ECQF Game 4 Review: Penguins 3 @ Flyers 1 - Penguins Lead Series 3-1

Oh well.

• I've been saying Marc-Andre Fleury was the key to this thing the whole time, and Game 4 certainly proved this. Flyers dominated this game and had nothing to show for it.
• What really killed the Flyers was not getting a goal real early. The Flyers came out blazing in the first ten minutes, while the Pens and even Fleury looked a little flat out of the gate. Getting an early goal woulda been huge, but Pittsburgh weathered the storm, got a super crappy goal from Sidney Crosby putting himself in the net before the puck, and they never looked back.
• With Daniel Carcillo of all people scoring (finally), the stage really was set for a huge goal in those waning minutes of the third. The Flyers played their worst hockey of the game inconveniently after Biron got pulled, which made for a pretty anti-climactic end to what could have been a pretty epic comeback.
  

This is what it must have been like for Montreal fans last year, watching your team dominate games and doubling up the other team's shot count, hitting post after post, not being able to score any damn goals while the opponent takes advantage of seemingly every opportunity they get. It's not fun.

There's no doubt in my mind that the Flyers "deserve" a lot better than to be down 3-1 at this point. One of those post shots goes in from Game 4, Carter buries that empty net in Game 2, and it's a whole different series.

Which is why I'm fairly sure the series is over, but Game 5 certainly isn't. The Flyers have not been outplayed at all since Game 1, and seem to know it. They get some bounces to finally go their way, and this thing could very easily be headed back to Philadelphia for a Game 6.

Let's Go Flyers.

Carcillo vs. Sbisa By The Numbers

During the much maligned Daniel Carcillo era, the Flyers have gone 10-10-1, which makes for a 47.6% winning percentage.

During the Luca Sbisa era (October-January), the Flyers went 26-14-9, good for a 53.1% winning percentage. They also had a much greater percentage of their losses in OT, which of course is largely meaningless in playoffs, but speaks to the losses being closer.

All in all, good news. Unless you read between the lines...

The record during the interregnum between Carcillo and Sbisa? 8-4-1, good for a 61.5% winning percentage. That was the stretch leading up to the Upshall-Carcillo trade, since which the Flyers have only won 47.6% of their games. That's a drop-off of about 14 percent, which is pretty huge.

I promise I'll try not to say anything more about Scottie Upshall the remainder of the playoffs. I'll try to try. But it's so hard...

My Name is Luca, I Play in the Second Game

An angel descending from the north (see the halo?), Luca Sbisa makes his triumphant return to Flyerland in what is only the biggest game of the season. Welcome back, little Swiss guy.

Daniel Carcillo finally got the Flyers on the suspension board this season, after being held suspensionless for an uncharacteristic 83 games. He'll have to watch from the press box, where scared reporters will try not to make eye contact with him for fear of him biting off their faces.

So what does Sbisa's return mean? Sbisa and Carcillo combined for zero goals this season, true, but Sbisa has the excuse of playing on defense most all of his time with the Flyers, whereas Carcillo's only excuse is that he's terrible.

Sbisa will be on offense tonight, which was always fun to watch. He is crazy fast and plays like he's crazy small (even though he's allegedly 6'2''), bouncing around wildly like a ping-pong ball. Whether he's good or not is not really important--he'll be a different look for the Penguins to deal with, and has to be a pain to play against. Facing Luca Sbisa on offense has to be like playing poker against someone who has no idea what the rules are. They have no idea what they're doing, but neither do you, so it's dangerous for both.

So please, Luca, do big things tonight. The bar is set dangerously low, just be careful not to trip over it.

They're Trying to Take My Carcillo Away!

The NHL will hold a hearing with Philadelphia Flyers forward Daniel Carcillo at 3 p.m. ET Thursday to discuss an incident that took place during the Flyers' Game 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, Wednesday night.

