Better late than never! Flyers barely edge Isles, 2-1

My apologies for the lack of a recap after the game yesterday. I was away all weekend without internet access and neither Anthony or Ryan were around to cover the game, either. These things happen, I guess. We were one of the first Flyers blogs to break the Krajicek signing, though. Love us for that, please.

Anyway, I’m glad that CSN replayed this game. I missed the majority of it while attending the Philadelphia International Auto Show. Good times. Even though the show gets smaller and smaller every year. Signs of the times, I suppose. On to the game.

Peter Laviolette shuffled the lines going into Saturday’s match-up to try and find some offensive spark. Darroll Powe played on the first line with Carter and Briere, while Scott Hartnell was flipped to the other side of the ice and played alongside Gagne and Richards. It didn’t take too long for the new lines to find the twine. Late in the first, Darroll Powe would use his speed to chip the puck into the offensive zone and blow by the Islanders defender (I forget who it was – kill me) and play the puck in behind the net. Briere would come in from the opposite side and pick up the loose puck and make a quick wrap-around move to put the puck past Islanders goalie, Dwayne Roloson.

The Flyers second and final goal came from a Mike Richards shot that was beautifully redirected by Scott Hartnell who was standing alone at the side of the net.

Obviously, an NHL game wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t have officiating to complain about. In the second period, Kimmo Timonen took a slapper from the point that beat Roloson. Kerry Fraser, who was properly positioned in the corner of the rink, pointed towards the net and had awarded the goal to the Flyers. A split second after the puck had gone into the net, momentum carrying him forward, Scott Hartnell plowed into Dwayne Roloson and knocked him over. Roloson was furious after getting up and immediately charged to the corner to protest. Rob Martell, who was the center ice official, skated into the corner and discussed with Fraser that the goal should be disallowed and that Scott Hartnell should go to the box for goalie interference. That happened. Somehow. Even though the puck was in the net before Hartnell ran into Roloson, Kerry Fraser signaled that Timonen’s shot was a goal, and the play was dead, somehow, this call would be reversed. The Islanders would go on the power play and score on it which game them a lot more momentum than they should have had.

I don’t want to get into the rules and the rest of the blah blah blah, because I’m tired of it. The NHL really needs to work on its officials. Someone needs to take action when this kind of shit happens, before it costs someone a really big game.

Ray Emery was up to the task for the rest of the game when the Flyers fell asleep, and that’s the only reason the Flyers won this game. It was a sloppy win, but it was a win, nonetheless.

The Flyers are in Calgary tomorrow night to face the new Calgary Maple Leaf….I mean Flames, who no longer have Dion Phaneuf on their roster thanks to a slew of Sunday morning trades. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out for the Flames, and how badly it hurts the Laffs.

Flyers Sign D Lukas Krajicek

Various outlets are reporting the Flyers have agreed to terms with Lukas Krajicek, who was recently waived and bought out by the Lightning.  This seems to be what fit what GM Paul Holmgren was saying in recent weeks, mentioning that he would like to add depth on the blueline.  After losing Ryan Parent for 6 weeks, you kind of felt that something would have to be done.  Krajicek should provide solid depth for the team while Parent recovers.  The question is whether he replaces OKT or Bartulis.  Krajicek is expected to play tomorrow in Calgary.  Personally, I’d rather he replace OKT, who seems to look lost at times.  Not to mention that he ends up out of position after trying for the big hit too often.

Krajicek spent the last two seasons in Tampa Bay.  Putting up 20 points in 94 games, while at -12.

Flyers give up effort…I mean, the lead, and lose to the Thrashers. Again…

Remember earlier in today’s preview when I said the Flyers have been playing better hockey as of late? Yeah, I lied. Ilya Kovalchuk, Evander Kane, and Jim Slater made the Flyers look like complete goofs tonight. There were two or three stretches of one or two minutes where the Flyers actually looked like they wanted to play hockey, but aside from that, the team was invisible. Again. To add more sting to tonight’s loss, the Atlanta Thrashers just moved ahead of the Flyers in the Eastern Conference standings. They now have 56 points. Yes, the Thrashers are ahead of the Flyers.

The Flyers had a pretty good hand on this game heading into the third period. They played a solid second period from the 10-minute mark on through the end of it. Dan Carcillo scored on his 25th birthday to make the game 3-1 heading into the third period.

Up to this point, the Flyers kept Ilya Kovalchuk under wraps. Kovalchuk would make it a 1 goal game after a flopped face off sent the puck bouncing right over Matt Carle’s stick and onto his. It was all downhill from there.

The Flyers completely forgot how to play offense after Kovy’s goal and, for the rest of the game, it was all Atlanta.

