Flyers continue New York dominance
Daily News Flyers blog
Flyers continue New York dominance
NEW YORK -- It’s amazing the direction the Flyers and Rangers have gone in since last April 11.
Since Brian Boucher stopped Olli Jokinen in a shootout on that magical day in game No. 82, the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup Finals and the Rangers went to the country club.
And it’s continued into this season, as the Flyers are in first place in the Eastern Conference and the Rangers are in danger of being out of playoff contention yet again.
On Sunday, despite going nearly 13 minutes without a shot after Dan Carcillo’s game-winning goal, the Flyers hung on for a 4-2 win to continue that dominance as part of Hockey Day in America.
Since April 11, the Flyers have now outscored New York 14-6 over four games to go 4-0-0.
If you include the Islanders and Devils as part of the New York metropolitan area, the Flyers are 10-1-1 against New York area teams this season. They are 13-2-1 against the Atlantic division and 32-10-2 against the Eastern Conference.
The sputtering Rangers are just 6-11-1 since acquiring Wojtek Wolski on Jan. 10, a trade some called one of the best of general manager Glen Sather’s tenure.
Wolski, coincidentally, gave the Rangers are 1-0 lead yesterday but Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux each assisted on goals for each other, as the Flyers bounced back from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead.
Carcillo increased it to 3-1 with just 3:34 to play in the second period on a backhand that snuck through Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s five-hole.
After that, it was lights out for the Flyers - who are now 30-1-2 when leading after two periods. Derek Stepan’s goal in the third period, which cut it to 3-2, wouldn’t phase them.
O’DONNELL OUT: The Flyers, unfortunately, did not get much out of defenseman Sean O’Donnell on Sunday. His first shift of the game was his only shift.
O’Donnell awkwardly collided with shifty Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello in the corner and remained on the Flyers’ bench for the remainder of the first period
He played just 1:03 before leaving with what Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren deemed a lower-body injury. It appeared as if O’Donnell injured his knee in the spill, but that is just speculation. The Flyers are required to say no more with the injury than that it effects his lower-body.
There is no word yet as to the severity of O’Donnell’s injury. O’Donnell, 39, has played in all 59 games this season and has played in at least 78 games in each of the last 6 seasons.
His injury forced the Flyers to scramble with just five defenseman for the remaining 58:57, as Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle, Braydon Coburn and Andrej Meszaros all saw their ice times increase.
SIGH OF RELIEF: Remember the year of the seven goalies? Flyers fans breathed a serious sigh of relief when starter Brian Boucher remainder in the game after going down with an injury with 15:06 remaining in the third period.
It appeared as if Boucher’s blocker hand (right hand) was ran over by the skate of Kimmo Timonen. Boucher was writhing in pain on the ice, but after being attended to by trainer Jim McCrossin, he remained in the game.
The Rangers scored to make it 3-2 just 34 seconds later, though that was as close as they would get. Boucher stopped 36 of 38 shots in all.
STAT OF THE DAY: Sunday was just the third time in Flyers history they went all 60 minutes without being whistled for a single penalty.
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Great goaltending today by Boosh that won the team a game where they surely did not play their best. The Rangers just dont have enough guys who can put the puck into the net. The real beauty of the Flyers this year is that after every tough and infrequent loss they come back with a win. 3 out of 4 on the road like this week, is something everyone can be happy with.— bradco- F the rangers.— mrjarn
- Not many people in here with brains... flyers lucky? devils good? HAHAHA!!!!— fman727
- these are the dog days of the season;...its cold outside and folks have the flu,...the trade deadline is days away and the middle of march is right around the corner;....prongs and ritchie need to keep this team focused and healthy and we can gear up for playoff hockey in 2-3 weeks,.....need to keep a sense of purpose in the meantime and in-between time— SyddBarrett
Nice job leaving Avery alone and focusing on winning. At this point in the year, i'd like to see the D tighten up a bit and not allow so many chances. Boosh bailed them out. He may be having his most consistent year in recent memory. Hasn't had those prolonged stretches like it looks like he's never played hockey before...- Boooosh!!!!!— flyerdup
- Is our old forum finally toast? I am sad— spacin007
- Another win against a trashy NY team. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.— Kanayd
- boucher played awsome but I will say I like how versteeg plays once he gets fully comfortable with this system he will do great things..— bigmookalookie
