Weak goals kill Flyers
Daily News Flyers blog
Weak goals kill Flyers
NEW YORK -- There were punches. There were nasty hits. There was blood spilled on on the Madison Square Garden ice.
But for the Flyers, there haven’t been many wins. And wins, not fights, fuel rivalries.
Twice after the Flyers clawed back in the contest to erase one-goal deficits, Ilya Bryzgalov allowed soft goals and the Rangers continued their dominance over the Flyers with a 5-2 win that served as the appetizer in New York on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Flyers topped New York in 4 straight games to start last season and it’s been all Rangers since. Sunday marked the Rangers’ sixth straight win over the Flyers. New York has outscored the Flyers, 24-8, since March 6, 2011.
Sunday’s start was an ominous one for the Flyers, as Artem Anisimov’s redirection beat Bryzgalov just 64 seconds into the game.
The Flyers had registered just 7 shots in the first 28 minutes of the game.
But Brayden Schenn’s beautiful backhander on a breakaway out of the box in the second period, which shattered Henrik Lundqvist’s career-high shutout streak at 182:37, appeared to get the Flyers back into it.
That was until Marian Gaborik’s weak dribbler with 5.1 seconds left in the second period sent the Rangers to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Gaborik, the Rangers’ leading scorer, was crushed along the boards by Andrej Meszaros and was slow to get up. He somehow retrieved the puck and leaked a backhander through Bryzgalov’s pads.
Somehow, Bryzgalov’s stick wasn’t in the right position as he tried to pokecheck Gaborik’s take from behind the net.
And that wasn’t even the Flyers’ backbreaker.
Wayne Simmonds scored just 57 seconds into the third period to knot the game on the power play - and Bryzgalov gave it back just 36 seconds later.
Michael Del Zotto left off a snap shot at the right circle on a 3-on-2 rush, which bounced off Bryzgalov’s pads and into the net to give New York a crippling 3-2 lead. Brandon Dubinsky iced it for the Rangers with 7:45 to play. Ruslan Fedotenko added an empty-netter.
The difference, as it has been most of the season, came down to the goaltending. Lundqvist has now held opponents to 2 or fewer goals in 26 of his 38 appearances this season.
The Flyers entered the weekend - with back-to-back games against Atlantic division rivals - with a chance to take over first place in both the division and the conference. They skated out of New York winless on the weekend. And winless against the Rangers.
SLAP SHOTS: Wayne Simmonds set a new career-high with 17 goals ... Brayden Schenn’s goal was his 3rd in his last 5 games ... Tom Sestito was dealt a game misconduct after fighting 3 times, twice with Stu Bickel and once with Brandon Prust ... There were 4 fights in all in Sunday’s matinee.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
Everybody beats the Bryz=classic. Dont know if any of these jabronies know what the wiz is!— NYPHILLYPHAN
More hockey wisdom from NYPHILLYPHAN. I'll never forget his Finals prediction last year: — NYPHILLYPHAN Posted 9:58 PM, 06/05/2011
Canucks have 2 more gears left. Only way Boston wins is if they butter the shower floor! Stay outa the sun brother. Cant wait for next year.- Is it too late to get Czechmanek back??— bigdaddyG
- Poor officiating the past 2 games, how do you miss a deliberate trip, miss a penalty shot call today, miss the clock issues in LA. When is the NHL brass going to wake up and improve their product. The clock disaster is a disgrace... Bettman refuses to take responsibility. Try to explain to the 9th place team at the end of the season if they miss the playoffs by 1 point. "We are sorry but strange and freaky things happen in hockey". Quoted from the NHL hour this past week. The only thing strange and freaky is the reign of this NBA-David Stern clone who should, along with his officiating crew run out of the sport.— sugardoc54
- — Sieve_galov--i didn't defend Bryzgalov but i did call the guy who had some effed up suicide fantasy about him a moron. try reading more closely next time.— stonelamb
- Bobrovsky let in 6 goals in 30 minutes yesterday. No one says a word. (they even forget about his embarrassingly weak shortside goal that lost the Winter CLassic). Today, the same people are saying that a 15 foot clapper on a three-on-one was a bad goal by Bryzgalov. Weren't all of the problems with the Flyers were Mike Richards fault? This team is ridiculously thin in all aspects. This club is built like a regular season team. They desperately need some NHL wingers who understand how to play without the puck. How does Schenn get into the lineup each night?— Hexy4GM
- Yo, Hexy! Leaky is the poster boy for the worst playoff goalies ever! Check it out yourself right here:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/848405-nhl-history-the-15-worst-playoff-goalies
P.S. Aren't you the one who criticized the Flyers for trading Richards? He has no points in his last nine games. - Laviolette is the worse F n' coach I've ever seen. He's allowed this team to play undiciplined, unaware and for half their games, unprepared to even start a game.
They play with no urgency and I don't think they've played a full 60 minutes all year. Make that over 2 years and 10 different players with these issues.
Worse of all, he's has no idea these issues exist and no idea how to fix them.
HOMER, PLEASE , I beg you...Get rid of this clown now.— dedhed - The Flyers whole organization is a joke. People talk about the Eagles but the Flyers are just as dumbfounded. Bryzgalov sucks plain and simple. We have good players on this team but no one really to get us over a hump(or slump). The coaching is questionable. The Flyers motto over the last 30 years is "Come to Philadelphia and collect a pay check". No desire to win at all.— Iceman65
- TWO softies? he let in THREE softies. he sucks.— The Boston Strangler
- Oh well...maybe next year. The goalie play ain't winning a cup again this year..but they have been fun to watch none-the-less.— mpkid123
- Please list all of my posts hat trick. Start with the one of the many back in August that talk about needing another d-man or the one about how Pronger will not be able to be the Captain while riding the injury bike in the locker room. Dope!— NYPHILLYPHAN
- A big game and Bryz is soft???? what a novelty!! Had Ed Snider done his homework and not just been playing fantasy hockey he would have seen this guy in Phoenix was no $$ goalie. Flyers are NOT winning anything this year. Just stick with, and for a change, have patience with some of the young kids and build a team for next year and beyond. If anyone at all (Columbus, NYI, etc) wants Bryz get rid of him and work on getting Schneider from vancouver (Cam Ward this year if u can preferably) in the offseason. The Flyers would have enough to get a deal done for either of them. Clear cap space that way, get a D-man (make that two in the offseason) and things are looking good. They are going NOWHERE with Bob or Bryz.— Big D phillies fan
- Doesn't matter who starts, we can't beat Boston or NYR so we're not going deep, assuming we even make the playoffs. However, Bob is WAY better than Bryz, even with his disastrous start vs the Debs. We need to trade for a stud D man ASAP and the concussion boys need to heal up.— Kanayd
- Brendan Shanahan is a POS. He won't hand down sanctions for teams he's played for.— Claudio Vernight
