Flyers lose to the Rangers again...

Well, folks... the Flyers got swept by the Rangers in the regular season... The Penguins won last night, and we have a couple of injuries from the last Penguins game... What is your confidence level in the Flyers right now?

Flyers lose 5-3, with a goals from Voracek, Simmonds, and Lilja Hartnell.

The New York Rangers clinched first place in the Eastern Conference & Atlantic with the win, which kind of implies that the Flyers will be seeing Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs, that is unless the Flyers take a massive dump on the last two game of the season and lose to the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow, and the Penguins on Saturday. If that happens (I certainly hope it doesn't) The New Jersey Devils claim fifth in the East, and Flyers drop to sixth. Honestly, I really don't care who the Flyers face in the first round. I whole heartedly believe that the Flyers can beat the Penguins (the record this year definitely works in their favor) and if the Flyers make that unlikely drop to sixth place the Flyers will see the Florida Panthers, a team that boasts a far worse record than the Philadelphia Flyers, but gets a mandatory higher seed because they play in an inferior Southeastern Division. I should also probably point out that there are 2 games left in most teams' schedules and the Panthers haven't clinched their division yet, and it's incredibly possible that the Washington Capitals could take that division.

I would normally not think twice about worrying about anyone in the Southeast, however, if that's how the first round shapes up for the Flyers, that means they enter the playoffs with a three game losing streak. I do not like that. As evidenced by the recent (lack of a) playoff run of our 2011 Philadelphia Phillies, being cold going into the playoffs is absolutely not a good way to enter the playoffs. Again, let's reference our 2011 Philadelphia Phillies, because they exited in the NLDS (1st round).

With that being said, I would really rather have a winning streak entering the playoffs which means let's please hope to win out the season.

Injuries:

In regards to injuries, we learned that James Van Riemsdyk should be back mid 1st round, and that Andrej Mezaros should be back in the 2nd round (I read about these two players somewhere but can't remember where, I'm trying to locate the article. However, until then Sam Carchidi, Flyers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer posted it on his twitter, check it out @BroadStBull). Tom Sestito said on his twitter that he should be ready to go 1st round, but that's not an official report. As already stated by Paul Holmgren Nicklas Grossmann is out 7-10 days with a Lower Body Injury (LBI) and Danny Briere (I'm sad about this) is out indefinitely with a back contusion, or in Briere's own words Back Spasms :-( .

The Flyers have a complete day off of practice today, and face the Buffalo Sabres, who need to win to still have hopes of making the playoffs, tomorrow at 7:00.

Madness I tell you!

Yesterday's game was incredible... crazy, but incredible.

The game had it all, goals, fights, cheap shots, and yelling. What a perfect Sunday afternoon game televised on NBC... national television.

A game that most definitely is beginning to set the tone for what is the most probable scenario for the first round of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

So now, without further ado, I will announce to you the victor of this round: The Philadelphia Flyers.

Your Philadelphia Flyers pulled out of this game with a 6-4 win, despite being down 2-0 early in the first period (same story, different day, eh?). The Flyers then came back to score five unanswered goals. Pittsburgh's Steve Sullivan scored the Penguins thrid goal fifteen minutes into the third period. Before one of our three magnificent gingers, Jakub Voracek, scored the Flyers sixth and final goal.

So before we get to the fun stuff, let's just say that Claude Giroux scored his 28th goal of the season yesterday with assists from Jaromir Jagr and Scott Hartnell (a beautiful first line if I may say so), and the former Penguin and all around lovable player, Maxime Talbot scored his 19th of the season with assists from Zac Rinaldo and toothless Sean Couturier. Jakub Voracek scored my favorite goal of the night for goal #16 on the season, and then #17 on the final goal of the game, an empty netter. Also, Wayne Simmonds scored a powerplay goal for his 27th goal of the season. Pittsburgh goal scorers were Steve Sullivan with two goals, James Neal, and Chris Kunitz. Check out the Flyers Official website for the complete box score.

The third period was absolutely nuts. From my count there were about fifteen penalties issued out with one minute (yes, one minute) left in the game. Including, the ejection of our Jamtastic coach, Peter Laviolette and Pittsburgh coach, Dan Bylsma. The highlight of this massive melee however, was Scott Hartnell (of course!). A Penguins fan Hulkamaniac was taunting the Flyers bench and Hartsy responded. Crossingbroad.com owner, Kyle Scott did a fantastic job of documenting the madness. Check it out it will make your day.