The Good:

• Claude Giroux had a fantastic game tonight. First, he pulls a sick move and deposit the puck in the back of the net, and then he sets up Arron Asham with a pretty pass that he buried.
• Power play puck movement was better than it has been. Flyers still didn’t score on the power play, but they didn’t have as many opportunities. Atlanta was just up to the task of killing, too.
• Everything but the part of the game where the Flyers didn’t slack………wait…what?

The Bad:

• Ray Emery didn’t look so sharp tonight. He wasn’t single handily at fault for any of the goals, but the ones that did go into the net were very uncharacteristic of him.
• Everything I didn’t mention.

This team is worrying me.

We’re playing the Thrashers again. Can we beat ‘em this time, please?

In recent years, the Flyers have absolutely demolished the Thrashers on the scoreboard and in the standings. Earlier this season, November 28th, to be exact, the Flyers fell to the Thrashers, 1-0. It was their fifth loss in six games, and just so happened to be one game prior to the removal of then coach, John Stevens. Shortly after the meeting against Atlanta, the Flyers fell into their losing skid. As of late, the Flyers are playing better hockey, as are the Thrashers. The Flyers offense was inexistent the last time these two teams met. They were also shut out by the Vancouver Canucks the following game.

Atlanta comes into tonight’s match-up 5-3-2 in their last ten games. Along with that, they’re dealing with trade rumors swirling around their star player, Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk comes into tonight’s game being one of the NHL’s leading scorers. He’s sporting 30 goals – 10 of them being power play marks. Expect to see Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen matched up against Kovalchuk for the majority of tonight’s game.

Ray Emery will once again be the starting goalie tonight for the Flyers. It’s safe to say that he’s returned to the spot of “number one”.

Three Keys to Victory:

• Special Teams: Peter Laviolette worked the Flyers special teams this week more than I have ever seen any coach do so. He worked them to a point where guys were skating around with half stick blades. Will we see the return of our once lethal power play and penalty kill tonight, or will our special teams struggles continue?
• Ray Emery is still a key: Is he really back, or have the last few games just been fluky? Emery will need to prove himself tonight against a weaker team to be considered “back” and “consistent” in my book.
• Wake up, offense: The offense took some time off against the Penguins, but taking the night off tonight isn’t acceptable. Neither is losing to the Thrashers twice in one season.

Let’s Go Flyers!

Old, but left unreported: FCC to do away with terrestrial loopholes?

Back on January 20th of last week, the FCC held a meeting with a vote that would eliminate the “terrestrial loophole” in television broadcasting. That vote ended in a 4-1 landslide against the law created back in 1992.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-to-1 on Wednesday to eliminate the so-called “terrestrial loophole” in a 1992 federal cable law, which requires cable operators to give competitors access to cable-owned programming that is transmitted using satellite connections. Until now, the provision didn’t apply when the cable operators send those programs over land-based networks instead.

Back in 1997 when Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia replaced PRISM, Comcast decided to keep the sports channel off of satellite television so they’d have a bigger draw for customers who wanted to see Philadelphia sports. A smart business plan, but those who wanted to save money on their television service stayed with their satellite providers. This left tons of people without their fix of Philadelphia sports, because CSN Philadelphia wasn’t an offered channel on their service.

While it’s not widely available in the North East, Verizon’s FIOS service has been offering CSNPhilly – as well as the other CSN regional channels – since the service launched.  There are a large number of residents living in areas without any type of cable provider, so satellite TV is their only reasonable option for television, so this will come as excellent news to them.

The change hasn’t been made official and there is plenty of work to be done in the court room, so I can’t even predict when this will happen. The good news is, Comcast’s days of strangling their customers appear to be over, and that’s the good news here.

Awesome delay of game penalty helps lift Penguins over Flyers

Can it really continue to be coincidence that every nationally broadcasted game the Penguins take part in is full of horrible officiating and a two minute surge, that ends up propelling the Penguins over their opponent in the final two minutes of a game? Can it really continue to be a coincidence? Really, it’s growing tiresome. There’s so much to say about today’s officiating, but I’ll get to that later. First, I want to touch on today’s game.

Today’s loss ends the Flyers six game long home winning streak. Complain all you’d like about the officials, because your complaints are legitimate. Just don’t try and tell me they were the complete reason for the outcome of this afternoon’s match-up. The Flyers finished at an abysmal 1 for 9 on the power play. The goal they converted on – Carter’s wrap around luck shot – should have never even gone in. Granted, several of the power plays weren’t full length power plays and were shortened due to another penalty ending, but still, a man advantage is a man advantage.

The turning point of today’s afternoon came when Mike Richards was thought to have given the Flyers a 2-0 lead, instead, Simon Gagne and Evgeni Malkin were tangled up behind the play. Richards scored, but a whistle (that nobody heard) was blown, and although none of the on ice officials had their arms raised, Malkin and Gagne went to the box. However, it was Simon Gagne that was penalized for a phantom high stick that would coincidentally nullify the captain’s goal. On the ensuing power play, Sergei Gonchar took a shot from the point that made its way past a well screened Ray Emery. Just like that, the game was tied. Just like that, a two goal swing completely shifted the momentum of this game into the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like we’ve never seen this before.

