Philadelphia Flyers

[27Blue]

Yeah agreed...and that's the hook: goaltending. Blues have a great tandem but they're a tandem. i just think an edge has to be given to Preds in terms of stability when you can insert Rinne w/out giving it a second thought.

All very close, you are right, but if i had to pick one....

i hear ya, but all season long:
LA could put Quick in without a second thought
STL could put either Halak or Elliott in wihtout a second thought
and Phoenix could put in Smith without a second thought...

[TK12555]

FF, who would you want to face 2nd round (as a Flyers' fan)?

[Bomm Bastic]

i hear ya, but all season long:
LA could put Quick in without a second thought
STL could put either Halak or Elliott in wihtout a second thought
and Phoenix could put in Smith without a second thought...

Oh and I should clarify (just noticed) when I said No offense to any other teams but i just don't see anyone successfully challenging Philly's relentless forecheck, special teams play and scoring depth. Not in a "Best of..." series

I was referring to the Eastern Conference. Don't think I made that clear...sorry about that.

Back to the goalie thing....I should caveat that I don't see very many west coast games so there's that...

That said, to me and I may be putting to fine a point on it but the Preds defense seems more punishing in the way that it controls play. The Kings...I never relaized how good their D was until recently otherwise I would have absolutely would have picked them over the 'Nucks in my brackets. I was pissed I missed that about them.

'Yotes D is good but is it the level of intensity of the Preds? With the caveat in mind (above) and the punishing play of the preds (alliteration is so under appreciated) defense in combo with Rinne is why i go their route.

Again....NOT a cake walk by any means. Some great hockey coming down the pipe!!

[Atomic Wedgy]

I'd like to face FLA, but for that to happen it means the Rags are still in the playoffs. Considering our record against them this year, I'd rather play OTT and have NYR exit stage right.

[Flyer Fan]

FF, who would you want to face 2nd round (as a Flyers' fan)?

I think I agree with Atomic Wedgy about preferring the Panthers....

My biggest concern is Bryzgalov. Fleury gave up enough bad goals to take the spotlight off of Bryz, but I'd like to see him have a few good games for his confidence, and looking at the way Holtby, and Anderson are playing, I think there's less pressure on him than there would be matching up against a hot goalie.

And despite Brodeur's age and stats, ...he's still Brodeur, so I just can't bring myself to choose him , ...but seriously, the Devils are a division rival, we just played the Pens from the division, and might have another division matchup with Rangers next round, ...so I'd rather see a non division matchup.

And as I'm typing this, I'm also realizing that I kind of see the Panthers as I guess a cut below the Devils skill wise/experience wise.

To be honest, I'm still kind of shocked at the way things have played out, ...I thought the Bruins had a whole different gear they would shift into when push came to shove, so until Ward's goal last night, I figured the Flyers were looking at either the Rangers or Bruins.

So maybe I'm guilty of looking ahead, or being overconfident now, but I'm looking at this next series in terms of a tune up for the next series, and Ottawa's such a cool Cinderella story, I'd like to be able to root for them for another round!

So, sun and fun in Florida seems like the best bet.

[Flyer Fan]

Okay, due to the influence of my ritualistic "good luck" beers, I'm just going to do a stream of consciousness type of thing about today's game (I can always delete it tomorrow)

Mind you, I didn't want the good luck beers, but as I told the wife, ...everyone has to do their part, and I just couldn't in good conscience sit their sipping on aa bottled water, watching everybody else bust their butts, and knowing I wasn't giving %100

- The Devils are a better coached team than the Pens, better puck support, and much tighter in their own end.

-The Flyers came out with their traditional non-skating kind of start, and traditional fall behind strategy, ...but I've never seen a team so consistantly come from behind successfully. Usually teams that do that seem to run out of gas eventually, and get buried. Not this team, and consequently, they don't seem the least bit fazed when they do fall behind.

- Illya Kovalchuk was probably the worst player on the ice today, ....and that includes the zamboni driver, and the maintenance guys who came out to fix the net anchor.

Totally unengaged, awful turnovers, mini,mal effort, got away with a ridiculous two handed high stick to the face of Wellwood, right in front of the official, who I can only assume let it go out of sympathy because he already has his hand up to call Green for hooking, ...but what a boneheaded play at a crucial time.

And for a guy with blazing speed, Kovalchuk seemed to spend more time standing still today than Marty Brodeur.

-Speaking of Brodeur, he made an incredible save on Gustafsson after turning the puck over, but JvR nailed the rebound.

I also though Brodeur was probably the Devils most physical player today. Absolutely mauling JvR on one sequence that looked like a Ron Hextall highlight film.

I'm thinking Brodueur was perhaps a little pissed off after being run at repeatedly by the same player without any of team-mates rushing to his defense.

...And I'm also thinking the fact that the player who seemed to be running him all day was Peter Harold, ...his own defenseman, probably didn't help his disposition.

