One week ago today, the Flyers found themselves in the situation of playing the second half of back-to-back games and for the third time in four nights. They were coming off the emotional plateau of a thrilling road win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the end of a long road trip. The opponent was a rested Florida Panthers club.
The results that night were not pretty. The Flyers fell behind by multiple goals (3-0) early and never mounted much of a challenge in a game they ultimately lost, 5-2.
Last night's scenario was pretty much the opposite. The Flyers were the more rested team playing against a Washington Capitals club that was in the second half of back-to-back games and the last game of a three-in-four-stretch. Washington had been playing better hockey of late and was coming off a 3-0 shutout of Carolina the previous evening.
The challenge in front of the Flyers: Jump on Washington early to make them chase the game, pressure the puck on both the forecheck and the backcheck and refuse to let the opponent up for air. That's when the fatigue sets in, the legs get heavy and there's an opportunity for a blowout victory of three or more goals.
Mission accomplished.
Just as he did in the 7-0 shellacking of the Islanders on Presidents Day, Claude Giroux got the Flyers off and running last night with a goal in the opening half minute of the first period. Strong work down low in the zone by Jakub Voracek (who was not credited with an assist, and ultimately saw his point streak come to an end) and Scott Hartnell helped to create the opportunity from the doorstep.
At the 4:04 mark of the first period, the Flyers took advantage of loose penalty killing coverage by Washington. They moved the puck around at will, and Wayne Simmonds bagged a rebound goal with Hartnell and Giroux picking up the helpers.
From there, the Flyers pretty much outskated and outworked Washington for the next 45 minutes of the game. The Caps were held to a combined 12 shots through the first two periods. The Flyers played solid team defense -- forwards and blueliners alike -- for most of the game, led by Luke Schenn (24:34, six hits, one block, one assist, plus-one) and Nicklas Grossmann (22:47, four hits, seven blocks, plus-one). When there was a rare scoring opportunity, Ilya Bryzgalov had the answers.
In the second period, the Flyers' struggling secondary power play unit produced its biggest highlight of the season. Crafty puck work by Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn around the net produced an open point-blank scoring chance for the newly reacquired Simon Gagne.
Longtime fan favorite Gagne gave the crowd -- and his teammates -- a thrill by putting the puck in the back of the net. Capitals goalie Braden Holtby nearly made a miraculous stick save, but the puck still had enough steam to bounce directly into the cage.
In the latter stages of the second period, Max Talbot got off the goal-scoring schneid for for the 2013 season. He simply gained the blueline and blasted a slapshot from the center point area that flew past Holtby's ear, struck the pole dead center in the net and catapulted back out of the net. Referee Wes McCauley saw it all the way, immediately signaling for a goal.
Out came Holtby, In came rookie Philipp Grubauer (who was not scored upon in 14 shots over the remainder of the game).
If there was one thing the Flyers could have done a little better last night, it would been been not to let their defensive engines shut down a bit early in the final 10 minutes of the third period. The game outcome was already decided but Bryzgalov was still working on a shutout, and the Caps registered half of their game total 24 shots in the final stanza. Most came over the latter part of the period.
Bryzgalov's bid for his second shutout of the season came to an end with 2:09 left in regulation. Ruslan Fedotenko lost a defensive zone draw cleanly to Jay Beagle, and Joel Ward took Bruno Gervais to the net (and had his stick in the advantageous position) as Bryzgalov fumbled a rather routine point shot by Tom Poti. Ward jammed the rebound home, and the Flyers had to "settle" for a 4-1 win.
Odds and Ends from a Flyers Lens:
* The Flyers lost defenseman Erik Gustafsson to a lower body injury in the second period. The young defenseman, who has had tough luck with injuries each of the last two seasons, blocked a puck and hobbled off. There should be an update on his status later today.
* Apart from Gagne, there have been quite a few two-time Flyers who scored a goal in the first game of their second stint. Previous players to accomplish the feat include Bill Sutherland, Rick MacLeish, Mark Recchi, Rick Tocchet and Todd Fedoruk.
* Aside from his goal, Gagne looked good last night. He can still motor around the ice and still pays attention to both sides of the puck. Even if he proves over time to be half the offensive player he was in his best years in Philly, he can help the club with his speed and two-way play. But last night, he didn't look look like a hockey player whose offensive tank was on empty.
* For all the recent griping about the play of Danny Briere, he has points in six of the last seven games (three goals, five assists). As a player whose on-ice importance is measured by his points, that's actually an encouraging sign because he'd be the first to say that he can do better than that.
* In regard to all the trade (or after-season buyout) rumors surrounding Briere, I will discuss it more depth tomorrow. For now, suffice to say that a) the Flyers had better consider the situation from a variety of angles -- including some that may not be obvious -- before acting, and b) there is a big difference between Briere saying he only WANTS to play in Philadelphia and saying he planned to exercise his no-movement clause to block a trade if necessary. Not only is it presumptuous and wrong to put words in his mouth by assuming that the two things correlate, it's also premature to even discuss that scenario when there's no trade imminent. Beyond that, it's disrespectful to one of the nicest guys in any realm of sports to set him up with a no-win situation. That'd be like asking a coach whose job is rumored to be in trouble not just whether he thought his job might be at stake (a legit question) but if he's already given any thought to where he'd like to coach next.
* The consensus on the late-game kneeing major and game misconduct assessed to Flyers' forward Harry Zolnierczyk for a hit on Mathieu Perrault with 25 seconds left in the game was that the penalty was excessive. Even Washington head coach Adam Oates said after the game that he did not think it was a dirty hit. We'll see what Brendan Shanahan has to say about it, but it seems unlikely there will be any supplementary discipline.
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