Flyers blame poor defense, hope acquisitions help

SAN JOSE, Calif. - While goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has received the brunt of criticism for the Flyers' alarmingly poor defensive statistics, the whole team shares in the blame.

That was the consensus coming out of the locker room before the Flyers faced San Jose on Tuesday night.

The forwards know they can be more defensively responsible, and the defense figures to get better as 6-foot-4, 258-pound Pavel Kubina and 6-4, 230-pound Nick Grossman, a pair of recently acquired blue liners, get acclimated to their new system.

"The two guys we added give us a lot of size," winger Scott Hartnell said. "I thought we were a little too easy in front of the net and teams were standing there, blocking the goalie and not getting touched. For me, being in front of the net a lot of times and scoring some dirty goals, you're going to get bumps and bruises and hacks and whacks. It almost makes you not want to go there. To add those two big bodies is going to make it harder for teams to get in front of the net and score goals."

Entering Tuesday, the Flyers were 27th in the 30-team NHL, allowing an average of 2.98 goals per game.

"We have to tighten the defense a little more before the playoffs," winger Jaromir Jagr said. "I think the offense is OK. We have no problems scoring goals, but we have to tighten the defense."

The Flyers began the night leading the NHL with an average of 3.3 goals per game. Prior to Thursday, their last two wins were a 5-4 overtime triumph in Winnipeg and a 5-4 conquest of Calgary in a shootout.

"A 5-4 hockey game is not winning hockey; it's not going to win a championship," Hartnell said. "It's going to give you an early exit, and I think last year is a good example. We had three goalies, and against Buffalo we were able to come back and somehow win, but you have to play these 2-1, 3-1 games and not rely on your offense all the time.

"You have to play tight D."

That's the Flyers' mantra with 20 games left in the regular season.

"We're not giving up a lot of chances, but good chances - the breakaways, the penalty shots, the two-on-ones," coach Peter Laviolette said. "There are things we can do better in our system and as a group. We continue to teach through video and by just going over things because we still have a lot of young players in the lineup."

"Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the NHL has changed, but I think to have a good run in the playoffs, you need to [tighten] it up," Jagr said. "It's tough to win the high-scoring games, in my opinion. A few years ago, Chicago and Philadelphia in the Finals was [wide open], but that's an exception.

The Flyers need to be more committed to defense, need to be better on the penalty kill, need Bryzgalov to go on a roll. He made his sixth straight start Tuesday against the host Sharks.

"Our biggest guy has to be Bryz; he's got to stop the easy ones and make some big saves," Hartnell said. "And our penalty kill needs to be on."

In their three games before Thursday, the Flyers had successfully killed just three of their last eight penalties.

"We can't give up one or two power-play goals a game," Hartnell said. ". . . We're hanging on right now and have to stay positive."

It's easier to be positive when you envision what Kubina and Grossman can do for the lineup - at regular strength and on special teams.

"They're veteran guys," said defenseman Braydon Coburn, the longest-tenured Flyer. "They're very smart and they grasp pretty quickly what we're trying to do with our defensive schemes."

For the Flyers, the "grasping" can't come soon enough.