ALWAYS BREAKS OUT THE TY ON HOLIDAYS
Maybe the Flyers went to the Wizard and located a heart since Tuesday night.
Or maybe they were just more refreshed because they weren't playing on consecutive nights, like they did on Tuesday.
Or perhaps they're just getting used to new coach Peter Laviolette's system.
Whatever the reason, the Flyers played with tenacity Thursday despite dropping a 3-2 shootout to the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins at the Wachovia Center.
Two nights earlier, after a 6-1 loss in Pittsburgh, captain Mike Richards said the Flyers "were not playing with enough heart to have success."
To their credit, the Flyers played a solid 65 minutes Thursday, getting goals from Jeff Carter _ who played perhaps his best game of the season _ and Claude Giroux, along with strong goaltending from Brian Boucher.
But goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the amazing/remarkable/irrepressible (pick one) Sidney Crosby were spectacular, and the Penguins' power play was 2 for 5.
Still, it was a point, and there haven't been many games lately where the Flyers have gotten anything.
Now they need to build off it in home games against the New York Rangers Saturday and Florida on Monday.
“It’s difficult to sit up here and say it was great," Laviolette said of the shoot-out loss. "We left the points out there, and the points are important. It comes down to breakaways. It’s always one of those things when you lose the breakaways. You left the point behind ...As far as the game itself goes, I thought our guys competed well. I thought we generated (offense) the way I would like to see us generate. I think we’ve done it in previous games as well, but tonight there was some consistency from the start to the end.”
Notes. Carter had seven shots....Dan Carcillo had a game-high five hits.....Mike Richards and Chris Pronger each blocked three shots.....Defenseman Kris Letang and Crosby scored in the shootout. Danny Briere and Claude Giroux were unsuccessful in the shootout and lost control of the puck as they went in on Fleury.....The Flyers won 52 pecent of the faceoffs, led by Carter (62 percent).....The Flyers outshot the Pens, 33-30, and outhit them, 26-19.....Pittsburgh blocked 19 shots _ five more than the Flyers.....The Penguins have won all three games against the Flyers this season.....Blair Betts returned from a shoulder injury and was rusty in the first period; he won eight of 14 faceoffs.
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