Minutes later, Kimmo Timonen, with one foot still barely in the defensive zone, flipped the puck out of play giving the Penguins another power play. Sergei Gonchar would set up at the top of the zone once again and take a shot. This time, there was more traffic in front of Emery, and Matt Cooke redirected the puck right through Emery’s legs.

Pittsburgh took another penalty with 47 seconds left in the game and gave the Flyers a 6-on-4 opportunity which the Flyers couldn’t capitalize on.

Claude Giroux and Mike Richards decided to try and be entirely too fancy today, and I don’t know why. I’m still confused as to why Darroll Powe was taken off the first line. You can’t have a patient player like Richards and a passer like Giroux on the same line. It’s just not going to click. JVR is clueless and invisible without Giroux. You can tell.

There are several other things that I  wanted to get into the recap, but they’ve slipped my mind and I have a miserably painful headache, so I’ll save them for another post. Something’s going to have to carry us into Thursday. That’s when the Flyers play next. Home against the Thrashers.

Ryan Parent will have surgery Monday

According to Flyers GM Paul Holmgren, Flyers defenseman Ryan Parent will undergo back surgery on Monday to remove a disc fragment from his lumbar spine. At first glance, Parent is expected to miss six weeks of action.

In two years in the NHL, Parent has suffered two major injuries. Last year, he tore his labrum in his right shoulder and missed 36 games. Parent has missed 16 consecutive games this season.

Flyers weather the storm and beat out Hurricanes 4-2

There was a point in today’s game where I said to myself, “Here we go again.”

Peter Laviolette then called a time out and, minutes after, I took those words back. It’s incredible how much motiviation and energy this guy can provide to this team. It wasn’t all Laviolette, though. Minutes after the Flyer time out, Ian Laperriere took matters into his own hands and dropped the gloves with Carolina’s Tom Kostopoulos. Kostopoulos had no chance against Laperriere from the start.

“We were soft and it was 1-1. … and I felt like it was the right time to do something.” Laperriere told CSNPhilly’s Tim Panaccio.

The Flyers were on the power play, and not even two minutes after Lappy’s fight, Chris Pronger scored on a beautiful, perfectly placed wrist shot from the point that rang off the inside of the post. Prior to Pronger’s goal, in the first period, Dan Carcillo stole the puck from a lifeless Joni Pitkanen and took to the net to completely freak Manny Legace out of his jock strap. Legace, still suffering from a pink eye infection, was removed from the game and replaced by Cam Ward.

Jeff Carter played another noticeably strong game today. He scored one of his two goals on a quick wrist shot that just snuck through Cam Ward’s five hole. The second goal came by virtue of the empty net, but don’t let that fool you, Carter worked for that puck. I’m still not the biggest advocate of Carter’s shooting techniques, but he’s been a workhorse lately, and it’s clear that it is paying off big time. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Ray Emery started in goal this afternoon for the Flyers and allowed just two goals on thirty-five shots. Emery misplayed the puck behind the net on Carolina’s second goal. The puck bounced right off of his stick to the tape of Sergei Samsonov who threw it right through the slot to a wide open Rod Brind’Amour. This gave Carolina some life that they shouldn’t have had, but Emery seemed up to the task. Late in the game, he made two huge saves against Brind’Amour and Staal that could have easily sent the game to overtime.

The Flyers looked good today, but taking six or seven minutes off to start a period could be the crucial point in any game you play. The Flyers need to continue to work, and continue to play strong and intelligent hockey from here out. They’ve made the best out of this six game home stand so far. Hopefully it continues tomorrow when Cindy and the Penguins come to town.

By the way:

During today’s first intermission, Peter Luukko made the following statement in regards to Dan Carcillo who’s scored two goals in his last three games.

“[John] Tortorella’s got it all wrong,” said Flyers president Peter Luukko between periods. “[Marian] Gaborik shouldn’t be messing with our skilled player.”

Gameday Preview: Hurricanes at Flyers

Andy isn’t around to cover this game preview, so I get to give this a shot. In an afternoon matchup at the Wachovia Center, the Carolina Hurricanes (15-27-7) take on the Flyers, fresh off their victory over the Rangers. The Flyers have defeated the Hurricanes in the three previous matchups between the two clubs this season, shutting out the ‘Canes in the first game of their season. The Flyers blew out the Hurricanes 6-1 on Halloween, a game Michael Leighton started for Carolina. Their next meeting was a 4-3 shootout win, where Leighton, in goal for the Flyers after being claimed off of waivers, stoned both Carolina shooters in the shootout to secure the victory. It will be interesting to see if Peter Laviolette goes with Emery fresh off of a shutout, or with Leighton against his former club.

