Bob gets nod; Pronger struggling
Philadelphia Flyers news on Philly.com
Bob gets nod; Pronger struggling
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Remember how the Flyers would almost always use Antero Niittymaki as the goalie against Atlanta?
Nitty was a Thrashers-killer. Just like Sergei Bobrovsky is an Islanders-killer.
Which is why the man they call “Bob” will be in the nets on Thursday night against the visiting New York Islanders.
In his young career, Bob is 7-0 with a 1.86 goals-against average and .944 save percentage against the Isles.
Last Thursday, Bobrovsky set the tone of the Flyers’ 3-2 win over the host Islanders by stopping Michael Grabner on a penalty shot just 2:49 into the game.
Overall, Bobrovsky is 10-3-1 with a 2.42 GAA and .921 save percentage this season.
* * *
Provided the Isles' Steve Staios plays on Thursday, don't be surprised if there’s some retribution.
Staios hit Max Talbot in the head late in last week’s game, but he did not get a penalty and was not disciplined by the NHL.
After the game, Talbot was critical of the hit.
“That’s what we’re trying to stop in the NHL _ shots like that head shot,” he said.
* * *
The Flyers have won 23 of their last 24 against the Isles. Like Minnesota on Tuesday, the Islanders are on a father-son bonding trip.
* * *
Chris Pronger's wife, Lauren, told CSN her husband has "good days, bad days. It's been a lot of trauma going on, and we're just praying right now....He's battling. He wants to be out there more than anybody. It's tough for all of us to watch him go through this."
Pronger, the Flyers' captain, is expected to miss the rest of the season with a concussion. He was not able to attend Wednesday's Flyers fashion show because it was a "bad day" for him, said his wife, who hosted the event.
"It breaks his heart, breaks my heart," Lauren Pronger said.
* * *
The Flyers remain four points behind the first-place New York Rangers in the Atlantic Division; the Rangers face the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
* * *
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Tough news for Prongs hopefully he recovers so he can live a quality life.— shanehockey28- This Steve Staios stuff is nonesense. It wasn't that bad a hit. If you watch the replay the toe of Talbot's skate got caught on the ice and his knee twisted which is the only reason why he fell. There may have been a little elbow contact to the head but that is because of the size difference not malice. I think the league made the right call on this one, and the refs too. But hey, it will make this probable snoozer a lot more interesting so by all means, get some payback!— Nichols1088
- Bob is an "Islanders-killer"? My question is, who isn't? It is not as if the team has played poorly without Bob in the nets against the tied-for-last-place team in the conference with the 28th ranked offense in the NHL. The article points out that the Flyers have won 23 of their last 24 against the Isles, and only 7 of those wins were with Bob. That means that without Bob the Flyers are 16-1 against the Isles, so let's not act like Bob is some sort of a secret weapon we have to face the mighty Islanders.
The bigger story here is, once again, that we get to see Bob against a bad team, while Bryz faces teams that would qualify for the playoffs. How are we supposed to know how good Bob really is if we keep playing him against the bottom feeders of the league? Are the Flyers just trying to bolster his numbers for a trade?
It should work out now that Bryz plays the Devils (against whom he has a shutout this season) and Bob then hopefully plays the Bruins, as Bryz is not so hot in back-to-backs.— snipesmorris - As bad a deal as it was, they didn't buy Bryzgalov counting on Bob to play the top teams. To parody Yogi Berra, Bob is the backup until he isn't. And that means he gets the softer teams on the schedule regardless.
— icarus - He got the soft teams last year as the starter. Just look at the breakdown as to who he played and who Boosh played-- Boosh had the tougher schedule by far.
- Which had to have a negative impact on Boucher's play down the line. "Hey Boosh, save our butts against the hard teams, then ride the pine for Kid Bob as a reward." Another of Laviolette's goalie-mismanagement coaching moves. — icarus
- Somehow lost in this article was Bob's final regular season game last year, which was against the Islanders. The Flyers got the win, but no thanks to our "Islander-killer," who gave up 3 goals on 10 shots and was pulled after 12 minutes.
- *IF* (and I realize it's a big "if") they're trying to get Bryz's confidence up, why not play him against the Isles? Yes, I realize all about Bob's numbers etc, but we've seen a bunch of articles about how Bryz is the #1 on this site lately, so why not help the guy out and give him a game against a lesser team? — MaC130
- Well said snipes...I've been amazed at the "goalie controversy" talk going around. Yes Bob has played well, but up till recently he hadn't played more than once in a six day stretch and he's definitely only faced sub-par teams. He may very well be our goalie of the future but lets not forget his collapse last season.— Joe
- The Flyers need to comb the junior leagues, get a goalie and stick it out all year. Bryz was never good to begin with and Bob's confidence has to be shot. The Flyers are the Redskins of the NHL.— Sports4Life
- snipesmorris: exactly. the flyers never lose to the islanders.— Ryan
- Snipe, I think your point is best stated for the part of how good is Bob right now? I don't buy they want to show him off for trade suitors because I don't think you can in any way entertain a thought of trading him right now given Bryz's up and down play. You don't have a statistical difference of .890 (Bryz) to .921 (Bob) based solely on opponents. If Bryz got the lesser seeded teams more often it wouldn't be enough to overly inflate his numbers. And I doubt Bob facing a few more contenders would completely shatter his fine numbers this season either. But I agree it'd be good to see Bob get a few games in a row against the upper eschelon. Although, we have seen Bob in net against the Rangers, Penguins, etc a few times this year; I think more the point would be to see how he responded to seeing himself in a 2 or 3 in a row during a tough stretch. That would be the sign of whether he was ready to completely take the job back and prove that he should have been the goalie of the future (and present) from Day 1. Of course, that is unlikely as they don't want to send any mixed messages to their $51M philosopher that they are looking to the kid to carry the team and not him.— northphil
- Bob is a Islanders killer just as much as Doc is a Nats killer.— FABER
@Nichlos1088...What game were you watching??? Looks like a high hit to me. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9l_joPixAA— dogman5- First thing that moves when the hit occurs is Talbot's head, and it's not b/c his "skate got caught on the ice" as genius up there suggests. — MaC130
