Flyers: From best to worst
TAMPA, Fla. _ From their best game of the season to their worst _ in less than 24 hours. That describes the Flyers' strange weekend in Florida, where they dominated the Panthers on Saturday, 7-1, and then were embarrassed by Tampa Bay on Sunday, 5-1.
Flyers: From best to worst
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
TAMPA, Fla. _ From their best game of the season to their worst _ in less than 24 hours.
That describes the Flyers' strange weekend in Florida, where they dominated the Panthers on Saturday, 7-1, and then were embarrassed by Tampa Bay on Sunday, 5-1.
The Flyers’ power play was 2 for 7 Saturday and 0 for 6 Sunday.
Their goaltending went from sensational _ Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves on 31 shots Saturday _ to a rusty Michael Leighton (21 saves on 26 shots), who didn't have much defensive support Sunday.
To their credit, the Flyers (2-4) didn't use playing on consecutive days as an excuse against the rested Lightning (4-1)
“When you're playing back-to-back, you’ve got to keep it simple and play smart hockey,” winger Matt Read said. “You know, we just got a little ahead of ourselves from our win (Saturday) night, which is no excuse. It's not acceptable by us. We've got to learn how to play both nights, come to play for 60 minutes every game.”
The Flyers are 1-3 when playing games on consecutive nights. They will be in trouble if that trend continues because they play 10 sets of back-to-back games in the 48-game season.
They will face a fired-up Rangers team in New York on Tuesday. The Blueshirts will be out to make amends for their listless performance (New York was playing on consecutive nights) in Thursday’s 2-1 loss at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers' offense, except for the blowout win over the Panthers, has been anemic. Take away the seven goals from that win and the Flyers have scored a total of six goals in their other five games.
Paging Bobby Ryan....
Breakaways. Claude Giroux was noticeably quiet in Sunday's game....Bizarre stat: In Sunday’s loss, the Flyers had more shots blocked (26) than reached the net (25).....GM Paul Holmgren vehemently denied an Internet report that he has talked to Montreal about defenseman P.K. Subban, who is a restricted free agent.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Comments (21)
I saw the replays, missed the game :(, and really not Leightons fault.— wlgj- "and really not Leighton's fault."
Exactly. Two of the five goals may be attributed to Leighton, but they were scored *after* the game winner. Pucks that go in off your own players' sticks and skates are rarely stoppable by any goalie. The replays clearly show those.
What *was* disturbing is the the Flyers made Tampa's back up goalie look like a Vezina candidate.
— backhand - Two words - spell check.— DrumsAndBeer
Captain Claude owes the Flyer nation for blowing the coverage on Hedman and letting him in alone on the Philly goalie...
Hopefully we won't see any more of that....- How did you change your avatar? Please send me an email with instructions: rjsmith@rjsmith.com.
Thanks.
— backhand - Couts on ice for 14 of 17 goals against the Flyers this year. How is that not newsworthy? He is getting abused on the PK and we keep marching the kid out there. He has gone from our best defensive forward to our worst. I mean, has any other player (including d-men) been on the ice for so many goals this year?
- snipes, Couturier is currently -3. He plays on the PK and gets quite a bit of TOI. Given the overall lackluster performance of the team around him, I don't think it's fair to single him out as being the cause of that lackluster play.
I think Hexy4GM's line "It's like you are saying a doctor causes disease, since he is always seen around sick people." is not only priceless, and apropos, but sums up the situation quite nicely.
And as an aside, Leighton can be faulted on two of the five goals allowed. Deflections off your D-man's stick or skate are practically unstoppable. Since the Flyers scored only one goal, and the goals which can be attributed to Leighton came after the game winner was scored, people shouldn't jump him either.
BTW, it's good to have you and Hexy posting again.
— backhand - Backhand-- I don't mean to suggest that he is to blame for all of the 14 goals. But, go back and watch his positioning, instincts, and play on the puck. It has been bad, and Couts is supposed to be a defensive specialist. Watch the Purcell goal again-- do you really think Couts' pay against Stamkos was even mildly effective? Watch the others too-- beaten to the puck, not staying with his man, overplaying the puck. It has been like this all season.
I am as much concerned about the kid's confidence as anything else. Watch him after the goals-- clearly frustrated and sick of seeing the red light come on behind his goalie over and over.
14 out of 17 goals cannot and should not be ignored. I mean, that is a CRAZY stat that I suspect is not rivaled by any other player in the entire NHL. Aside from me (and whomever posts under dave1walsh) it has not even been commented on here. It's all Bryz's fault, Leighton's fault, the Schenn brothers, or anyone other than Couts. The kid has been bad, and it pains me to say it, as I was really psyched about him last year and coming into this season. I do agree with Hexy about Talbot, but I didn't expect as much out of him. And I hoped you liked my response to his doctor analogy.... - " I hoped you liked my response to his doctor analogy...."
Yes, I did. Hard to argue with that logic.
