ECQF Game 5: Flyers 3 @ Penguins 0 - Penguins Lead Series 3-2

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That's more like it.

• It was an odd, unfamiliar feeling having bounces go the Flyers' way.
  
• As those of you who read The FF frequently should know, I have ALWAYS been an ardent defender of Daniel Carcillo, who has proved me right by being one of the Flyers' best these past two games. He got assists on the first two goals to finish a game best +2. Added to his goal in Game 4, he's picked it up nicely after that suspension.
• One person I actually have been advocating for is Arron Asham, who again showed off some offensive chops with a laser of a shot to open the scoring, a goal that stood up to be the game winner.
• That first goal held up because Martin Biron did what he needed to do. He didn't really even look his best, but nothing got past him (except Evgeni Malkin's kick-in). Tough to complain too much about a shut out.
  
• Every Flyer forward except for two have scored. Those two? Joffrey Lupul and Danny Briere. Not to say their not earning they're pay (they aren't), I'm just thinking a little pride should kick in when Jared Ross is out-tallying you...
• I realize he scored tonight, but Mike Knuble hasn't been much better than his two aforementioned goalless teammates. Hopefully that late goal gets him back on track.
• I guess it makes sense to keep trying, so good on 'em, but anyone else think it was a little odd that Bylsma pulled Marc-Andre Fleury with just over a minute left, down by three? Can't say I've seen that before.
• The Pittsburgh fans were quiet the whole game, and deserted their team halfway through the third. The Igloo didn't look more than half full with five minutes left, which is pretty disgraceful for a playoff game, no matter the score.

The action now shifts back to The Wach for Game 6, on Saturday at 3 PM on NBC and CBC. The Penguins haven't outplayed the Flyers since Game 1. That was more than a week ago.

Good things can and will happen.

Let's go Flyers.

ECQF Game 1: Flyers 1 @ Penguins 4 - Penguins Lead Series 1-0

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Can't get too much worse, right? Right...?

• The Flyers can't afford to think everything was okay in this game, and that they'll just bounce back. Because it wasn't, and they won't. The Flyers have to do exactly what they did after that horrible performance in Toronto not so long ago. Beat themselves up over it, change shit, and come out firing, and score five goals in the first period. That would be good.
• The Flyers just did not look good. Any of them. Braydon Coburn looked okay. Maybe Mike Richards wasn't bad. But nobody was great. Jared Ross may well have been the third best player on the ice. Not good.
• Just about every Flyer forward was totally invisible tonight, except for the two previously mentioned, Scott Hartnell, and Claude Giroux.
• Arron Asham's penalty was really weak. Led to the first goal, and the game seemed over from there on. That's the only whining I can muster out of this--the Flyers didn't deserve to win at all.
  
• Martin Biron was pretty mediocre. No terrible goals, but he could have had the first three. Especially the third, from Evgeni Malkin. Those are the kind of weird breakdown goals that the Penguins seem to get a lot vs. our boys. No reason for Biron not to start Game 2, it really isn't debatable. He hasn't been immaculate, sure, but Antero Niittymaki has been just bad lately, so putting him in really shouldn't be an option.
  
• That guy who predicted that the Penguins would win Game 1 by the score of 4-1? He must be a freakin' genius.

The split is what we needed, and the split is still in play. Game 2 becomes a must win now, no way around that.

Game #76 Review: Flyers 2 @ Maple Leafs 3 4/1/09

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Well, that sucked.

• How flat were the Flyers tonight? I don't know if they were hungover from taking JVR out partying last night or what, but they came out looking terrible. The only two players who had good nights were Antero Niittymaki, Claude Giroux, and Arron Asham. Everybody else was pretty much awful.
• Friday night's game becomes super important now. Momentum going into the playoffs is huge, and going into the playoffs playing this crappily will mean an exit in five games or less.
• Martin Biron wasn't that bad, but pulling him was smart. Protect his psyche, let him start on Friday. They definitely need him sharp come playoff time. Let Niittymaki take the Senators on Saturday.

The Penguins moved into a tie with the Flyers tonight with their win. The Flyers have a game in hand, but the Penguins own the first two tiebreakers. That should provide some much needed urgency.

Game #74 Review: Flyers 4 (SO) @ Islanders 3 3/28/09

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(Game summary videos haven't been working on the NHL TV pages lately...)

Epic win over a terrible team? Why not.