The NHL spoke with all coaches and general managers prior to the start of the playoffs informing them there would be no "message sending" during the latter stages of games. Carcillo got involved with the Penguins' Max Talbot near the end of the game.

The Flyers acquired Carcillo, 24, at the trade deadline in exchange for Scottie Upshall and a 2011 second round draft pick. He scored 3 goals and 11 assists in 74 games this season, picking up 254 penalty minutes.

Link

Prayers answered (albeit late). Here's hoping they ban him and reverse the Upshall trade...

Game #80 Review: Flyers 1 @ Rangers 2 4/9/09

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Eh, we'll get em on Sunday.

• What a horrible way to start a hockey game. Biron gets shoved into the net, and there's no whistle, and the Rangers take the lead in the first minute. The Flyers played pretty well (though they're not finishing their chances well), and deserved better than to have the game marred by that crap.
• This is the second time that I've blamed the officials for a loss, which is pretty low. The only other time I blamed the refs? The last game at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. Hmm...
• Daniel Carcillo is certainly persona non grata in these parts, but he was alright tonight. Scoring just one goal will cure a lot. Not that I'll stop dumping on him, but at least this unimpressive stat will go away: Carcillo has scored zero goals in eighteen games as a Flyer. But in his one game against the Flyers this year as a Coyote, he managed to score a goal. Not cool. Oh, and Scottie Upshall managed to score again tonight...
• Martin Biron looked good--neither goal was his fault, and he didn't get rattled from that BS first goal.
• Hurricanes lost for the first time in forever, which keeps the Flyers tenuous hold on fourth in tact. Pittsburgh won, though, so there are now three teams tied at 96 points. The Flyers have two games left to Carolina and Pittsburgh's one apiece, but as of now have the fewest wins of the three, which is the tiebreaker.
  

Only two more games left in the entire regular season, at Islanders on Saturday and vs. the Rangers on Sunday. Saturday is a potential trap game, and would be incredibly easy to overlook, with the Rangers and a little thing called the playoffs on the horizon.

Game #79 Preview: Panthers @ Flyers 4/7/09

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Tonight could be the night. With one point (or a Rangers loss), the Flyers would guarantee a playoff spot for the thirteenth time in fourteen seasons, a conference best. The Penguins and Canadiens can clinch tonight as well with wins.

Clinching is always fun. Here's what it looked like last year:

Why the Flyers Will Win:

• The last home game the Flyers played, they scored five goals in the first period. If they do that again, they'll probably win.
  
• Riley Cote's convenient right before the playoffs injury is keeping him out of this game, which means somebody who knows how to skate will get a jersey instead.
• Martin Biron is getting the start tonight, which is good, because he's the only Flyers goalie who knows how to win these days.
• A loss tonight could put the Flyers as low as SIXTH. That's bad. What's good is that the Flyers play well when the game means something. Which is good because the playoffs fast approach.
  

Why the Panthers Will Win:

• As much as tonight means for the Flyers, it's gotta mean a lot more for the Panthers. The Panthers are tied for eighth with the Panthers but don't own the tiebreak
  
• You may have noticed, in our non-stop efforts to improve here at The FF, we've put up a little meter on the sidebar which keeps track of how many goals Daniel Carcillo has scored for the Flyers. Unfortunately, it has to be updated manually. Fortunately, I doubt I'll ever have to update it. Daniel Carcinogen is coming off his worst game yet as a Flyer, taking 24 minutes worth of penalties against Ottawa on Saturday. He's just bad. Scratch him for the year and be done with it already.

Prediction: Florida wins 3-2 in a shootout. Flyers clinch, Panthers get two points. Everybody's happy.

Just to Twist the Knife a Little More...

See that guy scoring that clutch game winning goal? Yep, that's Scottie Upshall. Remember him?

It was Scottie's sixth goal with the Coyotes in fifteen games with them. That's a goal every three games.

