3-8-11 Oilers @ Flyers Preview

After facing three teams that were playing with desperation to secure a playoff birth, the Flyers once again face one of the worst teams in the league. Only the Oilers are not playing like one of the worst teams in the league, the Flyers are. Tonight's game will be the third game of a five game road trip for the Oilers, which started out with a victory over the free falling Avalanche team that has lost 15 of 16. The Oilers have been playing some of their best hockey of the year over the last 10 games. They are currently on a three game winning streak, the second in that ten game period, and for only the second time all season they have won seven of 10 games.

The Oilers will be without their leading scorer Taylor Hall (22 goals), who is out for the year after suffering a high ankle sprain in a fight last week. They will also be with assist leader Ales Hemsky (28 assists) who is sidelined with a shoulder injury.  Sam Gagner is coming off of his best game of the year, a three point night against the Avs, but he might be a little sore after he slammed hard into the boards early in the third period of the same game. He did return to the ice, but was down for an extended period of time.

The Flyers have lost four in a row coming into tonight's game, and have played their worst hockey of the year over the last few days and weeks. It is natural for teams to go through down times during the course of the season, the test is to see how long it takes a team to break out of the slump. The Oilers represent a perfect team to end the slump against. If the Flyers can come out and exert their will over the Oilers early, and continue the to apply their will physically for an entire 60 minutes, the slump is over. If the Flyers take the Oilers for granted, and assume they can skill them instead of out work them, the slump will continue.

Peter Laviolette gave the team the day off yesterday, so everyone should be well rested, and the players battling the flu had a good chance to recover. It is easy to say that the Flyers should win this game, but it is hard to pick them to win after what we saw on Sunday. I hope that the Flyers come out and dominate the game physically with a heavy persistent fore check and crease clearing mentality from the defense. I am not really confident, but I'll pick the Flyers to win a close game.

Flyers Get the Day Off

After laying an egg in New York, Laviolette gave his team the day off of practice. The team didn't respond positively to a couple of heavy practices last week, maybe they will respond better if they have a day to gain their energy back. I am sure the players trying to recover from the flu will enjoy the extra rest.

The team is also dealing with a minor locker room dispute. Mike Richards openly criticized the coach handling of the power play last week. Chirs Pronger spoke out over the weekend and said, "have to get back to playing as a team and as groups of five out there. Some guys are on one page, and other guys are on another page. We have to all get on the same page to make sure we're playing the system and structure the coaching staff has put in place."Now Jody Shelley has spoken out after the games Sunday and basically said that some players need to get back with the program.

It will be interesting to see if the Flyers can turn it around tomorrow when the 2nd worst team in the NHL pays a visit.

Rock Bottom

After an embarrassing 0-7 lose to a divisional rival, I don't think it could get much worse, and if it can I don't want to see it. Over this four game losing streak the defense is out of position and making bad decisions. The goaltenders are not stealing games or getting much help from anyone. The team seems to lack any willingness to engage physically. The power play is complete incapable of scoring. And the team has a habit of shutting it down before the game is over.

Even with that long laundry list of shit that isn't working, their are still few positives for the Flyers to build on. The first and most obvious is they are still in first place in the East. The team was very consistent until mid February. That consistency helped the Flyers get into first place, stay there, and build a decent lead for times just like these. The team has 17 games left on the schedule before the playoffs start, and that is plenty of time to get the team back to playing the way we saw earlier in the year.

The Flyers power play, while still unable to score, has looked better over the last couple of games. They have done a better job of gaining the zone and applying pressure when they get setup. They still have a tendency to over pass the puck, but the defense is starting to get shots on net from the point. If they continue to simplify the power play and put as many pucks on the net as they can, the goals will follow.

Mike Richards is starting to look like a leader again. He has been the Flyers best player over the last three games. He has picked up he physical play, and shown some extra hustle that we haven't seen in a while. His first shift in the second period against the Rangers was great example of this. He came out of the locker room and wanted to set an example for his team. He laid two big hits, tried for a third, and then dropped the gloves. He didn't fair to well in the fight, and his team didn't respond, but if he continues to play with that kind of determination it will start to show results.

The team is currently fighting a nasty flu bug. Even though this should is not an excuse for losing as they are, it can't be ignored. On multiple occasions players have been pulled from the lineup during pregame skates becuase they were ill. Jeff Carter played on Saturday after "recovering" from the flu and then was pulled on Sunday because he became ill again. The energy levels are down and it is harder to find that extra gear when you body is trying to use all its extra energy to fight of a virus.

So while it may look bad at the moment, there are positives to build on. This is a very talented team that is currently fighting the flu bug. The Richards' line is starting to show some offensive threat, you can only assume that Briere will pick his line up in the playoffs as he always does, and the defense just has to pull its head out of its ass. It sucks that the Flyers had to find rock bottom against the Rangers, but at least the Flyers are not fighting for their playoff lives with 17 games left.