• This was a game the Flyers needed to win, because losing two straight to teams out of the playoffs would have been a huge bump in the road. If the Flyers hadn't dug themselves such a hole, this game wouldn't have been nearly as impressive. But two points are two points.
• Arron Asham or Darroll Powe can't replace Daniel Carcillo on the third line soon enough. Carcillo has now played twelve games in the orange and black, and has scored exactly zero goals. The only other forward not to have scored in this stretch? Riley Cote.
• I like Giroux with Gagne and Knuble, but the reuniting of the Hartnell-Carter-Lupul line was way overdue. They never should have been split.

Joffrey Lupul, in a rare performance as an energetic player, gets The Hat, with two goals.

And he was kind enough to the fans to reveal the back of the hat while talking to Coatesy.

Antero Niittymaki (who?) gets the start tonight against Boston, a game the Flyers will barely lose.

The Hat, Part Deux

Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Daily News today broke the story of the Flyers' ugly orange Player of the Game Hat. Oh wait, that's not right. Yours truly was all over this story weeks ago. And I don't even write about this stuff for a living...

In my continuing efforts to be the preeminent source for all things related to The Hat, I now present the updated gallery of all The Hat winners in 2009:

New Jersey 3/23/09 -- Jeff Carter (1 goal, his 40th of the season).

Pittsburgh 3/22/09 -- Ryan Parent (1 assist, held Malkin and Crosby to zero shots)

Buffalo 3/20/09 -- Danny Briere (2 goals)

NY Rangers 3/14/09 -- Arron Asham (2 goals)

Buffalo 3/10/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.


Nashville 3/7/09 -- Joffrey Lupul (2 goals).

Boston 3/3/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.

Los Angeles 2/25/09 -- Martin Biron (34 shots, 34 saves in the shoutout).

Washington 2/24/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.

Buffalo 2/19/09 -- Mike Richards (2 goals and 3 assists)


NY Rangers 2/15/09 -- Claude Giroux (1 goal and 2 assists)

NY Islanders 2/14/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.


Atlanta 2/8/09 -- Scott Hartnell (2 assists and ZERO(!) penalties)

Boston 2/7/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.


Tampa Bay 1/30/09 -- Antero Niittymaki (42 shots, 41 saves, and an assist).

Atlanta 1/21/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.

Florida 1/16/09 -- Antero Niittymaki (34 shots, 32 saves)

Toronto 1/10/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.

Minnesota 1/8/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.

Anaheim 1/2/09 -- The Hat not seen in interviews.

Game #66 Review: Rangers 2 @ Flyers 4 3/14/09

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Fun game, fun win.

• Remember that goalie controversy? Me neither. In a day where all eyes are on the fatter Marty B., Martin Biron was spectacular, bailing out the Flyers in a game they might not have deserved to win. Hanging tough after the early Antropov goal is a great sign.
• Before the Caps game, I listed about seven players who wouldn't surprise me by scoring twice. And tonight an eighth player, Arron Asham, got two goals. The depth on this team is absolutely absurd.
• How's this for a stat: Asham scored two goals, and only had more ice time than two other players (Cote and Powe), registering only 9:43. That's better than a goal for every five minutes of ice time. He could very easily have a nice Umbergerian run come playoff time
• Scott Hartnell got his career high 25th goal of the season, a real sharp rebound goal very reminiscent of the one he scored in Game 4 vs. Montreal. And he got a write up on NHL.com to boot.
• He got two assists, but we're still waiting for Dan Carcillo to score a goal.
• Daniel Briere is playing on the fourth line and the power play, and still isn't doing anything special at all. Really makes you wonder how he could possibly still be a Flyer come next season...
• No surprise here, The Hat goes to Arron Asham today. His first time wearing the orange crown.

Beating the Rangers was fun. Let's do it again tomorrow.

12:30 at MSG on NBC. Niitty and Valiquette get the starts. Go Flyers.

Game #65 Review: Capitals 2 @ Flyers 1 3/12/09

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And so the Flyers win the season series 2-1-1 instead of 3-0-1.

My feed crapped out and was spotty all through the first, so I don't have any great insights into anything except what I've read and what. But when has that ever stopped me?

• Not a bad game. Like I said in the preview, the Caps were the more determined team, especially Theodore, and it paid off. Though not by a whole lot. Real close game. A lot more of these to come the rest of the way.

• Alex Ovechkin scored. That happens. But who was on the ice for the Flyers when he scored? Arron Asham, Darroll Powe, and Riley Fucking Cote. That's completely inexcusable.

• Only one goal for the good guys tonight (from Mike Knuble), but it was a real nice one. Flyers did a lot of things right in terms of setting up shots, just that the actual shots weren't enough.

• Jose Theodore had a good night, which we all know he can do. Though that "spectacular" save in the second that's shown like three times in the highlights above was really just him having to make up for being in terrible position and getting across way too slow.

