Posted: Friday, November 6, 2009, 11:35 PM | 4 comments |
 

Flyers' win one of season's best
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  The Flyers' 5-2 win in Buffalo Friday was one of their most impressive of the young season.

   For one, they scored four goals (the fitfh was an empty-netter) against the league's hottest goalie, Ryan Miller, and defeated a Sabres team that was off to a 9-2-1 start.

   For another, they cruised to the victory because of contributions from the players who compose the third and fourth lines.

   Especially the fourth line.

   Dan Carcillo (two goals, seven shots), Blair Betts (assist) and Ian Laperriere (two assists) _ the LCB Line, Part II _ were a combined plus-9.

   In addition, the Flyers (8-4-1) had a 31-27 edge in draws against one of the league's premier faceoff teams.

   Oh, and the Flyers were missing three key players who were injured (Danny Briere, Simon Gagne and Ryan Parent), and they had half their team recovering from the flu.

   The Flyers have won three straight and are starting to resemble the team that, on paper, looked like a Stanley Cup contender before the season.

    Another plus: The Flyers continued to get offensive production from their defensemen. Chris Pronger notched a goal and was plus-3. Defenseman Matt Carle was also plus-3 and is plus-14 for the season.

    Rookie LW James van Riemsdyk chipped in with his third goal; he has 14 points in 11 games and is establishing himself as a strong rookie-of-the-year contender.

    Since the franchise started in 1967, the Flyers have never had a rookie-of-the-year winner.

   * * * * * * * *

   Third-line winger Darroll Powe scored his fourth goal.....Carcillo had his first multi-goal game since April 4, 2008 against Anaheim. He was with Phoenix at the time, and had scored a hat trick in his previous game......Goalie Ray Emery (8-3-1) has quietly become one of the Flyers' most consistent players...Jeff Carter won 11 of 15 faceoffs/

 
Posted by Sam Carchidi @ 11:35 PM  Permalink | 4 comments
4
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:29 PM, 11/07/2009
    agreed! they not only played a hard nosed relentless game, they played it for the full 60 minutes, no stupid lapses, up 3 and 4 - 1 they still played as if they were tied or up by one. if they can keep efforts like this up they are going to be a hard team to beat.
    — PhoenixFlyer
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:51 PM, 11/07/2009
    they looked like they were having fun out there, its a good thing to see. after each goal they all looked like a team
    — Inchon
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:45 AM, 11/09/2009
    Over the years, the Flyers have had few, if any, solid Calder Trophy candidates. There was one guy a while back who shoulda bagged the trophy. Young guy named Barber... lost to a Ranger named Vickers. There's no justice when it come to the Blue Shirts! ;)
    — phillyflyer58


4 comments
About Sam Carchidi
Sam Carchidi is in his fourth year as the Flyers' beat reporter. He became an Inquirer staff writer in 1984 and covered mostly South Jersey high school sports and the Phillies before taking the Flyers beat.

Carchidi has written three books _ the nationally acclaimed Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story, which he co-authored with Scott Brown; Bill Campbell: The Voice of Philadelphia Sports; and Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story, which was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He also contributed to a 1993 Inquirer book on the Phillies.

A lifelong South Jersey resident, Carchidi lives in Wenonah with his wife, JoAnn, and their two children, Sara and Sammy.

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