100

After countless close calls over the last 14 games, Kimmo Timonen finally scored his 100th career National Hockey League goal against Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres. Timonen is the 83rd defenseman in NHL history to reach the 100 goal mark, and ranks 13th among active defensemen.Timonen's 100th came shorthanded, which is the fifth shorthanded goal of his career.

The nine defensemen that the Flyers have iced this season have combined for 17 goals. Timonen is tied with Chris Pronger for second with four goals, trailing only Andrej Meszaros who has five. Timonen has 28 points so far this season, only one behind point Matt Carle who is leading the defense with 29 points.

3-5-11 Sabres @ Flyers

So far this season the Flyers have played 10 afternoon games, and the Sabres have played three. The Flyers struggled with afternoon games last season,  6-7-1, but they have improved greatly on those numbers this season, 6-2-2 (4-1-1 at home). Although the majority of these games have been low scoring affairs, all but one had five goals or less, the Flyers hold a distinct scoring advantage over their opponents, 16-26. The Sabres are 1-1-1 in their three afternoon affairs, winning the only road game of the three, and outscoring their opponents 13-11.

The Flyers to watch are Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell. Briere has two goals and four assists in the two games against the Sabres this season, and 10 points in eight games against his old club since joining the Flyers. Hartnell has two goals and two assists against the Sabres this season, and 11 points in 14 games against the Sabres while with the Flyers. Bobrovsky was in net for the two previous games against Buffalo, but I am not sure if he will be in net for this game.

The Sabres offense has struggled against the Flyers this season. The majority of their offense was generated by Derek Roy's line, but he is out for the rest of the year with a torn quadriceps tendon. Drew Stafford and Thomas Vanek have been the hottest Sabres forwards since the all-star break, with 14 and 11 points respectively. Ryan Miller was in net for the two previous games against the Flyers, and I don't see any reason he will not be in the net tomorrow, which would be his ninth straight start. He has a .934 save percentage over his previous eight starts, and will have to be good again today if the Sabres want to have a chance to win.

The Sabres are desperate for points as the try to overtake the Carolina Hurricanes for eight place. A win would pull them to within one point of the idle Canes. The Flyers still don't seem to have a sense of urgency in their game, but if they lose today and the Bruins are able to beat the Penguins, the Bruins would cut the Flyers lead to a single point. The Flyers have the talent to beat the Sabres, it is just a question if they have the will. I'll give the advantage to the Flyers based solely on their record in day games.

Versteeg Shines Against Leafs

"It'll be great to see them again. Having said that, I'd love to get at least a couple against them."  Kris Versteeg

In his first game against his old club, Kris Versteeg showed Flyers fans why the team traded for him. To bring an offensive spark to the Mike Richards line. Maybe it was the extended practice time that allowed Versteeg and Richards to build some chemistry, or maybe he was amped to play his former team. Whatever it was, it was nice to see the Richards' line be an offensive threat again. Richard's gave two great setup passes to Versteeg that left him with relatively easy goals, but it was Versteeg who was finding the open ice.

Versteeg  was a pain in the ass to play against in the Finals last year, and you knew something good would happen for the Hawks when he was on the ice, and he is starting to show some of that in Philly.  Versteeg has a knack for finding himself around the puck, and works to get into good scoring position when he doesn't have the puck, and Richards is starting to find him. In his last thirteen games with the Leafs, Versteeg only had 4 points. He has matched that in 7 games with Richards as a linemate.

Last night was only the third multiple point game since the new year for Mike Richards, he has 12 on the year  (seven in the first 21 games, two in the middle 21 games, and three in the last 20). In the seven games since Versteeg was added to his line, Richards has five points (all at even strength) and a couple of those games Richards was trying to recover from losing 10 pounds to a flu bug. The Flyers are hoping that Versteeg can help Richards to get back to scoring multiple points in games, like he was a t the beginning of the year.

Boynton In?

Nick Boynton

After being the best defensive pairing in the NHL for the first half of the season, Andrej Meszaros and Sean O'Donnell have looked average, at best, the last few weeks. The tandem combined for four penalties last night and each was a -1. O'Donnell's inability to win a puck battle in the corner, combined with Meszars' poor decision in front of the net, lead to the Leafs game winning goal.

With the acquisition of Nick Boynton off of waivers wires, I really don't see why the Flyers don't give O'Donnell a chance to rest. O'Donnell is 39 years old and has played in all but one of the Flyers' 63 games this season. The only game he missed was after spraining his knee two weeks ago against the Rangers, and most people thought he was rushed back to the ice due to his replacement being injured in the next game.

If they Flyers want to be able to roll all three pairings in the playoffs, O'Donnell is going to need a few games off before then. Boynton is also going to need some games to get familiar with his new teammates and Laviolette's system. This appears to be the perfect time to to do both, and I really don't think that Boyton could play any worse than O'Donnell has the past few weeks.