And Daniel Carcillo, who we gave up Scottie and a second round draft pick for? Well, since he joined the Flyers, he's averaging less than a goal every three games. To be more specific, he's averaging zero goals every fourteen games. The Flyers have gone a less than spectacular 7-7 since Carcillo's arrival, going 8-3-1 in the twelve games before he showed up.

"But Salmon, Carcillo is such a good fighter! And he leads the league in penalty minutes! And he fights!"

In case you haven't figured this part out yet, fights don't win hockey games. The way a team wins a hockey game is by outscoring the other team. A key part of that word, "outscoring," is "scoring." A key part of that word isn't "leading the league in penalty minutes."

Sigh.

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.

Game #72 Preview: Devils @ Flyers 3/23/09

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Back to back games against the two biggest divisional rivals on national television? What's not to love?

Why the Flyers Will Win:

• Momentum. The Flyers and Devils both played good teams whose colors are black-and-gold yesterday afternoon. The Flyers won, largely because their black-and-gold team showed up in blue. The Devils, on the other hand, looked pretty bad against Boston, Brodeur especially.
• The Devils have pretty little to play for these days. They'll finish in second. The Flyers are also locked into fourth, but since the Flyboys have something to prove against the Devils and the Devils don't have much to prove against the Flyers,
• Daniel Briere is playing real well right now. Hell, everybody except Daniel Carcillo is playing real well right now.
• Martin Brodeur will probably still be blinded by tears from the alimony beating he took recently.

Why the Devils Will Win:

• The Devils haven't back to back games since Obama has been president. Yeesh.
• Back in December, the Flyers played the Penguins and Devils back to back. They had a big win over Pittsburgh, then seemed absurdly content to get an OT loss vs. the Devils. If they're that complacent again, there could be issues.

Prediction: Flyers 3-1. Do it to it.

Puck drops at 7 on Versus.

Game #69 Review: Flyers 2 @ Red Wings 3 3/17/09

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As far as heartbreaking, two-goal lead blowing, regulation losses go, this one wasn't so bad.

• It feels like a game the Flyers should have won because they had a two goal lead. But really, Detroit is just better than the Flyers, and if you had told me that the Flyers would only lose by one, I would have been a little surprised.
• That being said, the Flyers really could have won this game if they had gotten more decent shots on Chris Osgood. He's terrible, and will be Detroit's downfall come playoff time.
• Martin Biron is really good. It took thirty something shots for the top team in the league tofinally get one past him. But there is an issue with Biron that has been there forever, and that is his propensity for giving up quick back to back goals. The team has got to be aware of this, and just try their damnedest to keep
• Before the deadline, it looked like there might be zero Daniels on the team. But instead we have two. And both Daniels, Briere and Carcillo, really should be fed to the lions. Carcillo was awful and completely at fault on the first Detroit goal, and Briere was not good. His problems are probably all mental at this point, and until he starts scoring he's a big hinderance. But, of course, he has to keep getting ice time if he's gonna score. Quite the catch-48.

Big three games in the next four days. Sabres, Penguins, and Devils. Three points would be nice.

Game #66 Preview: Rangers @ Flyers 3/14/09

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The two games this weekend vs. the Rangers obviously count the same in the standings, but I get the sense that Sunday's means more. It a nationally televised, network game at Madison Square Garden. But before tomorrow comes today, and today looks pretty good.

Why the Flyers Will Win:

• The Rangers, who were way out in first place to start the season at 10-2-1, had fallen out of playoff position to ninth before just recently getting back up to seventh. The Flyers have been much steadier throughout, and that counts for a lot.
• The last time these two teams met it was an absolute ass kicking.
• Martin Biron has been very solid of late, and he gets the start today, with Antero Niittymaki getting the nod for tomorrow.
• I really refuse to believe they're in any danger, but the Flyers technically are only five points ahead of ninth place. They're mentioning how tight it is in press conferences, which has boded well in the past.
• Sean Avery.