Anywho, at the end of the day, the Flyers move within one point of the Penguins in the Eastern/Atlantic Conference and they are one point away from home ice-advantage. Oh, and the Flyers and Pittsburgh play each other one last time in the regular season, on Saturday. Hold on tight Flyers fans, and don't lose your pants!

Double Duty..

The Flyers lost yesterday. I didn't get to watch the game, I felt responsible (damn superstitions!) however, I heard they played badly. Down 3-0 early, our Fly guys came back to tie it only to lose in overtime. Sad. Anywho, read this here article for your sad Flyers lose in overtime recap.

Did someone say Wayne Simmonds scored a goal with his face?! Yep. That happened. If you weren't on the Wayne Train yet, you better be. (Plug. go to hartnelldown.com and buy his #waynetrain shirts. it goes to charity, and they're pretty sweet) In fact, I'm wearing mine today:

However, there is a game today!

A very humungous big game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers won the last meeting, which was also an afternoon game, but it took them a little while to get into the game. They don't have a good reputation this year for showing up for afternoon games so I'm excited to see today's game unfold.

Also read what the700level has to say on today's game's storylines, kinda interesting.

You can count the games left in the regular season on one hand, yet this isn't the last time we'll see the Penguins, besides this is the most probable first round match up for the Flyers. So, do you like that the Flyers are seeing the Penguins so much at the end of the season? Oh, and home ice advantage is still very much up for grabs.

Just some odds and ends

Just a few quick notes:

• Eric Lindros skated with the Flyers yesterday, and according to Jaromir Jagr, could still play, if he lost say, twenty pounds. Meanwhile, our lovable enforcer, Zac Rinaldo, was too giddy/starstruck to even pass the puck to #88... Too freakin' cute!
• You absolutely HAVE to vote for either Claude Giroux or Scott Hartnell to be on the cover of NHL 13!. VOTE NOW!
•  The Pittsburgh Penguins were demolished by the New York Islanders last night, therefore bringing our Philadelphia Flyers within two points of the Pens for home-ice advantage.
• Finally, I would love all of you to check out this awesome article from the700level for highlights and some words about last night's game. Besides, he talks up Briere, and I truly believe that Danny Briere is a hard worker, and has been a positive for this club all season (despite what others think). I also think he's going to come up big for us in this year's playoffs!

Holy goal scoring Batman!!

In a night where I had a massive headache, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the team with the worst luck in the NHL: The Toronto Maple Leafs. In a sequence of events that only the unluckiest of teams could manufacture, the Leafs saw not one, but two goaltenders fall victim to injuries, the second of which fell victim to the injury bug in pre-game warmups. Yes. pregame warmups. This led to the back-up to the back-up goaltender Jussi Rynnas getting his first NHL start ever in a situation in which I had to think the words "Oh shit". uttered from his mouth. The Maple Leafs have recently been eliminated from playoff contention for like the seventh straight season, were facing a team in the Philadelphia Flyers that is still very much so in a battle for home ice advantage in the playoffs. So, with that being said, what can you expect from a Maple Leafs team that is floundering and a brand spankin' new goalie (who probably had nerves the size of the Grand Canyon), well, let the game unfold....

Brayden Schenn, who is always a big story when the Flyers play the Maple Leafs, solely because brother Luke (he apparently doesn't have the force... hah! Star Wars joke) opposes him, scored two first period goals. His first was a little over five minutes into the game (I checked, it was at 5:34 courtesy of the box score on the Flyers official website) and his second goal was a powerplay goal at 11:01. Thus giving the Flyers a rarely seen first period lead at 2-0.

The Flyers did an amazing job at keeping possession of the puck, and all together dominating the entire game. Holding the Maple Leafs to just five shots in the first period.

Speaking of first period shots, did a Flyers goalie give up a goal on the opposing team's first shot of the game?? NO! Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky let in a goal on the Leafs' second shot of the game!. All's well that ends well however, since Toronto did not score again after that, despite some quality chances. Nice night for Bob!

