RALEIGH _ Same old, same old. Weak, weak start followed by a strong finish. And another Flyers loss in OT, 3-2.
“You get a four on three in overtime and it really favors you,” said coach John Stevens. “We relaxed there for a minute and a veteran guy took advantage of it. It’s really disappointing because we had the puck, lost control and got beat up ice … We have to start finding ways to take advantage of these opportunities.”
Glen Wesley won it in the first minute of OT as Justin Williams curled in the slot and 2 Flyers skated past him. Willie dropped the puck back to Wesley who had a screen shot when he beat Antero Niittymaki.
I asked him about that Mr. Softee goal by Rod Brind'Amour in the first period. All it takes in a one-goal game is a bad goal to lose a game. Niittymaki should not have allowed that puck to go off his glove hand. It's happened too many times this season.
“It’s never easy and I’m sure that one he’d like to have back,” Stevens said. “That’s a puck he has to stop. Now you got an uphill climb and everything seems harder.
"He came back and played solid after that. Our team got better as the
game went on … but we had to take advantage of these opportunities. It’s the details of the hockey game that makes a difference here and we lost the game on details.”
Here's Niitty's take on Brindy's goal:
“I overreacted,” Niittymaki said. “A guy shoots from there, you don’t have time to think if it goes wide. With any goalie, you try to make a save. There are probably 10 saves a game where it [would have] gone wide. I just overreacted a little bit.”
Flyers have 9 OT losses this season. Maybe if they had played the opening period with some determination the Flyers get 2 points instead of one point.
“Overtime there, with a power play,” Mike Richards said. “We started out slowly, we gave them a 2-0 lead. We battled our way back. But we had a missed opportunity on the power play.
“Definitely, a stronger start would have helped. As the period went on we just got worse instead of getting better and that shouldn’t happen.”
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Hard to believe, Harry ...
Flyers are in this game mathematically even though they are getting beat every other way ...
When will Joni Pitkanen go up the left side and shoot the puck from an angle not below the circle? Maybe, just maybe, it will dawn on him if he does that, one of his teammates might get a rebound in the slot.
Instead, the rebound goes to the side boards. Which happens when you shoot practically from the goal line on a bad angle. Cut to the net! Shoot before you run out of room, Joni!
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I give Todd Fedoruk high marks for his willingness to fight but it is painfully obvious to everyone that he is favoring protecting his face which was badly damaged earlier this season.
You can't be a heavyweight enforcer and be effective if you're worried about the face. Tim Gleason won a convincing decision there.
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And if Randy Jones fights a little harder for that puck at his feet and uses his body to push off Andrew Ladd, then it stays 1-0 in the first.
Instead, Jones pushes off AFTER the puck goes into the net. Brutal period. Poor period for the Flyers.
Ant said the Flyers didn't have a shot the final 7 minutes of the period.
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Like how Antero Niittymaki is looking at that glove hand after Rod Brind'Amour fires over it into the net?
Niitty's glove hand has been terrible in the second half of the season.
1-0 Canes.
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RALEIGH, N.C. _ I think there is a real chance Geoff Sanderson gets moved at the trade deadline, maybe sooner.
Carolina's injury situation just got worse with Erik Cole going down this week. I sense Sanderson is a bit worried. He likes the South Jersey area, his family is very comfortable here and he made it clear tonight he wants to stay.
“I don’t really think about it that much; it’s all media speculation,” Sanderson told us tonight. “I don’t put too much into it. I can’t say it is consuming all my thoughts. I see and hear my name. It’s expected this time of year, especially where we are in the standings.”
Sanderson says he looks at the Internet to see what the rumors are. He walked into RBC Center tonight and saw newspaper clips on it.
“I don’t ignore it,” Sanderson said. “Obviously, I hear it. It was the first thing I saw when I got here ... You kinda hope that you don’t [get traded].”
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Stefan Ruzicka replaces R.J. Umberger in the lineup tonight. Umberger has the flu. He is not even at the arena, he's that ill. He remained in his hotel room.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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