Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: 40 Minutes of Dominance

in case there are 2,000 reponses today, its nice to be first

I enjoyed the heck out of the first 40 minutes, the last 20 minutes involved a lot of hanging on and not skating or forechecking very hard. A team like Washington who both scores and gives up goals in bunches is not the sort of team you can go into a shell against. Oh.. and penalties... against a top notch PP team.. please. I'm looking at you, Mr. Downie.

Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: 40 Minutes of Dominance
- bmeltzer

B Schenn and Couturier were absolutely flying in the first two periods.... L Schenn looked really confident with the puck, too. Looks like they were pretty pumped about still being Flyers.

A-Mac looked pretty good in his first game. Pretty sweet deflection on the 5th-goal of the game, too.

..

Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: 40 Minutes of Dominance
- bmeltzer

Hell of a 40 minutes. That game was far too reminiscent of the Anaheim game. Thankfully, they were able to close this one out (in regulation).

Giroux was all over the place in this game. He was the Flyers most noticeable player and I had a great feeling whenever the puck was on his stick.

MacDonald looked good. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Fairly steady, which is just fine.

Steve Downie continued his stretch of dominating hockey. He also scored for the first time in about 7 years, which surely signifies that the floodgates have opened.

MacDonald does get to pucks faster, makes plays with the puck that are poised. Only one game, but I had hoped that Luke Schenn would look a bit better with a more mobile/experienced partner, and it did seem like that was the case...when Schenn plays like he did last night...that was an awful lot like the guy we had last year, who is the guy we want.

Can't take penalties against a team like the Caps, we all know that and saw why. I'm on the fence about Downie...he was going good, like everyone else, the first 40. But you just can't take penalties like he did. Even Rinaldo's penalty took another guy with him.

That being said: TWO POINTS. Huge game with the Leafs on Saturday -- hope they're ready to rock!

MacDonald does get to pucks faster, makes plays with the puck that are poised. Only one game, but I had hoped that Luke Schenn would look a bit better with a more mobile/experienced partner, and it did seem like that was the case...when Schenn plays like he did last night...that was an awful lot like the guy we had last year, who is the guy we want.
- AllInForFlyers

Yeah, the pair looked good. AMac should definitely benefit from not being treated like a rented mule here, with less and softer minutes.

Forty Minutes of Dominance sounds like a video tribute to the Flyers of recent years. lol

Downie might find himself getting scratched again, and soon. That ENG was nice to have, but could have easily resulted in the biggest bonehead play of the year if he had missed. Didn't Berube already use his timeout at that point? A defensive zone faceoff with tired players would have resulted in OT.

I thought MacDonald played great. He's very fluid, and makes a very good first pass. A bit of bad luck on that Caps goal that he helped put pass Mason, but overall he was very good. He's so clearly an upgrade over Meszaros or Gus that it's not even funny.

NCAA Top 100 NHL Prospects:
1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60


Ghost is#6.

There's also a few undrafted guys who the Flyers might be interested in.

Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: 40 Minutes of Dominance
- bmeltzer

love when OV gets all pissy in the pants

Good game by L Schenn last night. Nice punch to Wilson's face as well.

Good to see VL stand up for himself, but all I could think was Don't break your face again!

Our 4th line looks solid.

Not sure what to do about Downie. Maybe that EN goal will get him going. He just needs to stop with the bonehead plays.

NCAA Top 100 NHL Prospects:
1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60


Ghost is#6.

There's also a few undrafted guys who the Flyers might be interested in.
- Tomahawk

Gadreau is 14th even though they have him winning the hobbey baker....hope he comes and the flyers sign him...watching him lay reminds me of st. louis/Briere

Theres no reason to dress Downie against the Leafs. Toronto likes to mix it up so move Raffl to 3rd line and let Rosehill get a game in. At this point I trust Rosehills discipline more than Downies.

Gadreau is 14th even though they have him winning the hobbey baker....hope he comes and the flyers sign him...watching him lay reminds me of st. louis/Briere
- PhillaBully

It's based on viability as NHL players... lot of small guys run up a lot of points in the NCAA and go on to be nil. Pacioretty didn't have near the points as HB-winner Kevin Porter in '08, but he obviously has gone on to be the much better NHL player.

..
- aightwebang17

NCAA Top 100 NHL Prospects:
1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60


Ghost is#6.

There's also a few undrafted guys who the Flyers might be interested in.
- Tomahawk

Talked with an NHL team (not Flyers) scout a few weeks ago about the top undrafted collegiate players. He had defenseman Christian Folin atop his list.

Here's what I see as sort of a "state of the team" report.

Biggest hurdles for this team, is to one, learn to be consistent in their play from game to game. No team is going to do it for 82 games due to a lot of circumstances. But they need to be the team they were in the first two periods far more times then not, and do it for full games. Second, discipline needs to be drastically improved. All of this can be done without a single player acquisition.

As far as personell, they need to find a defenseman that can play a top role in all situations, and a chaper 3rd pair option that is reliable. How the former can be done is the hard part. And then there is replacing whatever is usd to get the defeseman needed. If neccessary.

If all of that can be accomplished, this is a top team in the NHL. And they are certainly headed in the right direction.

Talked with an NHL team (not Flyers) scout a few weeks ago about the top undrafted collegiate players. He had defenseman Christian Folin atop his list.
- bmeltzer

Is he right handed?

Hey Bill, any chance we see some podcasts again soon?

Is he right handed?
- PhillaBully

Actually yes.

in case there are 2,000 reponses today, its nice to be first
- FlyersFirst

i was first yesterday, and i think last (at least as of 3 am last night). the middle is all nonsense.

Theres no reason to dress Downie against the Leafs. Toronto likes to mix it up so move Raffl to 3rd line and let Rosehill get a game in. At this point I trust Rosehills discipline more than Downies.
- BiggE

I will say first that Raffl has earned through his playing and hard work a spot on in the top nine.

The other side of it is with Raffl on the 4th line Berube can roll 4 lines and keep the top guys fresh if the need a push late in games.

Playing Rosehill or Newberry or whoever 4 minutes a game might result in a few less 3rd period comebacks.

In the offseason I hope the can get a fast reliable 4th liner, maybe a guy who can also kill penalties so Raffl can play top nine.

He has made every line better. But allowing Berube to roll 4 lines is valuable too.

I can't argue for Downie anymore. I still support him and hope he turns it around, but he is too volatile right now and is getting called in it.

Actually yes.
- Tomahawk

I like his stats and size. Not a bad guy to put on the phantoms and see what hes got.

Is he right handed?
- PhillaBully

i'm going to go out on a limb and say no (which means he probably is). GID Homlglobin!