One sequence, Harold actually seemed to shake Brodeur up, and knocked his helmet off. (The helmet being knocked off, revealed Brodeur to really be, as I've suspected all along, ...Luke Skywalker's father.

Timonen took a puck in the hand or wrist, and was sitting on the bench shaking it, and bending over in pain, ...I was thinking the worst, and was relieved to see him not leaving the bench, and continuing to play.

Friggin Briere was AMAZING!!! Atomic Wedgey was absolutley right saying regardless of hoiw bad he looked during the regular season, once the playoff started, he'd be Briere again.

I really need to get a tape of today's game that I can watch to remind myself next Christmas when Briere's scoring at a 40 point pace, and looks like he's lost a step (again)

-Which reminds me, how i consistantly misread what Laviolette's going to do:

After the way the Briere, Simmonds, Schenn line played against the Penguins, and had stayed together even through yesterdays practice, I figured JvR was going to be stuck on the fourth line, ...but Laviollette made a bold move inserting JvR on the second line in place of Schenn, ...and in the first period it looked like a big mistake, JvR looked rusty, Schenn disapeared.

As the game progressed however, it became the Flyers best line, and JvR one of their best players, going to the net, annoying Brodeur, creating chances, using his strength to push Green out of the way with one arm, while shooting the puck, and then getting off another from the rebound with the other...

He screened Brodeur on both Briere's disallowed goal, and the game winner, ...which my buddy insists he tipped.

(My buddy also pointed out, that in his oopinion, Briere's goal probably would have counted had Bobby Clarke been the video review judge. But hey, those are the breaks.)

And it was amazing to watch a guy JvR's size create a breakaway chance using his speed, ...and created the above mentioned one-handed chance by using a burst of speed to beat the defensmen wide, and then his strength to hold him at bay.

It's also the best I've seen him skate since last season. Obviously the time off allowed his hip to heal as well. He looked rusty at first, but eventually fast, strong, skilled, and tenacious (Luke Schenn my ass!!! )

What was even more impressive was that both of vanRiemsdyk's bursts of speed came at the ends of his shifts, ...for a player that's only played like 3 of the last 20 games, that's impressive conditioning.

Speaking of conditioning, Voracek got inserted for Simmonds on Briere's other wing, and had a very good game, strong on the puck, quick, and through a couple of nice hits. I know there were questions about his conditioning, but he looked like a beast today.

It's kind of impressive that the Flyers can plug two forwards into their top six, and not skip a beat.

Hartnell, Giroux, Jagr, Briere, JvR, Voracek, Simmonds, and Schenn give the Flyers 8 top sixers, with guys like Read, and Couturier not even making the cut.

Add defensive stalwart Talbot to the mix, and it's amazing 12th forward Kyle Wellwood even gets on the ice, let alone makes an impact.

The Devil's don't have the high end talent of the Pens, but they're no slouches, and they probably have better depth, but watching today, you could see that DeBoer couldn't get his fourth line, or third defensive pairing on the ice without the Flyers wreaking havok against them, ...and they're GOOD players.

I think Ray Shero sleeps easier after watching today's game and the Flyers forecheck and powerplay against the Devils.

I also think, Ed Snider is going to be up all night having nightmares about the checks he's going to have to be writing to Bryzgalov for years.

Bryz let in two softies today, and created another five or so opportunites for the Devils with his "puck handling". I'm thinking that when Bryz comes out to play the puck, rather then spreading out to accept the outlet pass, the Flyers should all just head to whichever opposing player is closest to Bryzgalov, 'cause that's where the pucks going.

Hartnell had a tough game, looked like his head wasn't in it, and he wasn[t skating, tried about three cross zone passes near his defensive blueline today, and got away with two of them before getting burned on the third one and giftwrapping the Devils game tying third goal (although Bryzgalov's name should probably be on the gift tag too)

Matt Read played Santa Claus on the Devil's first goal, and had an "iffy" game.

Briere get's a lot of well earned accolades for his ability to elevate his game during the playoffs, but Braydon Coburn does the same thing, ...it just doesn't show up in the scoresheet.

He was by far the Flyers best defenseman today, and during the Pens series as welll.

Lilja and Gustafsson had a very strong game, got decent icetime, and I even saw Lilja make an offensive foray behind the Devil's net late in the game (...although, I suppose that could have been the good luck beers at work)

Okay, that's all I got!

[Atomic Wedgy]

I told you! hahahahaha! I quite glad that I was right about Briere. The guy is incredible. Too bad he cant find the motivation all year tho.

I am also impressed by Wellwood. He was good against the Pens, but he just had a screamer of a game today. He is really fast. Great energy guy to have on your team. He really shoulda had an assist with Talbot in front of the net. Brodeur robbed him.

It took us until the 2nd period to shake the rust from having a week off. I am really looking forward to the next game.

