UPDATE 11:45 AM EST
The Flyers have made a minor trade. The club has traded David Laliberte and Pat Maroon (who had been in limbo since being dismissed from the Phantoms) to Anaheim. The organization has re-acquired defenseman Danny Syvret along with rookie left winger Rob Bordson.
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One of my favorite throwaway lines from a Three Stooges short involved the boys portraying haberdashers, and Shemp mistakes a police detective who walks in the store for a customer. Over the man's protests, the Stooges start fitting him with clothes.
Taking off the man's jacket, Shemp smirks and remarks, "Where'd you ever get this mess?"
The man replies, "I bought it here."
Recovering quickly, Shemp says, "Oh! What a beautiful messterpiece!"
Messterpiece is the perfect word to describe the Flyers' 5-4 shootout victory in Washington last night. The club played far from its best hockey of the season, but the bottom line is that they showed resiliency and took two points away from a tough road game against a powerhouse opponent that came into the game with a 9-1-1 record in its previous 11 games (including an OT win against Philly earlier this month).
It's easy to tick off all the things the Flyers didn't do well last night. But each of the negatives was canceled out by a positive:
* They played a horrendous first period against a Washington club that came out playing very good two-way hockey. Giving up multiple odd-man rushes to the Capitals is usually a formula for a blowout loss. It was only due to some good fortune (such as Alex Ovechkin hitting a crossbar) and several big stops by Brian Boucher that the club was still in the game heading into the second period. But the flip side of that is the fact that the club found a way to deliver in the second period, going off with a 2-1 lead.
* For the third straight game, the team continued to look disorganized on the powerplay, and were unable to convert a minute-long 5-on-3 opportunity as well as an overtime 4-on-3. Again, that's usually a recipe for losing. But the club finally broke an 0-for-15 drought, and Claude Giroux's rather unconventional deflection goal (which hit off his cup) was absolutely critical in getting things going on a night where it once seemed like the club was destined to get shut out.
* For the third straight game, the penalty killing sprung a leak at the worst possible time. The Capitals rode three powerplay goals in the third period into comebacks from 3-1 and 4-3 deficits to force overtime. The flip side of the coin: The Flyers never sagged or wilted. They regrouped and carried the majority of the play.
* Brian Boucher let in a pair of bad goals in the third period, failing to seal off a post on one and getting beaten high to the short-side from a flat angle on the other. But he redeemed himself in the shootout against three of the deadliest offensive players in the world, and he also helped keep the team close early. At the end of the night, he bettered Michal Neuvirth and that's all that really mattered.
* The Flyers took some really dumb penalties in the third period, opening the door for Washington. In particular, as much as I like Danny Briere, he drives me insane with his careless use of the stick. The only positive to this is the fact that it didn't cost the Flyers at least one point last night.
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One of the nicer subplots to the first quarter of the season has been the emergence of Andreas Nodl. Now that he has the monkey off his back in terms of putting the puck in the net, he's playing with a lot of confidence and is popping some goals in addition to his strong all-around play.
The organization deserves credit for sticking with Nodl and showing patience. Many, many fans were ready to pull the plug on him when he struggled through his first few seasons. There's a lesson to be learned here about letting players develop at their own pace and living through the growing pains to get the rewards down the road.
If you think this a reference to James van Riemsdyk, you'd be absolutely right. By the way, JVR had arguably his best game of the regular season last night. That's the way he needs to play to be successful -- using his size and getting involved in the trenches. JVR came a goal post away from his first goal of the season.
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The punchless Phantoms fell to 3-14-2 on the season after losing, 3-1, to Norfolk last night. David Laliberte scored the lone goal for Adirondack, temporarily giving the club a 1-0 lead with a mid first period powerplay goal. Nic Riopel stopped 28 of 31 shots in a losing cause.
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Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at ex-Flyer Michal Handzus. Last night, Zus scored in regulation and later tallied the lone goal in a six-round shootout, leading the LA Kings to victory over Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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