The Philadelphia Flyers recovered their work ethic in last night's 4-2 loss in Nashville, but the team more deserving of victory was clearly the Predators. Philly worked hard but the Preds worked just a little harder and quite a bit smarter.
The Flyers were forced to chase the game for much of the night against a team that entered the game with the NHL's sixth-best record when scoring first. Even when the game was still scoreless in the first period, leading up to a disallowed Predators goal on a kicked-in puck near the goal line, it still felt like Nashville was dictating the tempo for too much of the opening period.
Philly was a mess defensively early in the game. Things eventually settled in, and the game was played pretty evenly. Even so, the Predators made their own breaks with screens and deflections by getting traffic to the net. The Flyers didn't do quite enough of it.
Ultimately, last night's failed comeback bid hinged on three factors:
1) Pekka Rinne and the defense in front of him outplayed Ilya Bryzgalov and his defense. I don't fault Bryz on the (allowed) goals that were scored, as all three came off heavy screens or nasty deflections. But there is even more to goaltending than the goals that get scored. Rinne seemed to be in total control, and came up with a couple highlight reel saves. That's what the Flyers expected of Bryzgalov when they signed him. In addition, I think the Predators exposed some of the holes in the Philly D without Chris Pronger.
2) The Flyers' best players were NOT their best players when the game was scoreless or when they were pursuing a comeback. Philly needed the slumping Claude Giroux line or Danny Briere to step up with a goal, and it never happened.
3) The Preds did more with their limited special team opportunities than Philly did.
All in all, I thought the Flyers played a little better than they did in beating Carolina on Tuesday and much better than they did in their win on Long Island on Thursday. But the Predators are simply a higher grade of opposition than the Hurricanes or Islanders. Last night's game was winnable for Philadelphia, but the better team last night won.
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Sean Couturier now has a four-game goal scoring streak. None of them have been garbage goals, either. They've come off wicked shots that the goalie had little to no chance of stopping. The more you see of Couturier, the more it becomes obvious that the kid is something special. All he lacks is straight ahead speed. The hands and hockey sense he possesses are very, very hard to find.
On the flip side, I think fellow rookie Brayden Schenn has regressed a bit in the last two games. He had put in a couple solid games --without being rewarded -- leading up to the Winter Classic. One that first goal finally went in, he got in a nice groove over the next four games. But he was not nearly involved enough in either the Islanders or Predators games. His ice time last night (9:28) reflected it, too.
With James van Riemsdyk now out indefinitely with a concussion, greater responsibility is going to fall on some of the other young veteran forwards on the team. Wayne Simmonds scored a gritty goal last night to cut the deficit to 3-2. In the games to come, it would be nice to see Jakub Voracek put some pucks in the net.
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While the Claude Giroux line as a whole has not been very good of late, there is one positive sign I noticed in last night's game: Jaromir Jagr was skating and protecting the puck better than he had in his first three games back in the lineup after returning from his third groin pull of the season.
That was still not much consolation on this night. Giroux of late has been forcing the play and has lacked his usual creativity. Both he and Jagr have been responsible for a lot of shift where the puck is turned over and ends back in the defensive end of the ice.
With neither Giroux nor Jagr at their best, Scott Hartnell has largely continued to carry his weight even with the line not producing at five-on-five. But the more naturally skilled members of the trio need to start recovering their games soon.
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I was unpleasantly surprised to hear of the demise of Philadelphia Sports Daily. They put out quality coverage of all of the local teams, and hockey writers Dave Isaac and Ryan Bright are both hard-working, talented reporters as well as genuinely good guys.
I know they'll both land on their feet.
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