• Daniel Briere didn't get hurt today. Mixed emotions on that. I liked him a lot in the playoffs last year, but that groin is just a distracting time bomb these days.

• Not happy to see the Penguins salvage a point after being down 3-0 in the third. Not happy to see the Devils or Rangers win. Nice that the Islanders held the Canadiens to one point. And nice to see the Panthers lose.

Big home-and-home, back-to-back matinees with the Rangers coming up this weekend. Beating Sean Avery and Co. twice in two days should be a lot of fun.

Game #65 Review: Sabres 2 @ Flyers 5 3/10/09

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Bam.

What a great time to be a Flyers fan.

• Jeff Carter breaks a five-game goal-less streak for the second time in a month. He's been cold lately, but he was real good tonight. Being out of the goal race seems to have hurt his urgency somewhat, hopefully it returns as the games mean more.
• Scott Hartnell scored twice, neither with his stick--one off the leg, one off the nipple. Maybe on March 26th he'll score one off his wig.
• Second real good, multi-point game in a row for Joffrey Lupul. Definitely glad to see him still in the orange and black.
• The first goal was a total fluke, but for the next fifty-something minutes, Martin Biron was real solid, if unspectacular. The late second Buffalo goal was weak, and since it was so late may leave a lasting impression. Biron should still get the start vs. Washington, but it was an annoying blemish on what was otherwise a pretty nice night.
• Claude Giroux is pretty good at this sport, ain't he?
• In case you haven't noticed, the Flyers depth is absolutely absurd. There are easily eight guys who wouldn't surprise anybody with a multi-goal night.
• Arron Asham had a nice scrap, his first in a while. Word that Riley Cote left the game injured really can't worry anyone too much. Flyers have plenty of tough guys that are far more useful with the puck.
• Bunch of penalties from Daniel Carcillo, but they were all matching. Flyers are good four-on-four, so that's fine. But when they stop being matching it's gonna be a big problems.
• No hat in today's post game videos, which means it didn't go to Hartnell, Carter, or Biron. Maybe Giroux? Lupul? Or maybe whoever won it just didn't wear it on camera (Carter never has that I've seen).

Washington, Pittsburgh, New Jersey AND Montreal all came from behind to win tonight. Pittsburgh was sloppy enough to hand Florida a point in the process. While it's frustrating for the Flyers to not gain much ground tonight, it has to be absolutely killer for Buffalo. They're done.

Capitals roll in to town to wrap up their series on Thursday. Flyers lead the series with them 2-0-1 so far, so expect big things.

In-Fighting

The 30 GMs of the NHL are meeting this week, and fighting is to be the main topic of discussion. Pro-fighting Brian Burke of Toronto decided the best way to approach this subject was to challenge any other GM who disagrees with him to a fight. I'm sure Paul Holmgren is firmly in the pro-fighting camp as well, but I'm sure just about every Flyers fan would pay good money to see our GM beat the crap out of Brian Burke.

Hockey fights are sort of unique in sports skirmishes, because unlike baseball, basketball, or even NASCAR throwdowns, there's really not usually much animosity or genuine dislike there. Fighting in hockey is just what you do. It's always been part of the game and probably always will be. And in the extremely transient NHL, former sparring partners often wind up sitting on the bench. Or current sparring partners, as was the case with R.J. Umberger and Jim Dowd about a year ago, who fought in practice and had to be broken up by Steve Downie. Wonder if it's a coincidence that none of those three are with the team any longer...

Flyers haven't had any incestuous thrown downs that we know of this year, but it doesn't mean none of the 20 guys on the current roster have ever gone at each other.

I dug up three such regular season tussles between current brothers in orange, all of them with a common, unsurprising participant. And they all happened in early-mid November, for what that's worth (not a whole lot).

In chronological order:


Arron Asham (NYI) def. Mike Richards (PHI) 11/10/2005


Arron Asham (NYI) def. Mike Richards (PHI) 11/9/2006


Riley Cote (PHI) vs. Arron Asham (NJD) 11/8/2007 (draw)

Game #63 Review: Flames 5 @ Flyers 1 3/5/09

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So this is how good the Flyers are after the trade deadline. Pathetic.

• While the Flyers were busy giving up FOUR goals in the first period, a guy you may have heard of named Scottie Upshall was busy scoring a goal up in Boston, and leading his lowly Coyotes to a win over the mighty Bruins. Remember when he was scoring goals for the Flyers? That was nice. The video is below, if you wanna twist the knife some more.
  
