: a short-handed, penalty-shot goal in the third period, while Braydon Coburn registered his first goal of the season. Ilya Bryzgalov had a 31-save evening with his only errors coming from a goal off an awkward deflection and a goal with nearly no time left in the game. Despite being out shot 16-9 in the final twenty minutes of regulation, the Flyers held on for the win. In an opening period which featured five …
3 on 3 for the week of 10.23.2011
The Flyers started off the week well, with a win in Ottawa 7-2, but followed it up with two straight losses, a 5-2 setback to the Caps and a 4-2 decision to the Blues — both at home. The Flyers need to play better if they want to turn around this current losing streak. That being said, it is time for this week’s three stars: Matt Read — Read had a career-best goal and three assists in the thrashing of the Sens and has continued his solid all around play at both ends of the ice. He was held scoreless …
But what does it mean?
N.B. I apologize in advance for this stream of consciousness post. I need some more time to organize my thoughts on the roster changes and will likely edit this post this afternoon. This morning, the Flyers announced that Brayden Schenn was recalled and Zac Rinaldo and Harry Zolnierczyk were loaned to the Phantoms. That leaves the Flyers with a glut of centers and some big questions about where everyone fits in the lineup. Through five games and a 4-0-1 record, the Flyers have been firing on all cylinders. They lead the league in goals per game (3.80) and have given up …
Atlantic Watch: 10/12-10/18
Three more games for the Flyers this week resulted in five more points in the standings. Losing their first game of the year in overtime to the Kings, the Flyers are no longer perfect on the season. However, since they won their other games in the week, the Flyers still haven’t lost in regulation this season. Sure, it’s upsetting to lose a game like Saturday’s to Los Angeles, a team featuring former Philly teammates Mike Richards and Simon Gagne, but it’s important to earn points early in the year. It’s also important to see many of the young players stepping …
Flyers Get First Win In Ottawa Since 2007
Matt Read notched a career-high four points tonight as the Flyers destroyed the Senators 7-2 in Ottawa. Read, Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux, and Max Talbot provided goals in the first period to give the Flyers an insurmountable lead. Sergei Bobrovsky had 21 saves on 23 Senators’ shots in his first appearance — and win — of the season. Goals from Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson weren’t nearly enough for Ottawa as Philly produced its biggest win of the short season. His first goal in the league may have been soft, but Read’s second goal was a thing of beauty. Burning past rookie …
Keep the tiger caged
As I pored over the hokey headlines this morning, I came upon Sam Carchidi’s article about how the Flyers are in no rush to promote Brayden Schenn. Kudos, Flyers. You’ve made the difficult but correct choice. Through four games, Schenn has tallied eight points, split evenly between goals and assists. As Carchidi wrote, he is “refining his game by playing in all situations for the Phantoms.” Perfect. This is exactly what he should be doing. Schenn is invaluable to this organization and the best place for him to be at the moment is in the AHL, where he can play …
3 on 3 for the week of 10.16.2001
The Flyers had a good week, winning 5-4 over Vancouver and getting 1 point in a 3-2 OT loss to the LA Kings. That gives them 7 points, good enough for 4th place in the Eastern Conference. Here are my 3 “hot” players for last week: Claude Giroux — Giroux moves to the #1 slot this week with 1 goal and 2 assists in 2 games. He continues to look very good on the power play with Jagr, and they have a special chemistry that is hard to describe. They just seem to know where each other are on the ice at …
Flight Plan for the week of 10.16.2011
I will be filling in for Nick this week, who usually files the weekly Flight Plan. The Flyers played two games this past week, going 1-0-1. They beat the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, by a 5-4 count in the home opener then lost in overtime to the Kings 3-2 on Saturday night. Peter Laviolette’s young club continues to take a lot of untimely penalties and even though they were able weather the storm against Vancouver, a costly tripping call against James van Riemsdyk lead to the Kings’ deciding OT goal. Mike Richards came back to haunt his old mates, recording …
Flyers Fall to Kings in OT
The big storyline coming into what turned out to be a 3-2 overtime victory by the Los Angeles Kings over the Flyers, was the return of Mike Richards, and I think he ended up being the storyline at the end of the game as well. He took a penalty that led to the Flyers tying the game late in the third period, and then set up the winning shot in OT, like we had seen him do for the Orange and Black so many times before. This Saturday night special started off with a bang… literally. Zac Rinaldo levelled training-camp …