Continuing their strong month of December, thePhiladelphia Flyers soldiered on despite more depressing injury news, winning their seventh straight game with a 4-3 triumph on the road over the Montreal Canadiens tonight. Andrej Meszaros scored his third goal of the season in the first half of the third period to earn his second-game winner of the season. Sergei Bobrovsky saved 28 shots in the win, and Matt Carle led all skaters in points for the game with three assists. Tonight’s win keeps the Flyers record perfect for the month of December as they have won five of their seven games in this …
Atlantic Watch: 12/7-12/13
At this point in time, it looks like nothing can stop the Flyers. After winning their first two games in December last week, the Flyers went 4-0-0 this week winning a pair of games on the road and a pair of games at home. With their wins this week the Flyers are currently on a six-game winning streak, their first six-game winning streak since their undefeated run from October 26-November 6 early last season. Facing two Northeast Division opponents this week before traveling west, the Flyers look to keep their winning ways intact. Claude Giroux intercepted a pass in the defensive zone before depositing it past …
Flight Plan 12.11.2011
The Philadelphia Flyers have now won five games in a row and are sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings with 39 points and 101 goals scored, being the first team in the NHL to reach 100 goals this season. Peter Laviolette’s club has overcome a lot of criticism and adversity through these first 28 games to get to this point, but they may have to push forward without two more of their best players in Claude Giroux and Ilya Bryzgalov. Giroux is currently leading the NHL in scoring with 39 points, three points ahead of resurgent Toronto Maple Leafs winger …
Flight Plan 12.04.2011
The Philadelphia Flyers won both ends of a back-to-back situation for the second time this season, beating both the Anaheim Ducks and the Phoenix Coyotes, and now sit just three points away from tying the Pittsburgh Penguins, whom they will face later this week, for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. With all the injuries the Flyers have taken recently, especially to their blue line, it’s great to see them able to soldier on and pick up valuable points on the road. Claude Giroux scored a goal last night, adding his 15th goal and 32nd point on the year, …
Atlantic Watch: 11/23-11/29
The Flyers won back-to-back games to start the week before dropping a Winter Classic preview on Saturday as they earned four out of a possible six points. Ilya Bryzgalov only saw 20 minutes of action this week stopping six out of a possible nine shots, while Sergei Bobrovsky provided a great relief appearance on Wednesday along with starting both of the weekend games. With several injuries and transactions adding the usual drama, the Flyers look to beat two Western Conference opponents in the upcoming week. To start the week off, the Flyers overcame a 3-1 deficit to hand the New …
Flight Plan Week of 11.20.2011
The Philadelphia Flyers were on a pretty good run, collecting points in eight straight games. That streak dated all the way back to October 27 when they played the Winnipeg Jets in a wild game where 17 goals were scored and the Flyers ended up losing 9-8. As fate would have it, their most recent loss in regulation would also come at the hands of the Jets, by a score of 6-4 on Saturday. For some reason, Peter Laviolette cannot win games against either the Jets or the Atlanta Thrashers, doing so only once in his tenure as the head …
Flight Plan Week of 10.23.2011
The Philadelphia Flyers started out of the gate as one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League, winning four of their first five games and getting points in all five of them. Since then, they have suffered two embarrassing (though in different ways) back-to-back losses on home ice at the hands of the Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues. To lose to the Capitals by a score of 5-2 when they’re one of the hotter teams in the NHL at the beginning of the season, and just about every bounce goes the way of the opposition, well …
RICE & MICE: On femur fractures and icing…
Certain injuries have the ability to spark a fierce debate in regards to rule changes, and it’s usually the severe or gruesome injuries that result in near immediate change. Even though some players had called seamless glass unsafe for years, the head and neck injuries suffered by Max Pacioretty last season was partially responsible for the prompt switch from seamless to non-seamless glass and to look at the padding around the glass in time for the 2011-12 NHL season. The recent focus on concussions and head injuries have resulted in another alteration of the rule book in regards to boarding …
RICE & MICE: Stick to hockey, Mr. Recchi
Almost 3 weeks later and I still can’t watch the replay of Boston Bruins’ captain Zdeno Chara’s check on Montreal Canadiens’ forward Max Pacioretty without holding my breath. It was a violent hit and one that will stay fresh in my memory for a while. Pacioretty lost consciousness on impact and in the few seconds that he lay motionless on the ice after impact, I’m sure a few thousand fans (at least) were hoping that they didn’t just see a man die on the ice. Medical personnel were efficient and careful as they immobilized his neck and secured him to the backboard …
On Chara and Pacioretty
When Zdeno Chara hit Max Pacioretty during Tuesday’s tilt between the Bruins and Canadiens, my stomach turned. I was not angry. I was simply worried about Pacioretty. It’s the most fear and concern I felt since Ondrej Pavelec mysteriously collapsed during a stoppage of play back in October. I could care less about the outcome of either game or what it meant for either team. These situations transcended the artificial boundaries of hockey and all I could do was sit at the edge of my seat and wait, hoping to hear that the player was going to be alright. The …