  
• As much as I'm ready to hate him, Daniel Carcillo wasn't all bad tonight. Didn't do much special, but didn't do anything worse than anybody. Then again, his new teammates set the bar perilously low.
• This was the second REAL bad first period in a row for Antero Niittymaki in as many home games. Gave up four to Calgary after giving up three to Montreal. The goalie carousel keeps turning...
• These Flames look damn good with their new acquisitions. You gotta like their chances of making it out of the West.
• Riley Cote fought early for a reason. He really has to prove his relevance now with two capable fighters in Arron Asham and Carcillo in the line up, both of whom can occasionally put a puck in the net. Something Riles can't even imagine doing.
• More on the Briere injury disaster later. I don't hate myself enough to write about it now.

In conclusion, this game was absolutely gross and horrible. Paired with wins from Pittsburgh and the Rangers, this night went just about as badly as it possibly could have.

Game #58 Review: Flyers 4 @ Capitals 2 2/24/08

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My cell phone photography skills are unparalleled.

• Arron Asham's goal was real pretty, but what doesn't get talked about enough on that play was what a horrible effort it was by Jose Theodore. Theodore started solid, but once the goals came they came hard and fast. As much as they don't like to agree with the rest of the league telling them this, Caps need a goalie at the trade deadline.
• You know who doesn't need a goalie at the trade deadline? The Flyers. Antero Niittymaki has really locked up the starting job barring any huge collapse. The Flyers need to be ready to remove him from the role if necessary, but it's gotta be his for now.
• Huge night for Riley Cote, which I don't think anyone expected. Riley was a +1 for probably the first time in his life, getting an assist on Asham's goal AND avoiding getting his face broken in half again by Donny Brashear. NO idea why Stevens put him on the ice with under eight minutes left in a one goal game, but the demoralization his playmaking caused was probably the highlight of the night.
• The Flyers depth on defense is amazing. As good as Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers really didn't miss a beat with their #7 d-man, Ossi Vaananen, in his place.
• Jeff Carter was the #1 star, but really didn't deserve it after that horrible turnover that led to Ovechkin's goal. The #1 star should have been...
• ...Claude Giroux, who clearly has studied at the Daniel Briere school of standing next to the net behind the goalie. The Flyers don't need Briere with Giroux playing this well (though one of those angles he took a shot from was absurdly acute).
• Scott Hartnell (erroneously second star) still has one of the best shots on the Flyers (probably second behind Carter), but needs to start being fined for these penalties. He now leads the league in minor penalties (link I found all by myself, I'm awesome)

Flyers play the Kings tonight. Dangerous opponent, could very easily be a letdown game. Kings won in a shootout in Minnesota last night, so did way more traveling. Hopefully Flyers ride this wave well, and hopefully Martin Biron feels like he has something to prove, because he does.

Game #41 Review: Wild 1 @ Flyers 3 1/8/09

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Home is where the win is.

The Flyers got plenty of fan support during their road trip (six games, six sellouts), but nothing compares to playing at home in a building full of the best hockey fans in the country.

A slow start and a buttload of penalties weren't enough to stop the Flyers at home, where the Flyers have now won seven straight.

• I remembered during this game why I never watch the Wild. They play the most boring post-lockout hockey imagineable. It's like New Jersey during their cup years, but without as much physicality.
• The Flyers played as well on special teams as any team possibly could. 1-for-1 on the power play, and 8-for-8 on the penalty kill. That's 9-for-9 as a team, and conversely 0-for-9 for the Wild. Nice stuff. But of course, giving up eight power plays is totally unacceptable, especially on so many dumb penalties. Especially the too many men penalty during a penalty kill.
• Nice to see Scottie Upshall get on the score sheet for the first time in way too long. It was only his sixth goal of the season, but it sure was a pretty one. First star, too.
• How awesome was the straight out of the penalty box fight between Arron Asham and Erik Reitz? Don't know that I've ever seen players go straight from the penalty box to each other before. Well, at least not in a game from this decade.
• Nicklas Backstrom set a Wild record for longest shutout streak at just short of 150 minutes. He was solid in the first half of the game, though once the streak was broken, he was decidedly less than tremendous.
• Martin Biron, on the other hand, was very solid, for the second straight game. This is the kinda play we need from him down the stretch and into the playoffs.
• Luca Sbisa was not missed. And as long as the team stays reasonably healthy, he really shouldn't be needed the rest of the year. Let him bulk up and develop with the Phantoms.
• I know it's not as important with a two-goal lead, but that was a really pathetic effort to get the puck in the empty net. Especially by Simon Gagne. Be a little more eager to pad your stats, dude.

That Gagne nonchalance spoiled my prediction of a three-goal win. But I'm still pretty happy with my clairvoyance.

Toronto, who got crushed tonight, are up next on Saturday, for a little Hockey Night in Canada action.