Flyers finally win a shootout; rookies shine
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Flyers finally win a shootout; rookies shine
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. _ Another gritty effort by the Flyers on Tuesday.
Despite not being at their best, despite being shorthanded by injuries, they outworked the host Florida Panthers and won in a shootout, 3-2.
Repeat: They won in a SHOOTOUT.
Shootout victories by most NHL teams are rather common.
For the Flyers, they are few and far between.
They had lost six straight in shootouts, including three this season. And since the shootouts started in 2005, they are a league worst 20-37.
But Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all three shots in the shootout, and Claude Giroux scored after a pretty deke as the Flyers went into the all-star break with a 29-14-5 record.
Bobrovsky, who could not be faulted for either of the Panthers’ goals, continues to make a serious bid to get a majority of the starts. He is now 11-4-1.
At the break the Flyers are three points behind the Rangers in the Atlantic Division _ New York has a game in hand _ and they are fourth in the Eastern Conference.
If the playoffs started today, the Flyers would face the fifth-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in a delicious-looking first-round matchup. (And, yes, a few stories would be written about a certain saluting right winger.)
Give the Flyers props for a commendable first half, one in which they overcame a slew of injuries. On Tuesday, they were missing Danny Briere, James van Riemsdyk and Jaromir Jagr. Chris Pronger has missed most of the season with a concussion,
Once again, the rookies continued to shine. Rookie Brayden Schenn scored the Flyers’ first goal, and rookie Tom Sestito set up their second score. Flyers rookies have scored goals in 11 of their last 13 games.
Breakaways. Before Tuesday, the Flyers’ last shootout win was last March 19, a victory that took 12 rounds in Dallas…Bobrovsky is 1-1 in shootouts this season and 2-5 in his career…..The Flyers had 38 hits, their third-highest total of the season _ and one fewer than their total against Boston on Sunday…Braydon Coburn and Scott Hartnell had five hits apiece…Giroux was 12 for 26 on faceoffs, snapping an eight-game streak in which he won at least 50 percent of his draws…The Flyers are off until they practice Monday in Voorhees at 4 p.m. They face visiting Winnipeg on Tuesday.
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Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
"Bobrovsky, who could not be faulted for either of the Panthers’ goals"
So, I'm guessing you didn't see the 2nd goal where he badly overplayed on Versteeg, leaving the net wide open for Fleishman to score? Yeah Bobs has been the better goalie, but let's not blatantly lie in our articles, huh?— FlyersKevin- I saw the game on CenterIce, and it was the Florida feed. You'd expect their "Save of the Game" would be a Clemmensen highlight, but as well as he played, it wasn't. It was Bob. When the visiting goalie gets the highlight of the game on the home broadcast, that's saying something.
— icarus - yup, you're right, the goal was totally due to Bobrovsky "overplaying" Versteeg and nothing to do with the fact that the defense completely broke down and nobody picked up the trailing Florida player who was right in front of the net. Yup. — DrM
- It was a 2 on 0 breakaway Kev, little criticle there. Talbot as good as he is defensivly played that poorly, he put himself out of a 2 on 1 and made it a 2-0. Talbot's job was to take away the passer, if he does that, Bob clearly had Versteeg.— Sidewinder7
- FlyersKevin- "badly overplayed on Versteeg"??? it was a breakaway with 2 Panther's players trailing and NO Flyer's anywhere close to catching up to the play. I'd say Bob did all he could do on the that play— jamarder
- you can't really fualt him for that goal. maybe he overplayed it a little bit but it was a really nice play & pass by versteeg to know his man was there. A shame he didn't play that way when he was here.— mos19delta
- Is it allowed to have Bob be in goal for all shoot-outs....even when Breezy starts and plays the entire game?— Romus
- Agree with two previous posts...Bob's job in that situation is to take away the shooter, and the back checkers have to get the trailers. If you force the man on a breakaway past the net and into a passing situation, you've already done a heck of a job.— Darren9
- I think you are allowed to change your goalie for the shootout but you can't for penalty shots. Doubt any coach would have the stones to do it though.— Sidewinder7
- Lavy should give it a go and make a new name for himself in hockey journals....of course, as long as Breezy agrees! — Romus
- WOW!!! Finally some BOBS love!!! Maladyets BOBS!!!— starlight
- Obviously "FlyersKevin" doesn't understand hockey and thinks bob is supposed to stop the trailer. It's not a lie in the article. I don't think Sam is an amazing writer but in this case, he knows more hockey than you.— bigginn
- i'm not ready to write off bryz, but he is the best thing that could've happened to bob. bob is obviously a very competitive guy and when the flyers went out & signed a goalie he got the message & improved on the areas of his game that needed it. anyone who's knows anything about goaltending has to admit that his positioning & fundamentals where horrible last season, he has improved 200% and i don't think we would've seen that so quickly if the flyers hadn't sent the message.— mos19delta
- No Kidding there ( Starlight! )....its Bob's 2nd year potentially to play more than 35 games ever in one season, 2nd year playing in North America/ NHL, and as far as I know last year was Bob's first year ever playing in the play-offs, anywhere. He's 23! I remember a young goalie by the name of Marty Brodeur, who looked a lot like this guy at the same age... give him time, he's good now but I expect he's going to be even better in the next couple years! We got some exciting pieces in place... for Flyer success now and for years to Come! Thanks Homer!! Your the Man!— Dfirst
- Still not convinced that Bob is the man right now (he's played 3 games against teams w/ winning records; Florida might have been the fourth but I'm too lazy to check) but let's say he starts beating real teams like NYR, Bos, Det, etc. Would there be a way to get out of Bryz' contract, or are they totally stuck w/ it?— MaC130
Comment removed.- Bob was only 1 for 5 against penalty shots before last night so you can't say that for sure — mos19delta
- Comment removed.
- I don't disagree with the upside in bob, but it's like I said in my previous post, I think the byrz signing actually helped bob, cause i don't think we would see the drastic improvement from last year, He was good but not ready to be a #1 his fundamentals were terrible, and he still plays small in the net. What I mean by that is that from his stance you would never know the guy is almost 6'4 on skates, He's quick enough that he doesn't have to get down that low to make saves. makes you wonder if the flyer coaches & management didn't recognize that signing a new goalie would actually make bob better. Cause he is obviously very competitive & I'm sure the staff saw that in him right a away — mos19delta
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- Bryz has a No movement clause, no trading or releasing/waiving/demoting to AHL unless he agrees. Even if he did, no one would take the contract now. I think Bryz is prob lost for the year, hopefully he can bounce back next year. Just about time to make Bob the man because things change alot when you are the number 1.— Sidewinder7
- Krakatoa & SW7--thanks for the info. I especially agree with "things change a lot when you are the #1". If Bob has 3 or 4 bad games in a row (heck, not even *bad* games--just losses) then these boards will be lighting up w/ people asking why we are not playing our $51-million goalie.— MaC130
- It was nice to hear "Save by Bobrovsky" instead of "And the puck gets by Bryzgalov" for a change. A goalie doing what a goalie should do. Bob delivered the kind of performance Bryzgalov was supposed to, but can't. Not being perfect, but rising to the occasion is what it's all about, And Bob did that last night.— icarus
- Comment removed.
