Philadelphia Flyers

[Flyer Fan]

I'm_typing_using_this_secret_code_so_Bomm_Bastic_d oesn't_see_this, but_The_Philadelphia_Daily_News'_Frank_Seravalli_i s_citing_"numerous_sources"
confirming_that_Chris_Pronger_will_not_be_in_the_l ineup_tonight.

link: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...st_Sabres.html

[Flyer Fan]

Add: Johan Backlund, Zac Rinaldo, and Michael Ryan to the Flyers Black Aces. (Leighton's on the roster)

Philadelphia International Airport has issued a warning that travelers may experience slight delays.

This is believed to be due to incoming flights having to be routed around Sabres soph Defenseman Tyler Myers.

[Flyer Fan]

Flyers have confirmed that Pronger will not play, and that Zherdev will be a scratch in favor of Carcillo/Nodl.

Lines:

Briere with Leino and Hartnell
Giroux with Nodl and Carter
Richards with JVR and Versteeg
Betts with Carcillo and Powe

Timmonen Coburn
Carle Meszaros
O'Donnell Syvret

Bobrovsky
Boucher

[Bomm Bastic]

Philadelphia International Airport has issued a warning that travelers may experience slight delays.

This is believed to be due to incoming flights having to be routed around Sabres soph Defenseman Tyler Myers.

Hmmmm...we here in Buffalo are hearing reports that the delays are due to Pronger - having climbed atop the outside of the Comcast Center with an unknown blonde in his grasp - has since commenced swatting at all air traffic while grunting something about his isle-home in the South Pacific.

Oh...and I have my Flash Gordon de-coder ring, so nice try.

[duballstar014]

Breaking news!

Trisha Takanawa is reporting that Nate Gerbe and Tyler Ennis were actually one player in juniors, but a Zdeno Chara hit into the partition resulted in the separation. Over time the two players grew, but only slightly, as evidenced by their current heights.

Thank God this didn't happen to Pacorietty!

[Bomm Bastic]

Alright, that's it....I'm going back over to the Sabres thread. I ain't gettin no respect in these part.

Et tu, duballstar? Et tu?

[MoreCanadianTeams]

That was some of the funniest Sh*t I've seen on his site. Thanks guys, rep coming your way.

[ericdaoust]

Breaking news!

Trisha Takanawa is reporting that Nate Gerbe and Tyler Ennis were actually one player in juniors, but a Zdeno Chara hit into the partition resulted in the separation. Over time the two players grew, but only slightly, as evidenced by their current heights.

Thank God this didn't happen to Pacorietty!

That would have really boosted the rosters of the Timbits hockey players during intermissions. Desharnais and Gionta are their only stars at the moment.

[Flyer Fan]

It's a black day in Philadelphia; the Flyers lost game one.

Flyers Chairman Ed Snider has demanded a full investigation into the matter, and a board of inquiry is being formed.

My observations from the game:

-First and formemost, I'm not sure whether to file this one under the one or two Miller figured to steal or not. He played well, but the Flyers didn't generate a lot of traffic in front, he had a good view of almost everything thrown at him, most of which were either long range slappers from rushing forwards entering the zone, or from stationary perimeter positions on the powerplay. Miller consistently had time to be set, and challenging the shooter, what few rebounds he left were uncontested.

-The Sabres third line of Gerbe-Gaustad-Kaleta wast the best line on the ice for either team. Physical, hard working, and effective every shift. This was true even before Kaleta scored the game winner.


-Danny Syvret was victimized on Kaleta's goal, failed to pick up the forward in the slot, but the real culprit was Bobrovsky kicking the rebound into the slot from a fairly harmless unobstructed point shot. Otherwise both Syvret and Bobrovsky played well.

-The Flyers defense corps as a group had a very strong game, Coburn in particular gave the Sabres fits, but a very strong effort by all, up front was where the game was decided.

-Scott Hartnell, Jeff Carter, and Versteeg, all played. It says so in the boxscore.

-The Briere line had it's moments and probably was the Flyers most effective, but played a lousy game, ...to many 1 on 2 attempts at stickhandling into the Sabres zone, ...lots of perimeter, unscreened, no chance slappers into Miller's logo off the rush, no forechecking, no loose puck coralling, no second chances, and a few blue line turnovers, ...Leino in particular had a rough game with a couple of turnovers, and getting caught with his head down. Hartnell was just plain invisible.

-Laviolette pulled a switchup and inserted JVR onto a line with Giroux and Carter. JVR was easily the Flyers best forward last night, Giroux was second.

-Versteeg, Richards, and Nodl really weren't a factor either, ...I know Nodl was credited with four hits, ...but nothing notable, no offense at all from these guys last night, very little hitting.