Why the Rangers Will Win:

• I'm betting Daniel Carcillo is going to do something real stupid with Avery. Stevens foreshadowed it pretty explicitly in his presser, and Carcillo is certainly still looking to make a name for himself.
• The last time the Rangers visited the Wach was a long time ago. When she was still relevant.Sarah's spirit still haunts the building, and the presence of two Alaskans (Matt Carle and Scott Gomez) is certain to awaken it. Maybe Ed Snider can pipe in some more deafening applause and patriotic music as an offering. Comcast-Spectacor will need to do something to keep the Ghost of Palin Past at bay, because she can't be happy about her daughter being dumped by her son-of-a-meth-dealer baby daddy.

Prediction: Rangers 3-2. Not feeling this one.

Oh, and if anyone can count the number of times Jeff Carter shrugs in the below clip, please post your estimate in the comments. I appreciate the help, because I just can't count that high.

Still Bitter

Scottie Upshall has scored three goals in his five games with the Phoenix Coyotes. Daniel Carcillo has scored zero goals in his four games with the Philadelphia Flyers.

And despite this, the Flyers have the gall to say that Carcillo is "a perfect fit." Perfect fits score goals. Perfect fits get more than one point in four games. Carcillo may like playing for the Flyers a whole lot, but for it to be a "perfect fit," it has to be a little more mutual.

I'm still willing to wait a little while longer before completely giving up on Carcillo. But patience is wearing thin. He better do something big this weekend in the two games vs. New York.

Or at least he can spill some of Sean Avery's blood on the ice.

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.

Game #65 Preview: Sabres @ Flyers

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Why The Flyers Will Win:

• Martin Biron has owned the Sabres of late, and was awesome vs. Nashville on Saturday. He has a real chance to lock down the #1 spot solidly with a big game tonight.
• Last time these two teams met, Mike Richards notched five points. Always improving, we expect him to tally around eighteen tonight.
• Buffalo's logo is not a Sabre. It's a buffalo. And that's just weird. It's not like the Devils' logo is a new jersey, or the Coyotes' logo is a Phoenix. The bills do the same sort of thing, and I just can't endorse this. The Flyers logo is flying, so it's fine, but the buffaslug on the Sabres jerseys isn't sharp or being fenced with or anything. That has to cost them at least a couple goals a game.

Why The Sabres Will Win:

• Patrick Lalime will probably get the start tonight, and while he might be pretty crappy nowadays, once upon a time he was a serious Flyer killer, allowing only two goals in five games in the first round of the 2002 playoffs. Yikes.
• When was the last time a Flyers goalie put together two solid games back to back? Not since at least 2008.
• No idea why Mike Richards missed practice yesterday.

Why Everybody Wins:

• The game is on Versus, so it will be in HD and seen nationwide, AND that horrible Sabres announcer will have the night off.

There is definitely going to be an anything you can do I can do better moment from Riley Cote aimed at Carcillo at some point during this win for the Flyers. I see four goals.

Mike Knuble wears The Hat tonight.

With 100% of Precincts Reporting...

Democracy is as Philadelphian as driving to Delaware to buy cheaper booze. Flyers fans Philadelphian and non-Philadelphian made their voices heard in our entirely scientific poll, and voted in a strong plurality to dispose of Randy Jones. Although it is possible that sixteen or so of Jones' votes were cast by the Bergeron family.

And yet, despite the overwhelming mandate of the masses, Paul Holmgren sent away Scottie Upshall, who only got one vote, a vote which I know came after his trade had been announced.

So should Paul Holmgren get a pass? Sam Cardichi and Flyers Goal Scored By... seem to think so. I'm not so sure. Daniel Carcillo hasn't been terrible by any means, but he hasn't been great. Upshall wasn't putting up huge numbers either. They've been about the same. In the long run, Carcillo for Upshall will probably be a pretty even trade.

Except that the deal wasn't just Carcillo for Upshall. It was Carcillo for Upshall and a second round pick. And picks, except for the occasional James Van Riemsdyk, are worth holding on to. I don't think anybody can honestly say at this point that the deal has worked out well for the Flyers yet. If Carcillo catches fire down the stretch and into the playoffs, then it's time to be giving the deal a thumbs up. But not until then.