I went back and watched the Center Ice recording. I specifically looked for Couts on Stamkos. Damn, I hate it when I'm wrong. Your observation about lack of confidence seems to fit his play against Stamkos. Don't know why, he smothered Crosby last year. Stamkos is good but he's no Crosby
I FINALLY figured out how to log-in under my old screen-name: Through Facebook. I forgot the password and couldn't log-in to it here. Had to create a new account.
WildwoodDays Formerly backhand.
N.B. I may log-in accidentally as backhand since I have the browser set to fill in username and password from the cache and I can't just delete it without deleting the entire cache. APologies in advance.
- Good this see WildwoodDays screen- name around again...
A salute is in order...:)!!!— Mean mean stride,mean mean pride - The Florida game, was FAR from the Flyers best game. They gave up several point blank chances that Bryzgalov bailed them out of. As usual, the Flyers look good when they have the puck, and terrible when without it.
@Snipes...you are still wrong about this. It's like you are saying a doctor causes disease, since he is always seen around sick people. He is there trying to fix other people's problems, just like Couturier. He is playing big minutes now. Killing penalties is hard work. If you want to really pick a forward to blame this season, you should focus on Max Talbot. He has been as terrible as any player I have seen in the NHL this year. I don't know if his fitness isn't up to par, or just his brain is not into it, but he is lost out there.— Hexy4GM - From first to worse maybe it had something to do with the quality of the opponent? The Panthers are awful and the Lightning are a legitimate playoff contender. Its a little scary they have won 2 games one against the lowly Panthers and one against Rangers who obviously had no legs from playing the Bruins into OT the night before ( and that game was won on a fluke goal off Simmonds leg) . Time for BRYZ to prove his start is for real and Flyers to prove they are a playoff caliber team Tuesday night...lets see what happens— flyers1000
- How is it that you have a ready excuse for the Rangers loss to the Flyers (they had back-to-backs), but when the Flyers lose in the second game of a back-to-back you discount that?
You give new meaning to the word negative.
And "...lets [sic] see what happens." What's wrong, you can't step out on a limb and make a prediction?
— backhand - Hexy- I wrote a detailed analysis for you of the 4 goals Couts was on the ice for last night, but it looks like it didn't post. Go watch them again. He was caught out of position, beaten to the puck, overplaying, and the worst was when he attempted to cover Stamkos in the slot by hackngat his shins from the far side. That neither stopped Stamkos from receiving the puck, nor inhibited his ability to slide it over to Purcell for the goal. He made it WAYYYYYY to easy for the lightning. I 100% agree on Talnot, but Couts has been overhyped as a defensive specialist and there was been nothing special about his defensive play this year. To use your analogy, he is like the doctor who, while treating a certain problem, makes it worse by cutting into a vein. Just like the patient, he is killing this team.
- FWIW, I think Luke Schenn's 1st period groping match with Vinny Lacavalier was selfish, and unnecessary, it also changed the tenor of the game. The Flyers, who had been buzzing against a cautious Lightning squad, suddenly went as limp as over cooked macaroni, and the fracas gave a huge spark to the Bolts. And the hit on Schenn delivered by Lecavalier was hardly earth-shattering. Scheen has gotten hit harder by teammates celebrating a goal.
— backhand - I have seen better cat fights.— NYPHILLYPHAN
- Maybe too many games in too few days. They had no legs and took stupid penalty's. Pronger must work the the Defensemen as they are inconsistent from game to game. Mostly the Flyers must find their Legs.— jpelle36
- backhand...not making an excuse for the Rangers there are no excuses and Flyers played a very good all around game against them....but they lost by one goal on a puck that deflected in off Simmonds...my point was that the Flyers really need to show up Tuesday and get a quality win....team needs that confidence and BRYZ needs a big game...They win Tuesday all is well....they lose 2-5 not good— flyers1000
- backhand here under my original log-in. Long story.
Number one: It's good to see a post from you that isn't negative.
Number two: The deflection off Simmonds skate was exactly what the Flyers need. I don't care if every goal they score gets deflected off anyone's body parts or equipment. As long as it goes in, it counts. Tampa Bay got two goals that went in off Flyers' sticks and they counted, and they were not Leighton's fault.
And Lundqvist is the type of goalie that you need deflections and greasy goals to score on him.
I think there will be a "Come To Jesus" meeting before Tuesday's game and maybe it will mitigate the lethargy that has come over the Flyers.
- Obviously the Flyers are not as good as they were against the lowly Panthers , and not as bad as they were against a decent Lightning team. That said, they really need to address the special teams, and come out and skate hard night after night. Oh, and stop taking stupid penalties.— Mike Boryla
- Bobby Ryan? He has 1 point this season...not sure thats the guy we need to get us going..— Giroux1st
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Broad Street Bull is the Inquirer's blog covering the Philadelphia Flyers and the National Hockey League.
Reach Sam at scarchidi@phillynews.com.
Sam Carchidi
Inquirer Staff Writer
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