Could this have been the rebirth of Peter Forsberg we have all been waiting for?
For the first time in so, so long, we saw the agility, the skating, the lateral movement that makes Peter Forsberg such a world class athlete all come together with his usual variety of tape-to-tape passes and infrequent redirects at the net.
Foppa had it all tonight in a 4-3 shootout loss to Tampa Bay on Vinny Lecavalier's goal.
I don't care if it was the 11th straight home loss by the Fly Boys. What I care about is that if podiatrist Frank Tursi's adjustments at the morning skate can make Forsberg "feel" healthy and regain stability in his right skate boot, then maybe this issue gets solved.
It's a longshot, I know but I agree with Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren who said to me tonight, if they can re-sign Forsberg, he can help them lure other players this summer.
A healthy Forsberg is worth the gamble, if they can get Chris Drury and some others.
As for Foppa ... Best night of the year on the ice?
“I would say so, too,” Forsberg replied. “We’re making progress with the skate. It was 10 times better than all year and fun to play again. Hopefully, we find the right way. It was definitely a step in the right direction ... We had a clue as what was wrong and maybe we can correct it.”
His teammates saw a difference.
“You could see when he was slipping the puck by guys and it’s been a while since we’ve seen him do that and look awesome,” Mike Knuble told me, lifting dumb bells. “That is what he does so well. Slip by games and beat players.
“That first period was a classic example of coming in on his forehand and sweeping laterally across the ice and getting a great shot on goal. The vision is still there to make passes. When he feels comfortable on his feet his is a one-on-one threat again.”
I liked how he was weaving up the ice the way I remember doing it in Colorado.
“I think I had more chances [tonight] than in the last 10 games,” Forsberg said. “It was fun to be out there and able to skate and do what I usually do _ feed my linemates and just have the balance and not being scared out there. It was great.”
Holmgren told me that during their meeting yesterday, Forsberg shouldered all the blame.
“I blame myself all year,” Forsberg said. “It’s hard to play when you can’t play and do the things. It’s been definitely draining on the entire team. Our line is not producing and we’re minus most games. We have to be the best line and [tonight] we played real well. The whole team sees we’re going and it picks op the whole team which is the way it should be.”
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Goalie Johan Holmqvist is 4-0 in the shootout and has stopped 15 of 15 shots this season.
Twice in that second period we saw Peter Forsberg skated the puck considerable distance, weaving through traffic to set up Simon Gange, who blew both scoring chances at the net.
The point I'm making is that Forsberg is having a very strong game moving on the ice. Best we've seen him in a while.
All the emotion of Jeff Carter's chip, redirect of a Gagne pass at the end of the period got sucked out of the Wachovia Center on the next shift up ice when Ruslan Fedotenko beat Robert Esche wide from the right circle.
There are momentum goals and momentum saves and that had the potential to be momentum save for Esche. Instead, it went the other way.
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Did you see some of these moves Peter Forsberg has made tonight on the inside and outside of his right skate?
Ed Moran was saying how much jump he had in practice and that they have tweaked his skate boot. Yeah, it seems that way.
Now if he can just get a goal ...
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Building is about 1/2 full. Wonder how much this has to do with the traffic outside and across the parking lot with a concert tonight at the Spectrum.
Hey, this suprises me. If John Stevens was smart enough to put Antero Niittymaki in goal at Atlanta to face his rival, Kari Lehtoenen, then why is he not savvy enough to think that Dmitry Afanasenkov might get up for Tampa Bay?
I don't get it.
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