[Shoeless]

"and it's amazing 12th forward Kyle Wellwood even gets on the ice, let alone makes an impact." - maybe Eric, huh.

Great write-up - thanks.

[Bomm Bastic]

Great write up, FF.

Every time Briere scores, Regier gets mule-kicked in the cojones. So keep 'em coming oh Danny boy!

Also, Is Bryz on opioids? Or maybe he's lugging around ten pounds of crap in his knickers? He just appears to be so lethargic in movement, like he's weighted down. Maybe it's the burden of the universe upon him?

[Flyer Fan]

Great write up, FF.

Every time Briere scores, Regier gets mule-kicked in the cojones. So keep 'em coming oh Danny boy!

Also, Is Bryz on opioids? Or maybe he's lugging around ten pounds of crap in his knickers? He just appears to be so lethargic in movement, like he's weighted down. Maybe it's the burden of the universe upon him?

Haha! Ya see Bomm, the mistake you're making is not uncommon.


What you're doing wrong is that observing Bryzgalov's movements and making the incorrect assumption that he is "moving slower" than the players on the ice (and most beer league goalies).

But as Bryzgalov explained during a recent post game interview after a loss to the Rangers, this fallacy is based upon the erroneous assumption that "time" is a fixed and constant entity, instead of the fluid and dynamic element it really is.

So, what you're doing is projecting your own existent time reference into a different location in the universe where time may or may not be flowing at the same observable rate.

It is in fact just as likely that in Bryzgalov's particular location in the universe, he is moving incredibly fast, but due a slight ripple in the space/time continuum immediately surrounding him, the puck and the players may appear to be moving somewhat faster.

We simply have no way of knowing. So maybe a better question to ask yourself is:

Why you heff to be mad???

I find it helps to just repeat the following while you're watching the game:


It's just an illusion, there is no goaltending crisis.
It's just an illusion, there is no goaltending crisis.
It's just an illusion, there is no goaltending crisis.
It's just an illusion, there is no goaltending crisis.
It's just an illusion, there is no goaltending crisis.
It's just an illusion, there is no goaltending crisis...

[Bomm Bastic]

Ohhhhhhhhhh...now I get it. He's a stoner!

lmao

[jeffl97]

Bryz thinks too many monkeys have been lost in space. haha
http://www.csnphilly.com/hockey-phil...944&feedID=704

[Flyer Fan]

Boy, I can't understand how the Flyers could be so flat last night.

They got off to a good start, a very good start, for over half of the first period, ...then just stopped skating.

The only positive to take away from it, is that it was by far Bryzgalov's best playoff game thusfar, ...hey, maybe he's just one of those goalies that needs a lot of work to be sharp

Giroux had a tough game, and the first line as a whole was off all night, but you figure that was bound to happen at some point.

What was more suprising to me was how bad the Briere/JvR/Voracek line looked after looking so good after being unveiled for the first time in game 1.

Briere's rightfully taking the heat from the guys over at SBNation for his offensive cheating, and defensive lethargy on the first goal, ...but if you watch the video breakdown, you see that JvR's right there next to him in the neutral zone while the Devil's are controlling the puck in the middle of the Flyers zone.

Here's the link: http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2012/5/2...son-goal-video

What's interesting about it to me is that it gives Laviolette a decison to make with regards to formulating that second line.

Briere's been spectacular offensively, but even at his best, he's weak defensively, and JvR at this stage of his career would have to be put into that same catagory.

So as good as he, Briere, and Voacek looked in game one offensively, they looked just as bad defensively last night (all three wound up at -3 I believe)

The question is whether or not the Flyers would be better off with the Simmonds/Schenn combo on Briere's wings. ?????? Not sure.

I'm sure it's probably better just to chalk it off to what it was, one bad game, and try again.

The line seemed to have an awful lot of potential, but with so many good forwards to choose from, it's just a lot of fun playing "mix and match"

It kind of looked like Wellwood has graduated from the fourth line role to third line duty with Couturier and Talbot, ...so assuming the second line remains intact, Laviolette's going to have a fourth line of Schenn/Simmonds/Read or perhaps one of Voracek or JvR...
not a bad problem to have.

Here's Espn's shot chart from last night game, pretty much tells you all you need to know:

[Flyer Fan]

No lineup changes anticipated for tonight's game.

For the devil's, Kovalchuk's apparently playing.

Scott Hartnell, had a rough game the other night, but it turns out he's playing injured after blocking a shot with his foot during game one, ...injury is of course unconfirmed, but it's there.

Hartnell, made a point of taking responsibility for his line's performance the other night, saying he personally had a bad game, and needs to be better.

He did, and he does, but Giroux and Jagr had poor games as well. Here's hoping he and they turn it around tonight.

[Ross The Boss Palmer]

The Giroux Voracek chemistry seems to be developing very nicely.