The Flyers played a better game last night against Phoenix than they did in beating Florida last week or the Rangers on Sunday. But they paid the price for letting their guards down a bit in the opening half of the third period and for their ongoing inability to score on the power play.
I don't want to hear anything about how the referees cost the Flyers this game by calling a marginal hooking penalty on Kimmo Timonen in overtime, which led to Shane Doan's game-winning goal. First of all, it's just the way the game goes nowadays for referees to insert themselves late in regulation or overtime. Sometimes you benefit, sometimes you're on the short end of the stick. Second, the penalty came about because the Flyers were being outworked on that shift. Third, the refs didn't order a linesman to toss the puck in the net and then ruled it a goal -- Doan scored it on merit as Philly failed to kill the penalty.
Last but most certainly not least, the Flyers had five failed power plays of their own, including a pair when they trailed by one goal in the third period. Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who has been scorching hot over his last eight starts, was once again sensational.
Sergei Bobrovsky could absolutely not afford to allow anything soft, and the second Phoenix goal -- a side-angle hippity-hop that eluded the Russian rookie -- was a potential backbreaker for the club. The Flyers have been having some problems with offensive consistency of late. Excluding a pair of empty-net goals and a shootout victory, they've scored just 21 goals in the 10 games since the All-Star break.
Last night, they asked Bobrovsky to try to nurse a 1-0 lead through regulation, and that was not a fair expectation against a Phoenix club that has now pulled off six wins when trailing after two periods (Dallas has also done it six times, the Rangers lead the NHL with seven wins when facing a third-period deficit). The first and third Phoenix goals had nothing to do with Bobrovsky. However, that middle goal ended up looming large.
There are still positives to draw from last night's game. Claude Giroux came through in the clutch late in regulation just when it seemed like the Flyers would leave without a point. In addition, I thought that the Danny Briere line (apart from being on the ice for the breakdown on the first Phoenix goal) had its best game in over a week.
On the flip side, Andrej Meszaros had one of his worst games of the season and has struggled a bit for the last few games. Likewise, Mike Richards was hardly noticeable, and Peter Laviolette's experiment to have Andreas Nodl on the power play did not look too promising last night.
The team is now down to five healthy defensemen. Oskars Bartulis suffered an upper body injury (likely a separated shoulder) on a hit by ex-Flyer Scottie Upshall. With Sean O'Donnell (sprained knee) likely out for two weeks, the club will have to call up or trade for a defenseman (Adam Foote?). Matt Walker would have to pass through recall waivers to join the club. Other candidates are Danny Syvret or EriK Gustafsson.
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Today's
Daily Drop on Versus.com looks at Bryzgalov's tremendous play during the Coyotes' current eight-game winning streak. That's hardly a surprise. As goes Bryzgalov, so go the Coyotes.
There are five games left in the Elitserien regular season in Sweden. This week's
Across the Pond looks at the race for playoff positioning atop the standings, the battle for the final playoff spot and the struggle to avoid the dreaded qualification/relegation round (Kvalserien) in the postseason.
This weelk Philadelphiaflyers.com is featuring a
profile piece I wrote on Andreas Nodl. The article focuses on the transition from being a college scorer to a role player at the pro level.
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