The Hurricanes have been abysmal this season, stacking their roster with veterans off of a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. That has landed them in the basement of the Eastern Conference, with many Hurricanes fans already set on drafting Taylor Hall first overall. While their play of late has been better, the team is looking to move a number of their veterans with no-trade clauses, and has somewhat started the rebuild by anointing Eric Staal captain of the team. Veteran Rod Brind’ Amour, a Philadelphia fan favorite in the 1990’s, has been among the worst in terms of plus/minus in the NHL for the past two seasons, and may be playing one of his last games in front of the Philly faithful.

The Flyers come in off of a hard-fought win over the Rangers on Thursday night. The physical play was on another level, as a number of scrums and fights broke out, and the Flyers returned to their effective intimidation style of old. However, with a number of players riding hot streaks into this game, most notably, Jeff Carter, James Van Riemsdyk, Mike Richards, and Chris Pronger, the Flyers should be look to continue those streaks and exploit the weak Carolina defense. Through their previous two matchups, almost all of the goals have been scored at even strength, which should make this game an interesting one. The Flyers have managed to pounce on teams early lately, scoring the first goal a number of times. Hopefully the team comes out with some energy, and doesn’t perform like they did in a 4-0 loss to Toronto earlier this month. Also adding distraction are news reports about Calgary Flames GM Darryl Sutter was in attendance Thursday night to discuss a trade with the Flyers, which has started the spectulation of numerous rumors, with the most amusing being Dion Phaneuf for Jeff Carter (which would make me sick, personally).

Other Notes:

• Cam Ward is starting his 18th straight game for the Hurricanes.
• Mike Richards has 14 points in his last 14GP.
• Jeff Carter has 7 goals and 15 points in his last 13GP.
• Daniel Briere has 13 points in his last 13GP.
• Chris Pronger has 10 points in his last 8GP.
• Aaron Asham has 8 points in his last 9GP.
• James van Riemsdyk 10 points in his last 9GP.

Injury Report:

Hurricanes: Erik Cole (upper body), Tuomo Ruutu (upper body), Scott Walker (shoulder), Joe Corvo (leg)

Flyers: Danny Syvret (shoulder), Ryan Parent (back)

Broad Street wins again, Flyers beat Rangers with fists and pucks

Well, for the first time in a long time, I can say that I had a blast watching a Flyers hockey game. The Flyers came into tonight’s game knowing that it was a near must-win situation, and they certainly played like it was. A full sixty minute effort and some fisticuffs helped propel the orange and black past the New York Rangers tonight in Philadelphia.

Never mind the fact that the Flyers didn’t score on all of the chances they generated, just remember that they scored first and ran with it. The Flyers controlled the pace of this hockey game from start to finish.

JVR got the Flyers on the board when he received a dangerous-but-pretty pass from Chris Pronger out of the defensive zone and took it in on a breakaway. Lundqvist would stop the initial shot, but JVR followed his rebound and put it home on the second attempt.

Ray Emery looked good tonight. Some may say that he wasn’t tested enough, which may or may not be true, but something’s got to be said for a guy who puts up a shut out against a team who’s scored 14 goals in two games.

There were several fights tonight: most notably a bout between Marian Gaborik and Dan Carcillo, which, to this minute, is still being considered a classless move by Dan Carcillo. Even though Gaborik initiated the fight, dropped the gloves first, and wanted everything to do with it, it’s still Dan Carcillo’s fault. Wonder what they’re putting in the water up there in New York. “There’s no honor. There’s no honor in that,” said Ranger coach John Tortorella. Carcillo beat in Marian Gaborik’s face and the Wachovia Center erupted to its loudest point of the night. Was a beautiful thing to see. I won’t get into the soap opera drama that came after it, because I just think it’s another team jumping on Dan Carcillo for destroying someone in a fight. We’ll just say that there’s no reason for the Rangers to be talking negatively about the fight. They let their superstar player fight, and that’s that. It’s hockey. Get over it.

After that, Sean Avery would have his teeth punched down his throat by Scott Hartnell. Avery hadn’t had enough and fought to a draw with Dan Carcillo. Arron Asham and Aaron Voros would finish the night’s fight card when they fought to a draw. Despite Voros having an incredible size advantage, Arron Asham held his ground pretty well.

Overall, the Flyers made easy work of the New York Rangers tonight and played one of their most complete games of the season. We may have turned a corner, and while tonight’s win was big for us to hop back into the playoff race, there’s no team that we can take lightly from here on out.

I won’t be able to do the game preview for Saturday’s match-up against Carolina, so I’ve assigned it to Anthony. If he can’t get to it, there will be no preview. Just a recap.

See you Saturday.

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