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Meltzer's Musings: 4/9/11 |
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The Flyers never make life easy on themselves. It should surprise no one that the club blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2 and then actually had to rally back from a 4-3 deficit to beat the Islanders and clinch the Atlantic Division and second playoff seed in their final game of the regular season.
It would have been nice if Sergei Bobrovsky closed out the season with a stellar performance but it wasn't to be. You can only partially fault him on the third Islanders goal but there are also times when your goalie needs to make clutch saves. Michael Grabner's breakaway goal in the first period was primarily the result of a Ville Leino turnover and Grabner's explosive speed, but that was a momentum-shifting situation, and Bobrovsky was beaten easily. Conversely, in the third period when Grabner got loose again, Brian Boucher came up with the save. Thereafter, the Flyers strengthened their grip on the game.
Some late night notes:
* The Flyers were fortunate that Rick DiPietro was the opposing goaltender tonight. He closed out an awful season with a subpar performance in goal. DiPietro's birdcage mask makes him looks like he's in a 1980s timewarp. Unfortunately for the former All-Star -- who is signed for 10 more seasons at a $4.5 million cap hit -- while his 2010-11 stats (3.34 GAA, .886 save percentage) would have made him a top-five goalie in the league in mid-1980s, nowadays it's atrocious. Among Islanders' goalies this season, DiPietro was markedly outplayed by Al Montoya, former teammate Dwayne Roloson (prior to being traded to Tampa Bay), callup Kevin Poulin. Hell, even Nathan Lawson had a superior save percentage (.893) in 10 GP to DiPietro's despite his 4.06 save percentage.
* It's no coincidence that the Flyers PK struggles in the Ottawa and Islanders games were games with Blair Betts out of the lineup. The Flyers will need Betts (knee injury) to be healthy and productive in his usual defensive role in the Buffalo series.
* Andrej Meszaros and Scott Hartnell played like beasts in this game and I also thought Kimmo Timonen and Danny Briere were outstanding, even apart from their goals. Boucher deserved his third-star selection for his play in relief of Bobrovsky, especially for stopping Grabner in the third period.
* Speaking of Grabner, how foolish do the Florida Panthers look for giving up on him so quickly after he came over from Vancouver? His astounding speed alone made him worthy of a spot on Florida's thin forward roster. Since then, the NHL has found out that his hands work just as well as his feet.
* The skating burst that Briere showed, especially on his goal, helped put to rest any fear that he was coming back too soon from the groin strain that had him sidelined against the Rangers and Senators.
* Leino was guilty of getting a little too fancy with the puck on a couple of occasions tonight, and he also fell down at least twice (which has been a problem for him in the second half of the season as he's quietly battled a hip ailment). However, I thought he got better as the game went on. In the third period, he narrowly missed hooking up with Briere for his 20th goal of the season. Early in the first period, he connected with Hartnell on the stretch pass that led to the Flyers' second goal of the game.
* Jeff Carter had a goal disallowed for kicking the puck in the net. It was clearly the right call. Even so, it was good to see him digging and scrapping around the net.
* Braydon Coburn had his left foot heavily iced after the game. When asked, of course he said he felt fine.
* The Islanders were furious at what they thought was Dan Carcillo embellishing the Mark Martin hit that led to a third-period boarding call. The Islanders may have had a point. On the ensuing power play, Meszaros scored an insurance goal for the Flyers.
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Coming tomorrow: Part I of my preview of the Flyers-Sabres series and commentary on the team award winner selections.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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