'D' leads offense as Flyers end skid
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
'D' leads offense as Flyers end skid
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
My, that looked easy.
The Flyers _ whose late-season fade had started to conjure memories of the infamous '64 Phillies _ finally put together three solid periods Sunday. They got three goals from defensemen for the first time since 2005, killed all six shorthanded situations, and ended a five-game losing streak by defeating the visiting New Jersey Devils, 5-1.
“We took the initiative on offense and got a full effort,” coach Peter Laviolette said.
Now they need to repeat that effort in the final six games of the regular season. They don't play again until Thursday against the host New York Islanders.
The Flyers, who moved from No. 8 to No. 6 in the Eastern Conference, haven't won two straight since March 7-9 _ 11 games ago.
For what it's worth, the Flyers are 13-2 against the New York area teams _ 5-1 vs. the New Jersey Devils, 5-0 against the New York Islanders, and 3-1 against the New York Rangers.
The line of Danny Briere, Simon Gagne and Ville Leino was dominating Sunday. Ditto the Flyers’ penalty-killing units, led by Ian Laperriere and Blair Betts.
Goalie Brian Boucher outplayed the legendary Martin Brodeur, who was replaced after two periods and continued to struggle against the Flyers.
Defensemen Kimmo Timonen, Lukas Krajicek and Matt Carle were among the Flyers' scorers. It ws the first time three of their defensemen had scored in a game since Oct. 14, 2005, when Derian Hatcher, Joni Pitkanen and Mike Rathje had goals in a 6-5 OT win in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers had gone 13 straight games without scoring more than three goals, but Carle started the onslaught with a goal in the opening 53 seconds.
"They were ready right from the start," Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said. "They played a great game. For us, it looked like we were a little tired from last night; a little lack of energy, not as good with the puck, not a lot of support on the ice. They got some goals on a couple deflections, and they got some goals from their defensemen, which helps.”
The Flyers built a 2-0 first-period lead. Unlike their recent home loss to Minnesota _ when they coughed up a 3-1 advantage _ they continued to build on it.
"They’re obviously a desperate team battling for a playoff spot, and they played like that," Devils forward Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We didn’t have that same desperation and it showed.”
Breakaways. The Briere line combined for six points and was plus-6.....Braydon Coburn was plus-3.....The Flyers blocked 26 shots, with five players blocking three apiece....The Flyers had lost seven of their previous eight games.
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An NHL official on Sunday night defended the referees' decision to disallow Simon Gagne's second-period goal in Pittsburgh Saturday.
Gagne scored to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead, but more than a minute later _ after a video of the goal was shown on the arena scoreboard and Penguins fans protested loudly _ it was taken away.
Referee Dan Marouelli originally pointed to the goal, signifying Gagne's score counted. But after the Penguins fans moaned when they wached the replay, Marouelli conferred with the other referee, Brian Pochmara. Pochmara was the trailing referee on the play, and he convinced Marouelli _ who was next to the play _ that the goal should not count because the Flyers' Ville Leino had inadvertently bumped into goalie Marc-Andre Fleury a split second before it was scored.
Pochmara said Leino was not pushed into Fleury, and thus ruled that it was incidental contact, according to John Dellapina, the NHL's media relations director.
Dellapina said that the referees never looked at the replay before reversing the call. That would have been illegal, he said. He said it took them so long to decide because they were having a discussion about what had transpired.
If Leino had been pushed into Fleury by a Penguins player, the goal would have counted.
Pittsburgh won the game, 4-1.
i thought we played well tonight..liked the lieno,gagne,briere line..i think when/if carter comes back by seasons end they should put him with richards,giroux and move cacillo down to cotes spot on line 4 where he belongs..— flyerfan18- Good win by the fly guys...kind of a fluke though...3 goals from the d-men...that doesnt happen a lot...this win will mean nothing if they lose the next 2..— kadhia
- i guess we'll be spared the typical carchidi chicken little rant of 'remove the 'C' from Richards talk for a day.— spittooncj
- Isnt this typical of this dissappointing season, after years of struggle versus the Devs, we dominate them in the season series 5-1!— TNFlyerNut
- The Flyers moved from no. 8 in the conference to no.6 last night.. you have it backwards in the column.— drbob1
- Interesting that the Seravalli article focuses on Richard's acting like a good captain and Carchidi not even mentioning him.....— jlmfl
- Hack— mbhockey
- Sam, you clearly haven't looked into the rules, as 69.1 says . . . "Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside of the goal crease, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact. The rule will be enforced exclusively in accordance with the on-ice judgment of the Referee(s), and not by means of video replay or review." . . . Fluery was out of his crease and clearly Leino made a reasonable effort to stop, thus this should have been a goal. The refs blew it, badly. I am no conspiracy theorist, but this this was simply a case of some home town cooking, and you should acknowledge it as such.— Momus
I think the Gags,Briere, Leino line will stay together as long as it's effective. We're pretty desperate for goals. Carts, Harts & ? will probably make up the second line.— flyler- Funny how all the ' haters ' don't post when flyers win . . only when they lose do the haters come out . . They be fair . . post win or lose . . all you HATERS out there !!— ingy9
- They actually played a full game against the Devils. If they can keep this up, they could make a decent showing in the playoffs. This game seemed to show that they can come together as a team and play like one. They just need to keep it up. Defense steps up, offense keeps putting shots on net and getting multiple chances, and the goalie comes up with some important saves. All this happened; and look, they won. Regarding the referee call from Pittsburgh, watch the replay. Leino was driving toward the net but you can clearly see he was checked by a Penguin player and was off balance and had no way to stop. Like Momus quoted, the rule clearly shows the refs do not know the rule, or chose to favor the Pens....again. Buttman and his goons want the Pittsburgh-Washington showdown, Ovechkin vs Crosby. No other teams really stand a chance. If the Flyers make the playoffs, I'll watch, but if the incompentent officiating and favortism continue, I won't watch the playoffs. Its time for the real fans to stand up and express the frustration with this garbage the NHL is shoveling at us.— ena1977
The refs looked at the video board, they got caught on camera doing it, so they are cheaters, just like the penguins. They still got it wrong, because like momus posted, flowery was outside of the crease, so incidental contact does not disallow the goal. So the refs cheated by letting the crowd influence them, cheated by looking at the replay, and cheated by getting it wrong.— Pelti- Also, what NHL official defended the cheating? Was it someone involved in the coverup of the earlier replay cheating? This happens to often against the flyers and for the penguins to be a coincidence, it warrants an outside investigation.— Pelti
- Seems like Carchidi can't win. He has been pretty even handed and you still find a way to rip him. I've been a Flyers fan my entire life and I don't think I will ever understand the inability of some Flyers fans to actually exercise critical thinking for themselves... a bunch of zombies towing the party line. I'm guessing that some of you would prefer for the Flyers to hire Dave Spadaro and so that you could just read their website for "news".— 106S.P.Bailey
- I'm simply asking why nobody covering the Flyers has asked the question why rule 69.1 was blatantly disregarded. So if that means Carchidi can't win, so be it.— Momus