Maple Leafs - Flyers Recap

1st Period
I thought that the Flyers forwards looked good the first 10 minutes of that period. The Richards' line looked good, highlighted by Versteeg's first goal as a Fyers where he had to beat a goalie. Giroux looked great, as always, throwing his weight around and pressuring the Leafs' D. Ben Holmstrom looked good in his first period as an NHLer, he had a good back-check and even tried to mix it up with Leafs' captain Dion Phaneuf. The Leino-Briere-Hartnell was reunited and looked pretty good except for Hartnell's assist on Clarke MacArthur's goal. I also thought the Flyers only power play opportunity looked good. They moved the puck well, earned a few goo scoring chances, and Briere had a great chance moving in from behind the net.

The Flyers D, lead by O'Donnell, looked to have a few issues that period. They got beat a couple of times by the Leafs' forecheck, and mishandled the puck a few times which lead to great scoring chances for the Leafs. Meszaros was called for two penalties, which were horrible calls, but the Flyers were able to kill both penalties. Luckily Bob had a good period in net and bailed his team out of of their mistakes. I think if the refs hadn't butchered the second half of the period the Flyers might have come out of it with a lead, but they were lucky to even be tied after the Leafs three consecutive failed power play opportunities.

2nd Period
The forwards looked good again that period. Each of the top three lines showed some good play that period. None of the lines were completely dominant, but each had a couple of great shifts. Versteeg was the recipient of another great setup from Richards. Giroux's heavy forecheck helped to generate a couple of good chances for his line. Giroux's hit to start the period was a thing of beauty that sparked the Flyers. Leino looked good on the puck that period and Hartnell showed some of the bite that has been missing from his game the last couple of weeks (months?).

The D looked better that period, but not great. There was a miscommunication in the final seconds of the period that resulted in the Leafs tying goal. Meszaros ended up in the box again, and once again Bobrovsky made a couple of great saves to bail him out. Bob benefited from a little luck that period, but he made enough good saves that he earned it. If it wasn't for an inexcusable too many men penalty while on the power play that lead to a goal, that would have been a really good period for the Flyers. Hopefully they can kill the penalty to start the third and swing the momentum back their way.

3rd Period
Well, I thought the Flyers started out playing another good well. They controlled the play for the majority of the first nine minutes, and then it was all undone by a poor defensive play late in the period. O'Donnell gets out battled in the corner by Darryl Boyce and then Meszaros lets him go to the net and score. I think that the forwards had a great game. Giroux showed off his speed in the third getting back to help out the D. JVR showed off his heavy slapshot that went through Reimer's glove and squeaked wide. Richards showed some good hustle on a race a puck a center ice. They were also successful dumping the puck in and applying a good forecheck.

Even though they couldn't pick up the two points, I thought it was a good first game after the extended break. All three top lines looked good. The team seemed more willing to get into the corners and in front of the net to fight for the puck. Although the power play couldn't covert, I thought they looked better. I think this game can be used as the first step in the build to the playoffs.

The Tree Flu?

Reading a few reports that multiple Flyers will miss the game tonight due to the flu and injuries.

Out
Dan Carcillo
Darroll Powe
Jeff Carter

Questionable
Blair Betts
Chirs Pronger

So here is the lineup with the questionable players in it:

Nodl - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Zherdev - Giroux - JVR
Shelley - Betts - Holmstrom

Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell


Boucher/Bobrovsky

If Pronger and Betts are unable to go, I am not sure who will make it into the line-up tonight. Betts said he should be in the lineup after the morning skate.

Keep checking in, I'll update this thread as I hear more.

EDIT: It appears that JVR will try to play with his groin pull. 

Thanks again to the posters over at PSF.

Great Night For Hockey in the East

I know that most of the people reading this will more than likely be watching the Philadelphia Flyers take on the Toronto Maple Leafs, but man are their some good games on the schedule tonight involving teams in the East. 10 of the top 11 teams are in action tonight, with six of them playing each other. We already cover the Leafs-Flyers game, so we won't wast any time on that.

Lightning-vs-Bruins (NHL Network)
This is a battle for second place in the East with both teams entering the game with 81 points. The Bruins are coming off a very successful road trip and are looking to win their seventh game in a row. The Lightning are trying to stay ahead of the Caps, who have cut the gap to three points. I expect this to be a hell of a game, maybe set the DVR and watch this one tomorrow.

Sabres-vs-Hurricanes
If the Sabres can beat the Canes in regulation tonight, they will finally find themselves in the eighth place in the East. The Sabres have been fighting hard to catch the struggling Hurricanes, who hasn't won back to back games since the end of January. The Canes have Eric Stall back in the line up, and Cory Stillman has played three good games since being traded back to his old team. I think this will be a hard fought game to the end that more than likely will end in OT, but I think the Sabres will get the victory.

Wild-vs-Rangers
The Rangers need a win tonight, but so do the Wild. The Rangers are trying to hold on to a playoff spot, while the Wild are trying to earn their spot back. Both teams have lost two games in a row and both teams are currently struggling to score goals. If you like ow scoring defensive battles, this is the game for you.

Other Games
Blues-vs-Capitals - Easy win for the Caps
Canadiens-vs-Panthers - Montreal should take care of business against the Panthers
Senators-vs-Thrashers - If the Thrashers lose tonight they might just quitely bow out of the race for the playoffs.