The month of December has been a successful one for the Flyers. Although the month began and ended with the Flyers occupying the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, it is hard to take to take issue with the club's 9-3-1 record.
That's especially true in light of the fact that the team played 10 games in the road and had to survive the news of the concussion-related loss for the season of Chris Pronger as well as the absence of Claude Giroux for four games due to a concussion of his own.
The Flyers dug deep and showed their resiliency in building a seven-game winning streak. The streak was shattered to pieces by a 6-0 thrashing on home ice at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins, and Philly went on to lose four of five games (including a road loss to the New York Rangers). But they closed out the month in grand fashion with a solid 4-2 road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins; Philly's second win over the Pens in December.
The win in Pittsburgh was a solid all-around road game by the Flyers. One thing Philly needs to get away from come January -- in the Winter Classic and beyond -- is its recent tendency to give up the game's first goal (often early in the first period) and put themselves in position to chase the game. But after spotting the Pens a quick 1-0 lead, the Flyers settled in nicely.
Philadelphia did lots of good things against Pittsburgh. Actually, they did many good things on the forecheck in the 5-1 loss in Tampa on Tuesday but were done in by a deadly combination of an inability to finish a boatload of prime scoring chances, a few inopportune defensive coverage breakdowns, frustration-related lapses of discipline and a lack of clutch goaltending.
This time around, the effort level was comparable but the execution was better. The Flyers were a little more opportunistic offensively, played a fairly clean defensive game and got better goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky than they received from Ilya Bryzgalov against the Bolts.
The Flyers pressured the puck effectively on the forecheck, especially in the second period. They broke out of defensive zone cleanly far more often than not. Bobrovsky made a few crucial saves. Add in some timely offense and suddenly the Flyers got back to their winning ways at the expense of a fine Pittsburgh team that had come in playing outstanding hockey over the course of a four-game win streak.
Philly generated a power play goal against a Pens' PK that had been virtually invincible on home ice and got goals from the defense (Kimo Timonen's first of the season) and a pair from the third line to support Jaromir Jagr's go-ahead goal in the middle stanza. Matt Read finally broke out of a recent goal slump and Max Talbot joined Jagr with a goal against his former team. Claude Giroux added two more helpers to his league-leading point total.
Meanwhile, Sean Couturier returned to the lineup in grand fashion after missing four games with a head injury. Not only did he play his usual solid defensive game, he also showed off the nascent NHL-level offensive upside that he has. Likewise, Jakub Voracek was rewarded for a strong game with a pair of assists.
While Brayden Schenn remains pointless in his injury-marred rookie season, I thought he had a much better game in Pittsburgh than he did in his return to the lineup in Tampa. He was much more involved in a positive way and wasn't trying to force the play.
All totaled, the victory over the Penguins was an uplifting way for the Flyers to finish out the 2011 calendar year and a good foundation to prepare to better deal with a Rangers team that has stymied them twice this season.
Saturday's blog will focus exclusively on the Alumni Game at the Winter Classic. On Sunday, I will resume the month in review with a player-by-player breakdown.
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If it were my decision to make, Bobrovsky would get the start over Bryzgalov in the Winter Classic. Actually, I think it ought be a no-brainer right now.
Over the last six weeks, Bob has been the goalie who has more consistently made big saves and given the Flyers a better chance to win games than Bryzgalov.
I don't buy into the "if Bryz doesn't start the Winter Classic, you're going to lose him" mentality. A goalie in particular needs to be mentally tough if he's to have any chance at playoff success. If Bryzgalov is so fragile (which I doubt is the case) that he can't work through the disappointment of not getting the start in a marquee game, then the Flyers really did make a mistake bringing him in.
Bryzgalov's wildly inconsistent season to date is a test of his character. If Bobrovsky gets the Winter Classic start, Bryz needs to look in the mirror for whom to blame, support his teammate (who has played very well in pretty much all of his appearances going back to the week of Thanksgiving) and then steadily turn the disappointment into motivation to return to the level he showed in Phoenix.
In order for the team to have true confidence in Bryzgalov, he needs to channel his emotions in a positive direction. There has been too much of snowball effect on the nights where he hasn't brought his "A" game.
In the 14 games he's won, Bryz has a 1.95 goals against average and .932 save percentage. In the 12 games he's lost or been pulled, however, the goalie sports a ghastly 4.42 GAA and pathetic .828 SV%. While it only goes to figure that a goalie's numbers would be better in the games when his team wins, those Jeckyl-and-Hyde splits are unacceptable.
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