We still love ya, Homer. You took the Flyers from 30th to the conference finals in one season, which was totally unprecedented and unexpected. And it's just hard to stay mad at a guy whose hair manages to stay at such sharp right angles.

Game #64 Review: Predators 1 @ Flyers 4 3/7/09

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Didn't see this one coming.

• The bounce back from that flameout Thursday was pretty unbelievable. A very commanding win over a team on a six-game win streak is exactly what the doctor ordered.
• Martin Biron was at his lights out best. Flashy as hell, with absurdly overly dramatic glove saves and that absolutely nuts goal line stop that leads off the above recap vid. He let in a soft goal, sure, but the swagger was great to see. Asked why he made so many big saves, Marty replied "I just want to be on TV." Martin was in the SportsCenter Top Ten for his save on Jokinen vs. Calgary on Thursday, and is clearly already addicted to the fame. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but it looks like the goalie controversy has subsided for the time being. Sorry Niitty, but Montreal and Calgary were both real shitty efforts.
• Easily Joffrey Lupul's best game of the year, as he becomes the sixth Flyer to hit 20 goals on the year. And he gets the hat? More on that later, as the FF's crack research team is hard at work pursuing all leads hat related. We're on to something big here.
• Poor Riley Cote clearly feels his usefulness diminishing to nothing. Daniel Carcillo arrives Thursday, and Riley feels threatened so he fights on Thursday. Carcillo drops the gloves tonight, and Riley feels threatened so he has to have an even bigger fight the very next shift. Carcillo got a point tonight too, which has to stick in Riles' craw all the more. Honestly, Riley can't possibly get any ice time in the playoffs, so it should be only a matter of time before Holmgren lets him get comfortable with the Phantoms.
• Flyers gained a game on the Devils tonight to boot. Because they lost to the Islanders. They lost by four. They lost to the ISLANDERS by FOUR. Sit back and enjoy this.

Huge set of games coming up. Sabres on Versus, Capitals, Rangers, Rangers on NBC, Red Wings on Versus, Sabres, Penguins, Devils on Versus, and Panthers, all in the next eighteen days. Should be fairly awesome stuff.

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.

Dear Mr. Carcillo,

If you take so much as one dumb penalty tonight, you're dead to me.

Don't fuck it up.

Sincerely,

Salmon

Pack Up That Crib, Scottie

Scottie Upshall (and a second round pick) was the only Flyers castoff today on deadline day, going in a trade no one saw coming to Phoenix for Daniel Carcillo (WTF?).

This trade sucks on so many levels. Everybody liked Upshall. He was a quick pest with a great shot, who was huge in the playoffs last year and a great energy guy. He was on an exciting new line with Giroux and Briere that looked great. There was nothing wrong with him (note how he got ZERO votes on our scientific poll of who the Flyers need to get rid of).

Carcillo, if we're lucky, is a Steve Downie 2.0. On paper, he's absolutely the last thing the Flyers need. A guy with only three goals and seven assists in 54 games. Not to mention the league leading 174 penalty minutes, which the Flyers were apparently after in an attempt to be short handed the entire game as opposed to just half of it. For those of you keeping score at home, he's got four fewer goals than Upshall, seven fewer assists, and way more penalty minutes.

Did the Flyers need another fighter? We already have one too many, dressing both Asham and Cote regularly. I know we have a reputation to protect, but dressing three enforcers is just absurd.

AND we gave up a second round pick for this chump. You know who once came to the Flyers via a second round draft pick? BOBBY CLARKE.

Scottie now has to move to Phoenix (big downgrade) to play for the Coyotes, who are pretty much out of playoff contention. Plus he's gotta pack up and move out of this sweet crib.

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Hope you come back to Philly during your free agency this summer, Scottie. You'll be missed.