It takes a lot for me to turn off a game before the final horn, but that's exactly what I did last night. It was obvious to me by early in the third period that the game was going to end as a regulation loss and a missed opportunity for the Flyers.
Last night, the Flyers' veterans showed all of the focus and intensity of a preseason game. Straight down the line -- forechecking, defense, goaltending, faceoffs, breakouts, you name it -- Philadelphia turned in an unacceptable effort. That should never happen any time of the season, but it's unconscionable in an April game with playoff home-ice implications.
The Flyers appeared to have learned the wrong "lesson" from their comeback shootout win over the Islanders. There aren't many nights where you can let the first 40 minutes of the game get away from you and then rally in the third period.
Beating the Penguins and Devils on back-to-back days was nice, but it's hardly justification to rest on your laurels for the remainder of the regular season. I would expect a much, much better effort tomorrow night.
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Recently signed Flyers prospect James vanRiemsdyk often gets compared to John LeClair. I can see some of the basis for the comparison -- both are big-framed American forwards who played college hockey before turning pro.
However, I think it should also be said that JVR is a little faster, more skilled with the puck on his stick and a better passer. He's not yet nearly as strong physically (LeClair was a tank) and not yet as adept at coming up with deflections and rebounds around the net. JVR goes through shifts and games where his focus wavers, and also gets into funks where he seems reluctant to shoot the puck.
I think vanRiemsdyk is going to be a very good NHL player but I think it could take several seasons until he truly starts to tap into his ability. He's barely scratched the surface. JVR went scoreless in his pro debut last night.
The Flyers also recently signed a pair of their European prospects: defenseman Joonas Lehtivuori and winger Mario Kempe.
Lehtivuori had a very promising season a year ago, but missed time this season with a broken hand and struggled for much of the season. He came on near the end of the season for a mediocre Ilves Tampere team. He's a smallish, puck-moving type of defenseman.
Kempe is a project. He's got tremendous speed and is effective when he crashes the net. He's also a good candidate for shootouts. However, I don't know how much he's going to score as a pro. He's a potential role-playing forward and is still a rather raw talent. He couldn't get much ice time with Rögle.
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Yesterday on NHL.com's Across the Pond, I
profiled Färjestad goaltender Jonas Gustavsson's extraordinary playoff run heading into the Swedish finals. Gustavsson recently shattered the Swedish league shutout record previously held by Henrik Lundqvist. Naturally, the Gustavsson article ran on the same day where he quite proved mortal and his FBK club went down in Game One of the final series against HV 71.
In the 24 hours before the Flyers announced the signing of Johan Backlund, Gustavsson was the first player I thought of as the potential mystery man whom the Flyers had signed.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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