-Betts, Powe and Carcillo didn't get on the ice enough to be a factor. Carcillo had a few good shifts early, and Betts was a factor on the penalty kill, but as a unit they probably played less than five minutes.

-You can make a case that the Flyers weren't outworked last night, ...but it's arguable, they certainly didn't outwork the Sabres.

-The Flyers did show glimpses of playing that high tempo game that was so successful for them in the playoffs last season, and earlier this year. ]

-All and all not a bad start, they're going to need a better effort in game two though, but even without Pronger, if they work hard enough, they should be able to beat these guys.

[Flyer Fan]

Game getting ready to kick off shortly, ...I'll be watching from home.

Tonight's effort will go a long way in defining this Flyers team's ability to answer the bell.

The Sabres are playing with house money, they should be loose and confident.

Should be a good one!

The Sabres today have announced that Dennis Persson is the winner of their "Be a Sabre's defenseman" promotion, ...he's expected to play in place of Morrisonn who must have been injured colliding with a teamate (yanno, ...since no Flyers forechecker ever approached within ten feet of him)

There was some talk on WIP radio this morning speculating that Laviolette may insert Zherdev into the lineup after he took some practice time with Richards and Versteeg.

If so, Nodl would likely be bumped to the fourth line, and Carcillo scratched. (Carcillo had less than five minutes of icetime last game, his physical presence could be a plus, but only if Lavs was willing to trust him with enough icetime to establish it. He isn't, not yet anyway. Nodl on the other hand has his trust, ...but doesn't seem to have the offensive game nescesary to be a top nine forward on this team. On the fourth line with Betts and Powe, ...he's a fit.

[Bomm Bastic]

Congrats Flyer Fan! Somewhat sloppy on both sides, but your boys deserved it more than we did. Tied up at one...I guess we both knew it wouldn't be easy. Such is.

Back to Buffalo for game three, my friend.

[Flyer Fan]

Congrats Flyer Fan! Somewhat sloppy on both sides, but your boys deserved it more than we did. Tied up at one...I guess we both knew it wouldn't be easy. Such is.

Back to Buffalo for game three, my friend.

Thanks Bomm!

Both of these teams are capable of playing SOOoooo much better than what we're seeing, I just don't understand it.

...Even the officials were crap.

[Flyer Fan]

WIP radio is citing an "un-named source, close to the situation" as saying that Pronger is 50/50 for game three.

Zherdev didn't make the lineup, ...but Nodl still got bumped to the fourth line, Carcillo took a few shifts with Richards and Versteeg who both seemed to be more involved physically as a result. Richards was still disapointing overall though.

JVR was again the Flyers best player, played with an edge, hustled, attempted to cause some havok around the Sabres net.

Scott Hartnell answered the bell, was already off to a good night, but stepped to fight the larger Gaustad after he had cross checked and challenged Briere prior to a faceoff (Briere somehow managed was charged with a roughing minor for this ), ...Hartnell didn't fair well in the bout, but he at least showed up, something the team needs more guys doing.

The Briere, Leino, Hartnell line had some success on the scoresheet.

A very sloppy effort, but the team again wasn't outworked, ...sloppier execution by both teams than game 1, but the effort was there from both sides.

Gausted, Gerbe and Kaleta were again the Sabres best line, ...for the second game in a row Gerbe lifted a much larger player from the legs and slammed him to the ice. Funny to watch

Bobrovsky was in the process of turning in a piss poor performance when he got yanked with the Flyers trailing 3-2, ...You knew he'd come up with a clunker at some point, ...but you'ld hope he'd manage to get past the beginning of game two of the opening round before unloading it. Sheesh.

Boucher came in and played well, it'll be interesting to see if Laviolette comes back to Bobrovsky for game three or stays with Boucher.

Bobrovsky's demonstrated the ability all season to bounce back unfazed after a bad day, so there's no confidence issue there, it's simply a matter of which goalie Laviolette wants to go with.

Syvret hardly got on the ice as the Flyers went with a five man defensive rotation. O'Donnell quietly had a very good game. Matt Carle on the other hand was giving pucks away like banks give out pens.

KT saw a ton of icetime on the penalty kill and responded with a strong game. Coburn and Meszaros were okay+

Tough to be excited about much as both teams were pretty bad, ...lots of sloppy turnovers, and dumb penalties by the Sabres, terrible powerplay execution and dumb giveaways by the Flyers.

I thought we'd see much better hockey from these two teams, and hopefully we'll get to see a better game from both of them for game three.

[Flyer Fan]

Nathan Gerbe has been the Sabres best player thus far.

[Bomm Bastic]

I thought we'd see much better hockey from these two teams, and hopefully we'll get to see a better game from both of them for game three.

Amen, bother.