Giroux: 'I'm not worried about Bryz'
There are a couple of ways to look at the Flyers’ position in the defensive-challenged Eastern Conference quarterfinals: - Glass half-full: The Flyers still have a comfortable 3-1 series lead against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they are headed “home” to the Consol Energy Center, where they are 7-1 since it opened two years ago. - Glass half-empty: The Penguins, thanks to a 10-3 win in a pond-hockey game disguised as the playoffs on Wednesday, have put some considerable doubts in the Flyers’ minds.
Giroux: 'I'm not worried about Bryz'
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
There are a couple of ways to look at the Flyers’ position in the defensive-challenged Eastern Conference quarterfinals:
- Glass half-full: The Flyers still have a comfortable 3-1 series lead against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they are headed “home” to the Consol Energy Center, where they are 7-1 since it opened two years ago.
- Glass half-empty: The Penguins, thanks to a 10-3 win in a pond-hockey game disguised as the playoffs on Wednesday, have put some considerable doubts in the Flyers’ minds.
This being Philadelphia, where the last Stanley Cup parade was in 1975, I have a feeling most fans are getting a little nervous, primarily because of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov’s struggles.
Ever since he suffered a chip fracture in his right foot late in the season, Bryzgalov has lost the rhythm that produced a sensational March. Bryzgalov was pulled after allowing five goals on 18 shots in Game 4 on Wednesday. For the series, he has a 4.95 goals-against average and .844 save percentage.
“I’m not worried about Bryz,” Flyers center Claude Giroux insisted. “He knows what he’s got to do. He’s a lead goaltender, and we’ve got to do a better job in front of him. He’ll be our best player in Game 5.”
Bryzgalov’s counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury, has also been awful, compiling a 5.43 GAA and .817 save percentage in the series. But the guy they call “Flower” did steady himself over the final two periods Wednesday, and he will take some momentum into Game 5 on Friday.
The Penguins’ biggest confidence-booster, however, was the standout performances by their Big Three _ Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal. They combined for six goals and three assists Wednesday as the Flyers’ defense gave little resistance.
Put it all together _ along with an injury to Flyers defenseman Nick Grossmann _ and it’s easy to imagine the Penguins surviving on Friday and the teams returning to the Wells Fargo Center for Game 6.
* * *
Giroux on the loss: “We got embarrassed in front of our fans, and that’s something we’re not happy about. The good thing about playoffs is you put that one behind you, and correct what you did. Now we’ll go back to Pittsburgh, and we know what we have to do.”
Defenseman Kimmo Timonen agreed.
“We’ll sleep on it, and we’ll come to the rink (Thursday) and have a good practice,” he said. “We’ll watch a little bit of tape and we will go from there. When Friday comes, we should be ready to go.”
Breakaways. The Flyers’ power play converted 3 of 5 chances Wednesday and increased their series total to a staggering 9 for 15 (60 percent)…..Pittsburgh’s PP was 4 for 7 Wednesday….In the four games, the Flyers have outscored the Penguins, 23-22.....The Brayden Schenn-Danny Briere-Wayne Simmonds line was a combined minus-11.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
At some point, you have to realize that it isn't the goalies being horrible, as much as EVERYONE is horrible in this series. When you see a team is 4 for 7 on the power play, you can blame the goalie...or perhaps the penalty kill. In Philly, they always chose the goalie.— Hexy4GM- Wow how do you lose a game 10-3 when you are up 3 games to 0 in the series in front of your home town fans. Penguins have 3 players out. It was a total lack of effort!!! I never ever sen a Flyers team play so bad. Maybe they shouldn't have printed that picture of the Cowardly Crosby in the paper. They woke up a sleeping giant and this will come back to Philly for game 6. I live in Georgia now and watching the game last night people were laughing how bad the Flyers played. One guy said "It looked like the flopped on purpose it was so horrible"! He actually made me think for a minute before I got my senses back. Then watch the Kings game beautiful 1st period then they go sour for 2 periods against the Canucks. I have been watching hockey for a long long time but never saw a complete and utter collapse like last night.— slade1955
- Do you live in atlanta? — achtung
- when you have combined 12 to 15 all-world players that are the best goal scorers on the planet,......this game is an anomoly and you throw out the stats as the only stat that matters is the one on the score board,....the only thing that really matters now, is how will the kids respond to their first taste of playoff adversity,....didn't need to win last night anyway since we'd be looking at nearly a week off waiting for the competition to catch up— SyddBarrett
- Carchidi, what about 5 straight penalties to begin the 2nd period. Have you ever seen 1 team get 5 penalties in a row. Why no call on Michalek when he held and crosschecked Rinaldo. That is why that idiot started smashing him back. Rinaldo had the puck wasn't the Ref looking? The Flyers didn't lose because of penalties. Goaltending and the Penguins were enough to make the Flyers lose. Why all the calls too? When are the mealy mouthed writers going to notice something as obvious as 5 penalties in a row to start the 2nd period. Why no penalty shot for Giroux, he got a shot on net as he was being tripped. Thought that was a PS. Too many men penalty on Bobrovsky? Really? How many times has a goalie been on the way to the bench and was called for that? Please.— skolman
- YOU DID WAKE THE SLEEPING GIANT!!!!!!! ENJOY YOUR LEAD WHILE IT LAST FILTHYDELPHIA,"YINZ" ARE GOING DOWN!!!!!!!!— pghgrl
- @pghgrl, lose the caps lock and learn some English. You're a waste just like your team.
Nice of Giroux to play the good teammate but the fact is that signing Bryz will go down as the worst FA signing in NHL history.— JBinPA - Flyer SLEEP! I heard they had to treat Bryz and Bob for sunburn on the back of their necks from the goal light constantly being on.
Back to the Burgh for hopefully more of the same.
They need to put the baby hat and pacifier on Coatsie. What a whiner.
— pgh66 
Comment removed.- Pittsburg has always been nothing more than a glorified toilet;.....and now, its a glorified toilet filled with fracking and flow-back fluid— SyddBarrett
- Before the series as you Pit fans hit this board, we kept saying please come back when you lose. Last thing Mikeinpgh said was 'we'll be back. We can give it and take it'. Whoops. Never heard a word for 3 games. I'm glad the Flyers threw a game to coax you all back for 2 days. It was well worth it. So, please come back after Friday, when the series is over. we know, we know, you will. But just in case: 'Nice series Pit. Too bad it ended after 5 games. We'll see you all back here next year'. Go Flyers.— LuckyDog
- Last night was a nightmare, but I just don't see how we lose this series being up 3-1. I have no idea which game we will win, but we aren't going to lose 4 straight to the Pens. My concern is the 2nd round and how quick we get bounced. Unless our opponent has a goalie who is as bad as Fleury, we don't have a chance. If we played any other team in the first round we would be at home by now. We don't stand a chance with Bryz. He's horrible. Just beat Crybaby Crosby and I'll consider it a good season.— BleedPhilly
- what a surprise, carchidi asking about goaltending, trying to stir up a lockerroom controversy. the lack of any real knowledge by this guy is astounding.— spittooncj
- Of course Fleury looked "steadier" in the 2nd and 3rd, the Flyers put NO pressure on him. 9 shots in the 2nd and a pathetic 5 in the 3rd. A terrible effort on the part of the Flyers. Was Hartnell even on the ice? 30+ goal scorer and he has disappeared. Effort in Game 5 has to be 1000% better if they hope to close it out.— akh
- You can't beat us
(clap clap clap clap clap)
Indeed.— steve_o66
