The Flyers traveled south to Tampa and earned an important win against the team chasing them for first place in the Eastern Conference, and James van Riemsdyk record his first Gordie Howe hat trick. Maybe JVR's first NHL fight got his blood pumping, because he was the Flyers' best player the rest of the night. He scored the Flyers' first goal less than a minute after being released from the penalty box , and picked up an assist on the Flyers second goal from his new home on the point of the Flyers' second power play unit. I have to admit that I am still skeptical about JVR's presence on the point of the PP, he seems hesitant to use that 101 mph slap shot that earned him a spot on the PP. Even his assist last night came off a well place wrist shot as he crept in from the point.
It was great to see JVR dropping the gloves to defend teammate Claude Giroux, who was taken down on a questionable hit by former Flyer Randy Jones. JVR skated in and gave Jones a hard elbow and some lip in response to the hit, and Jones immediately drop the gloves. JVR may not have been looking for a fight, but he held his own. Jones eventually got the take down, but not before JVR landed a few punches.
Tonight was also the debut of Kris Versteeg in the Orange and Black, and what an odd night for him to have to play his first game with a new club. The Flyers put there attack oriented dump-and-hunt offense on the shelf to combat the Lightning's embarrassing 1-3-1 trap defense. Instead they opted for a slow developing drop passing "rush" through the cluttered neutral zone. They Lightning should give their fans their money back for forcing them to watch this horrific brand of hockey.
As the game progressed, Versteeg began to look more comfortable with his new line-mates. He got in a few nice hits on the fore check, helped his line cycle the puck on a great shift late in the third, and got behind the Tampa D later in third only to have the break out pass tipped by Randy Jones. Versteeg also had a bad turnover in the second, but his D was their to bail him out. I can't make any judgments of Versteeg based on one game, especially a game against the shitty Tampa 1-3-1, but I still think he is a great addition to this team.
Andrej Meszaros had a tough night, he was on the ice for both of the Lightning's even strength goals and his poor decision lead to both of them. The first goal sequence started when Meszaros made a bad pass to his partner Sean O'Donnell. O'Donnell was unable to get to the puck and a few seconds later Dominic Moore put a shot on goal that deflected off of Meszaros' skate and past Brian Boucher. The Lightning's third goal was scored because Meszaros tipped a cross ice pass towards the neutral zone and he decided to follow the puck instead of staying sticking with his man. Well the Lighting got to the puck first and Meszaros' man, Teddy Purcell, was wide open in the slot and ripped a shot past Boucher. Meszaros and O'Donnell are usually a very reliable pairing, so I expect them to have a much better game tonight .
At the end of the night it wasn't a pretty game by the Flyers. They came out fast for a shift or two to start the game, and then got buried for the majority of the rest of the period. They had trouble solving Tampa's 1-3-1 most of the night, but looked much better than the last times these teams played. The PP still looked pretty lost most of the night even though they scored a goal (the Flyers are 24-2-1 when scoring a PP goal). I thought they played much better in the third period. They picked up the physical play and started to establish a presence in Tampa's end of the ice. The cycle started to work and the Flyers started to generate good scoring chances. They forwards were doing a good job of back checking and and getting back to help out the D.
Regardless of how it looked, it was a big win for the Flyers. They prevented the Lightning from sweeping the series. They responded with a win after losing to the Kings on Sunday. Most importantly they increased their lead on the Pens, Bruins, and Lightning. Hopefully they can build on this game against he Panthers tonight and start another extended winning streak.
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