Home cookin'? Not for Flyers
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Home cookin'? Not for Flyers
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
This is not an April Fool’s Day joke: The Flyers have forgotten how to win at the Wells Fargo Center.
They dropped a 1-0 decision to goalie Chris Mason and the lowly Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday, their seventh loss in their last eight home games.
The Flyers’ Eastern Conference lead over Washington was trimmed to one point. The Flyers have five games left _ one more than the Caps, who edged Columbus in overtime on Thursday, 4-3.
In the Atlantic Division, the Flyers maintained their four-point lead over the Penguins, who lost in Tampa Bay, 2-1.
The Flyers took 43 shots _ their most in a shutout loss since 1980.
Because of Pittsburgh’s loss, the Flyers’ magic number to win the Atlantic dropped to four points. If they win in New Jersey on Friday night, and Pittsburgh loses in regulation to Florida on Saturday, the Flyers would clinch the Atlantic.
Wrapping up the East won’t be as easy, especially since Flyers GM Paul Holmgren announced that star defenseman Chris Pronger is expected to miss the rest of the regular season.
Here are the remaining schedules for the Flyers and Capitals:
Flyers (five games): at New Jersey on Friday; vs. Rangers on Sunday; at Ottawa on Tuesday; at Buffalo next Friday; vs. Islanders on April 9.
Capitals (four games): vs. Buffalo on Saturday; at Toronto on Tuesday; vs. Florida on Wednesday; at Florida on April 9.
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The Flyers were blanked for the seventh time this season. They are the only NHL team that has yet to notch a shutout.
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Vancouver clinched the President’s Trophy with a 3-1 win over Los Angeles, assuring it will finish with the NHL’s highest points total. That means Vancouver will have the home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
Only three of the last nine President’s Cup winners have captured the Stanley Cup.
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For constant Flyers updates, follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BroadStBull.
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has the team stopped responding to Lavy? you cant replace the team at this point.— Inchon- The facts are that this team is not built to score. They love having rugby scrums with the puck against the side boards (where you can't score); they love dumping the puck behind the net (where you can't score); and their roster is full of over rated players who can't create their own space (where you can score) and who disappear in big games. All of this is news is you only listen to The Evil Empire and its propaganda arm, CSNet. I am Oppressed.— Nuutron
- What the hell are you talking about? I don't listen to the evil empire or CSN...i read stats. The Flyers have the 2nd highest average of goals per game in the NHL. If the Flyers are not built to score, what does that say about the rest of the league? — snipesmorris
- Good grief nuutron and inchon - get a grip - take a deep breath - the sun will rise tomorrow.
Uhhhhh nuutron - they ran into a hot goalie - ours was too their goal was a fluke - the team called the Flyers happens to have the most goal scorers about 15 in the NHL - not built to score!! Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!— OnlyTheLordSavesMore - Sam, why are you not talking about the spectacular play of Bob the past 5 games? He clearly has responded and no one has talked about it. Two weeks ago there were rampant question marks about his game, he now seems to have taken the reins!— Fabulous
- Fabulous: I think you mean the last 3 games, since 5 games ago he got shelled for 3 goals on 9 shots. 4 games ago he got abused in the shootout, again. He played very well against the Isles, but that game was never in doubt. We needed him to pitch a shutout last night and he was bested again by another goalie. If he went 5-0 in his last five with a shutout or two, you would read about him being spectacular. 2-1-1 and pulled is not spectacular--by comparison, Leighton against the Habs in the eastern conference finals was spectacular (3 shutouts in 5 games).— snipesmorris
- Sens sign collegiate star-Stephane DaCosta.— Romus
- Laviolette has lost control of this team. He is not the coach we thought he was.
He cannot undestand, nor is he smart enough to correct the main issues that the Flyers have.
Sorry, but he, and about 6 players need to go.
The team is basically lazy and stupid.
They do not play an ounce of defense and allow the low lifes of the league to run n gun with them.
If they began to play more physical, began to stop the opposition at center ice, if they simply threw the puck at the net on th PP instead of cranking up slapshots and trying to be the Harlem Globtrotters on ice, if they tried to locate a teammate instead of blindly giving the puck away they might stand a chance.
I don't see P.L. recognizing any of these issues and the Flyers will be out after the 1st, or at best the 2nd round.— dedhed - I'll continue just watch and listen, let all the couch potatoes whine and extract venom. There's a reason not many teams get back to the
finals after losing them the year before. I see at team trying to
get their bodies ready for April tournament hockey.— retzlaff - Flyers forget to win anywhere, not just at home! On a downward spiral, and it doesn't look good. Seems other teams are hungrier with the upcoming playoffs. Flyers seem "hot/cold" and inconsistent. Still waiting for Verbek to make a statement.— dogman5