- The "unbeatable" (lol) Debbies won't be in the playoffs (too bad, would love to knock them out again), and they have done a great job of losing the top pick in the draft.— eagle1971
"Lavy" despises Zherdev who refuses to play as a complete player and is very selfish with the puck. We have such great Karma on this team and if anyone can mess it up it's Zherdev. He will not be with this team next year.....I guarantee it. I echo those above hoping that O'Donnell will be back soon. They have been so lucky so far this year with injuries.— djlen- "Lavy" despises Zherdev who refuses to play as a complete player and is very selfish with the puck. We have such great Karma on this team and if anyone can mess it up it's Zherdev. He will not be with this team next year.....I guarantee it. I echo those above hoping that O'Donnell will be back soon. They have been so lucky so far this year with injuries.— djlen
- The Flyers better hope they don't meet the Devils, who are now unbeatable, in the first round.— farley
- the devils have to get in before we play them in the first round......it looks very bleak at the momemt,.....but you can still dream if you want to — SyddBarrett
- Jersey Devils SUCK!!! — flyerdup
- Carolina is the 8th seed right now. If they play .500 hockey from here out - 11-11-0 - they'll finish with 86 points. For the NJD to finish with 87 points, they need 33 points in their remaining 23 games. That's something like 14-4-5 or thereabouts. And that doesn't take into account the other 4 teams they'd need to leapfrog just to catch up with the Canes. Plus, they'll probably need more than 86 points -- last year, the Flyers and Habs had 88 each to take the 7th and 8th seeds. I know the devils have been winning a lot lately, but I just don't think there's much chance of their making the playoffs.
— 1980 - 14-4-5 doesn't seem that far-fetched since New Jersey is 9-0-1 in their last ten games: http://espn.go.com/nhl/standings
- I only said that I don't think there's much chance of the playoffs for NJD. 14-4-5 would be a fantastic run for any team, but 23-4-6 would be jaw-dropping. — 1980
- Man, I hope you're right. I don't want to face them in the playoffs the way they're playing now.
Fortunately, the Flyers got away with a win despite playing sub-par and didn't lose Boosh to injury. The third period was awful, the D just isn't as sharp as they used to be thus far this season, let's hope O'Donnell doesn't miss much time. I'm wondering why Lavy sits Zherdev and goes with both Carcillo and Shelley. Two goons on the ice is a complete waste, and watching Shelley's awkward skating isn't exactly beautiful. It's impressive, however, how the Flyers manage to win ugly games. Can't wait for April and the playoffs. They'll go deep again for sure...- By the way, Frank, how is it that New York Times sportswriter Jeff Klein is reporting tonight that Zherdev is "on the trading block" and Philly fans have not heard a word of that? Does Klein really know something or is he just blowing in the wind? By the way, had Boucher been hurt today, his teammates would have to take the blame for it. Man, was he left out to dry. — NMS
- Eklund was reporting yesterday there are rumors a trade between Philly and Nashville involving Z are in the works, but he talks out his @$s most of the time. — Kanayd
- im really getting sick of hearing "lower body injury". it's always cloak and dagger. if he is not going to play what's the difference if you just tell us what it is.— deatheater
- Because there are a lot of d bags in the league who will specifically target the injured part next time he plays. It can't be too bad if he stayed on the bench instead of heading directly to the locker room. — Kanayd
- Exactly right, Kanayd. — flyerdup
- Lets see, comments like clueless play, they just can't play like this, you won't win against better teams....I have one thing to say, 39-15-5.— bsbullie
***yawn*** Flyers beat the rangers...- Flyers were solid for about 30min. It won't play against better teams.— Nitroglycerin
- Say what you will about Brian Boucher but he is the most popular goalie in this town since Ron Hextall. And with very good reason. Today is just one of them.. Booooooooosh!— OldSouthPhilly
Solid performance .... stay healthy and focused— shawnmac- OK, Bouch... Way to hang in there; hope there aren't any residual effects from this...— M60tanker
- Keys to the Flyers win: 1. They are better, 2. They didn't worry about Avery, 3. Boucher kept them in this one.— toph314
I was scared when Boucher got hurt, had a mental picture of a desperate Homer being taken advantage of by other GMs as he tried to get a backup goalie for the playoffs... Hope Odie isn't seriously injured, he's been great this year.- Disappointing that there wasn't the heavyweight fight b/w Shelly and the chief punk Avery. Save it for home ice.— krammar
- Yet another clueless 3rd period, but fortunately Boosh bailed them out again. What the hell is it with this team? They need to get their heads out of their butts when they take 2 or 3 goal leads! There's no excuse for it.— flyers1313
