Rematch set with Boston; Carter should return
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Rematch set with Boston; Carter should return
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
It's on.
The Boston Bruins have been waiting nearly a year to pay back the Flyers for their humiliating collapse last season.
Now, they will get the chance, setting up The Rematch with a clutch vistory Wednesday.
Thanks to a 4-3 overtime win over visiting Montreal, Boston moves into the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Flyers. Game 1 is Saturday afternoon in Philly.
In last year's semis, of course, the Flyers overcame a three games to none deficit _ and a 3-0 deficit in Game 7 _ to shock the Bruins and reach the conference finals.
They became the third team in NHL history to win a series when down, three games to none _ and the first to do so by overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the final game.
Boston may be the only NHL team that can match the Flyers' physicality on the blue line, so this figures to be another long, grueling series.
The Bruins beat Montreal despite going 0 for 21 on the PP. They becamse the first team to ever win a seven-game series without a PP goal.
Here is the schedule:
GAME 1 – Saturday, April 30 at Philadelphia – 3:05 PM. NBC. GAME 2 – Monday, May 2 at Philadelphia – 7:35 PM. Versus. GAME 3 – Wednesday, May 4 at Boston – 7:05 PM. Versus. GAME 4 – Friday, May 6 at Boston – 8:05 PM. CSN. GAME 5 – Sunday, May 8 at Philadelphia – 3:05 PM. NBC. GAME 6 – Tuesday, May 10 at Boston – TBD, CSN. GAME 7 – Thursday, May 12 at Philadelphia – TBD, CSN.
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Forward Jeff Carter, who led the Flyers with 36 goals in the regular season but missed the last three playoff games with a knee injury, is getting closer to returning to the lineup, general manager Paul Holmgren said on Wednesday.
Holmgren said he was optimistic Carter would play in the Eastern Conference semifinals, though he wouldn’t be specific as to when he would return.
Carter injured his right knee when he collided with Buffalo’s 6-foot-8 Tyler Myers early in Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals, and reportedly suffered a severely sprained MCL. The Flyers will only call it a “lower-body injury” and say he is “day to day.”
The injury will not require surgery, Holmgren said.
Carter missed 11 playoff games last season with a broken foot.
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Boston was 3-1 agaiunst the Flyers this season, with goalie Tim Thomas leading the way with a 1.96 GAA and .942 save percentage. The Flyers' PP was 0 for 7, Boston's was 4 for 12.
BTW, Boston needed OT to win three of its games in the series against Montreal.
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Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BroadStBull.
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Air sickness bags were created with some of you Carter critics in mind. Any of you guys ever lace up the skates?— Claudio Vernight- Karfage=Tonka=Buffugglyn=degenerate=dope=moron=stuck in mommies basement— SyddBarrett
- To all the pro-Carterist---you sold me on his worth----he is our 'Allen Iverson' on skates.— Romus
- Booooo....stay away...really...— Flyerfan666
- Got to roll with what we got. Save goalie/Carter talk for the summer.LETS GO FLYERS!— NYPHILLYPHAN
- 3rd in goals in the nhl the past 4 years, enough said— fman727
- 3rd in goals in the nhl the past 4 years, enough said— fman727
- Just win!!!!!— shawnmac
- I'm just glad I'm not the only Flyers fan who sees Carter as a one trick pony. He's overrated and his point production is no indication of how lazy and soft the guy is. I would do the Carter for Kessel trade in a heart beat, not Carters cause he's got no heart, all flash!— Fabulous
- I hate to say it, but the Flyers are doing just fine without Carter. The guy just doesn't show up for the playoffs. Shoot, even Zherdev has contributed more than Carter has so far. This is evident by Z's physical/ defensive play in addition to his offense and crafy puck/ stick handling skills. I've really been liking Z's play lately. I hope he continues and the Flyers can sign him again in the off season some how some way.— Flyers Dude 18
- Have to agree. Carter takes tons of meaningless shots depriving line ares of legit scoring chances. Can't make a pass and can't receive a pass. He scores when he picks up loose pucks with no one around. Since that doesn't happen much in playiffs, he doesnt score in playoffs. He is ridiculously soft on the puck. Takes a gentle breeze to knock him off the puck. Never finishes a check. And he kills the power play with bad decisions and bad passes. I'll take Z on that line right now. Cartervneeds to man up in the playoffs and play "out of character" as Danny B would say :)— beachlawyr
- Sure, get rid of Carter. There's 29 teams in the league that'll be happy to take him.— dougleader
- 90 percent of the people on here hate that Carter shoots...then they complain that powerplay doesn't shoot enough. It makes sense that the player that shoots the most scores the most, right? It is common sense. People who think that Zherdev could even come close to being the player Jeff Carter is, do not understand hockey. Zherdev is hardly playing, when he does, he has been a defensive liability (responsible for 2 game winners by Buffalo in the series). Carter is a superstar. He is physical, responsible, and scores goals.— Hexy4GM
- One thing for sure Carter needs to be better in playoffs. Whatever he was doing before is not working and is not good enough. He should not get so much PP time.
Versteeg Richards Carter
JVR Giroux Zherdev/Carter
Lieno Briere Hartnell
Carcillo/Nodl Betts Powe
Pronger Carle
Timonen Coburn
Meszaros O'Donnell
— Nitroglycerin
