Game #75 Review: Bruins 4 @ Flyers 3 3/27/09

4

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3

Bruins won both in Philadelphia, and the Flyers won both in Boston. So much for giving the home town fans a good time.

• So the Flyers didn't win. Not apocalyptic. They played pretty well (minus one), and it's not the playoffs. Losses are allowed. While catching New Jersey for the division title would be nice, losing that possibility isn't worth crying over.
• What is worth crying over is Antero Niittymaki. His last three starts at home he has surrendered three goals in the first period. Twice now his three goal leaks have cost the Flyers the lead. All three of these home starts he has lost. Throw in his last road game, and he's 0-4 in his last four starts.
  
• Yes, both teams had to play back-to-back games, but the Flyers had to play three in four nights, where this was only the Bruins second game in seven days. Another reason not to worry about this loss.
  
• Claude Giroux is really good at this game. Really, really good.

A couple days off, then a home-and-home with Toronto. Should win both, but one is acceptable. Toronto is all over the place these days, so expect some weird, crappy, high-scoring hockey.

Game #62 Preview: Flyers @ Bruins 3/3/09

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1 vs. 4 tonight in a potential second round playoff match-up that may be more of a sure thing than anyone realizes. 5-8 in the East is really a joke, so look forward to a Boston vs. Philadelphia rematch of the last World Series come early May.

What's that you say? The Red Sox didn't make it to the World Series last year? They lost to the Devil Rays? The Devil Rays? Yikes...

Why The Flyers Will Win:

• For the first time since 1987 or so, the Flyers are playing with a full deck, all the arrows in the quiver. Biron, Niittymaki, Richards, Carter, Briere, Gagne, Knuble, Hartnell, Lupul, Upshall, Giroux, Timonen, Coburn, Jones, Parent, Carle, Alberts, Powe, Asham, hell even Cote will all be there. That's some serious all killer no filler. No Guenin, no Kukkonen, no Sbisa, no Metropolit, no Ross. It's a beautiful thing.
• Timonen back makes a huge difference. He's fairly invisible as far as huge deals go, but he sees the ice better than anyone on the team, and should help give some Viagra to a power play that's been horribly flaccid lately.
• Last time Tim Thomas played, he let in a shot from just inside the concourse. Sure he's an "all-star," but so were Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist, and they've all sucked unbelievably hard of late.
  

Why The Bruins Will Win:

• Even though the Flyers are hitting unparalleled levels of stackedness, the Bruins are still damn good. #1 in the east, and playing at home.
• The trade deadline has to be hell for any player, more so on the noise-making Flyers than on the pretty quiet Bruins. If I had no idea who I'd be playing for in two days, I'd be pretty distracted to say the least. If I'm Joffrey Lupul or Randy Jones and I really want to stay in Philadelphia, I play like shit tonight, and maybe get suspended for a dirty hit or something. Hard to trade a player who just got suspended.
  

Prediction: Flyers win 4-3. Epic. Maybe OT.

The NHL has been cracking down on livestream sites with far too much effectiveness, so viewing may be in peril for me. But I'll try. Let me know if you know of any reliable, decent feeds that haven't been shut down yet by the man.

Happy as a Claude

Normally when you google an athlete, most all the pictures have them trying to look all stoic or tough, game faces on. Not Claude Giroux. Claude knows that the best way to make your opponent shake in his skates is to show off a big toothy grin. Or toothless, as the case may be for many an NHLer.

The Flyers should be smiling as they take the ice in Boston tonight. Claude is back from a bizarre loan to the Phantoms, Timonen is back from being the 26th Flyer this season out this season with the flu, For the first time this season they'll have all their big names in the lineup at once. No more excuses. The names on the ice tonight will be the names on the cup in June.

Except for the whole trade deadline distraction and the goalie controversy deals...

Back

Sorry for the prolonged absence--pieces keep breaking off my computer, which is not a good thing. I'm trying to fix it myself, by just fiddling around with a screwdriver in an electrical appliance cluelessly (always a good idea). It's still not really better, but I soldier on...

So what happened while I was on hiatus? The Flyers beat the Thrashers (shocker), Jeff Carter was the second fastest in the fastest skater thing, Jeff Carter got knocked out of the breakaway contest in the first round with the worst shot anybody took the whole night, Jeff Carter did nothing in the All-Star game (except manage to keep possession of the puck for like 4:59 of the five minute overtime), Jeff Carter scored no goals, Jeff Carter came home with a #7 jersey I'm kinda surprised he chose since it's retired by the Flyers. (Flyers Goal Scored By... does a much better job treating Carter's all-star flop with the snark it deserves)

The other main thing that kept Flyers beat writers from getting time off over the break was more plot twists in L'Affaire Briere, with the Flyers seemingly forcing Danny Briere to get surgery so he could stay out of the lineup longer. That's a new one, even for the Flyers medical staff. He's out another four weeks, guaranteed, conveniently right until the trade deadline.

I have to think this is all leading up to trading Briere, or at the very least dumping Glen Metropolit for him. God, Metropolit is utterly useless, and his name is desperately missing a syllable. He has all of one goal this year in forty-two games. To put that in perspective, that's only one more goal than Lauren Hart has tallied.

Lastly, there was some nonsense about Paul Holmgren looking into getting Peter Forsberg back for the late part of this season. Because it was just SO great when he was here before, and he's SO not injury prone, and he played SO great for Colorado last year. With the Canucks getting Sundin, I think that's enough NHL scouring of Stockholm-area assisted-living communities for one season.

Flyers get to go on their second Florida trip of January (seriously, nice scheduling there) for a game in Sunrise on Tuesday, and Friday in Tampa.

But despite what will sum up to five straight games against the Southeast, the Flyers have the toughest remaining schedule of any team in the league, according to some website. That's never a good thing. All four games against Boston remain, plus four against the Rangers and a game each against Detroit and Calgary. Not fun.

A Little Room to Breathe

Not a ton of breathing room, but some. This Flyers win last night was enhanced by losses from New Jersey and Pittsburgh (both to crappy teams in Atlanta and Nashville, respectively), as well as a Rangers loss last night. The New Jersey loss was especially key, as it takes away the ability they'd had for a long time to catch up based solely on games in hand.

In the conference, the Flyers are still in third, behind second place Washington by four points, and first place Boston by an obscene eleven points.

If the playoffs started today, it would be #3 Flyers vs #6 Devils. And you should remember what happened the last time we saw that scenario...



Raise your hand if you'd like to see that again come April.

Joffrey Lupul: Unplugged

You may have seen Joffrey Lupul's guitar before if you saw his episode of Flyers Cribs, but never before have you heard Lupul sing. Singing depressing songs on a rooftop is more the kind of thing an Islanders player should be doing, but Lupul sang away anyhow this summer, for an NHL films crew.



Maybe he'll go do some open mic nights during his time on the IR. Either way, Lupul's Jack Johnson impression tops the Bruins, and demolishes the Caps AND their eye-liner (courtesy of Capitals Kremlin).