First off, I would like to thank Comcast for losing their HD feed half way into the first period. Since I had to DVR the game, this technical difficulty forced me to miss the majority of the game. So for that reason, my recap will be a little lacking, but I'll write about what I saw.
It was nice to see the Flyers start the game out with more jump and purpose than they did against the Lighting two nights earlier. James van Riemsdyk registered the Flyers' first shot on goal 17 seconds into the game, whereas on Tuesday the Flyers were down 2-0 before they registered a shot after two minutes had passed. It was also nice to see the Flyers score a few goals after being shutout of the fourth time this season. Jeff Carter was rewarded with a goal for applying good pressure on the forechecking and winning a puck battle behind the net. Carter was able to beat Predators' defenseman Alexander Sulzer to the puck and push it along the boards to former Predator Kimmo Timonen who eventually got the puck back to Carter along the half wall. After losing the puck battle, Sulzer failed to guard Carter and opted to mark Claude Giroux instead, who was already being guarded by two Predators. Carter made him pay for his mistakes with a beautiful wrist shot past the Preadators' backup goaltender Anders Lindback.
The Flyers failed to protect the lead, allowing Marcel Goc to tie the game less than minute later. This goal started with a weak check attempt by Scott Hartnell at center ice. After allowing defenseman Cody Franson to skate by him, Hartnell skated directly to the bench, leaving the rest of the team to deal with the results of his poor effort. The Flyers were still alright at this point as it was a 3-on-3 rush. Franson was able to split Ville Leino and Timonen at the blue line and then draw pressure form Matt Carle as Timonen peeled back to his side of the ice. Franson let a wrist shot go and Sergei Bobrovsky pushed the rebound toward the circle on Timonen's side. Timonen failed to pick up Goc who was left with an easy goal.
Leino's good work on the power-play put the Flyers back into the lead seven minutes into the third period. Leino picked up a rebound and positioned himself behind Lindback's net. Leino passed the puck to Mike Richards who quickly put a shot on net. The shot deflected of Carter, who was set up in front of the net, and bounced directly to Leino who lifted it over Lindback's left pad and into the net. The goal came from in close and was anything but easy. 10 minutes later Leino would show off his skills again.
The Flyers' third goal was the result of great work along the boards by Carter, Leino, and Giroux. The trio worked the puck behind Lindback's net twice before Giroux found Leino crashing the net. Leino received the puck about 15 feet directly in front of the net. Martin Erat came sliding across to block a shot, but Leino didn't shoot the puck. He quickly spun to his backhand and beat Lindback glove side high. It was a beautiful goal that showed the talent that Flyers' fans grew to love during last years playoff run.
Before Leino scored the game winner, the Predators were able to tie the game at two. This goal was scored on the power play, and started with a slap-shot from Shea Weber who registered a 104.8 mph slap shot at last weekends All-Star festivities. Bobrovsky was able to make the save, but left a rebound to his left. Joel Ward was able to fight through a stick check by Timonen and deposit the rebound past Bobrovsky.
The win gave the Flyers a three point cushion on the Pittsburgh Penguins who host the Sabres tonight. The Flyers played better than they did on Tuesday night, but could still improve on their performance. The Flyers' next game is Saturday against a very good Dallas Stars team that has lost two games in a row, and will be looking to get back into the win column.
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