The second period saw goals from Wayne Simmonds, and rookie number 2 to score on the night, #24, Matt Read, oh which by the way, was a shorthanded goal... no big deal though. hah! The second period however, is when Dion Phaneuf started getting a little frustrated and his string of bad penalties (he went to the sin bin a total of three times throughout the game) started 2 minutes into the second period. Somewhwere on the ice a smirking Scott Hartnell whispers sweet "Suck it Phaneufs!"...

The third period sees the Flyers scoring three more goals, starting with rookie #3 to score, #47 Eric Wellwood (who also has a brother in the NHL... Kyle, in case you didn't know). We also see goals from one of our favorite gingers (you'll learn that I have a thing for gingers... sorry!) Jakub Voracek a mere two minutes after Wellwood's goal. Also, in case you didn't already hop on board the Wayne Train after his first goal, you were given a second opportunity to hop on when he scored his second goal of the night at just under tweleve minutes in the third. Phaneuf gets really angry in the third period, probably because the fans that were still at the game broke out into very loud, "Let's Go Blue Jays" chants (sad, isn't it...), goes to the box twice, once for roughing and once for slashing (well technically he only went to the box once and had someone else serve his second penalty because it all happened at the same time, but it sounds better to say he went to the box three times. hehe).

Anywho, I know that was a lot of action, so let's recap the goals:

First Period: Brayden Schenn (2), and Mikhail Grabovski (the lone Maple Leaf scorer)
Second Period: Wayne Simmonds, and Matt Read
Third Period: Eric Wellwood, Jakub Voracek, and Wayne Simmonds.

Final Score: Flyers: 7 - Maple Leafs: 1

Bobrovsky saved 16 of 17 shots last night
Rynnas saved 23 of 30 shots last night

Bryz, hope your chipped foot feels better soon!

Humungous Big Injury?!

Ilya Bryzgalov vs. TB Lightning 3/26/12

Ilya Bryzgalov, our eccentric first string goalie has a chip in his foot. Flyers General Manager, Paul Holmgren alerted us, the fans and public that he doesn't expect this to be a major injury. Heck, he's only listed as day to day. However, as we have seen in the past, "not so serious injuries" have been known to develop in to more serious things and have sidelined players for say... seasons. I know it's been a while, but does anyone remember one Chris Pronger? out of the line up initially for what seemed to be a minor cough turns into post concussion symptoms which translates to a season without Pronger. Now, I know a chip in the foot is nothing compared to what happened with Mr. Pronger (Seriously though, Chris Pronger, get better, we miss you!), but it's just an example to show you that no injury can be taken lightly. Now more than ever, injuries, this injury in particular should be seen with the utmost concern. Granted, Bryz has struggled this season, but recently he's been the goaltender that the Flyers knew he could be, and the goaltender that we the fans have been waiting for, for like forever. So, with the playoffs looming just around the corner (April 11th), an injury such as this really scares me. I really really (yep, two reallys) hope that Bryz's injury isn't serious, just like Mr. Holmgren says, but, until I see him blocking shots on the ice, I will remain scared!

As always, your thoughts comments, concerns, are welcome

EDIT: Immediately after posting this the first time, I read an AMAZING article about Zac Rinaldo. Click his name and give it a read!



Philadelphia Penalty: 2 minutes for scapegoating

Yep, that headline just happened.
And no. The Flyers didn't commit the penalty. We did.

I stumbled upon one of my favorite Flyers blogs for some more points of view on what the heck happened last night. To tell the truth, for the most part, all of us Flyers fans agree on something... One single play didn't kill the Flyers last night. Truth be told, a lot of things happened. The Flyers outshut the Lightning 38-15 last night, yet only managed to score three goals, whereas Stamkos, St. Louis and Co. netted five whilst only notching fifteen shots on net. Upon meandering through the Philadelphia interwebs however, I have seen that many people, have singled out one player in particular.

Of course, the easiest target for last night's game, was our favorite defensemen from Anchorage Alaska (I'm typing this while watching a Deadliest Catch marathon, Alaska had to come out), Matt Carle. He publicly announced that he felt responsible for the game's outcome last night and apologized to his team and the fans. However, we Philadelphians have singled out another person responsible for last night's 5-3 loss.

There's no question that Danny Briere has been struggling to get the pucks in the net. After he netted two goals in a win against a dismal Montreal team that clinched a playoff spot, we all thought that our beloved #48 had pulled through it, and was back on track to being our reliable playoff sniper. Then last night happened. Briere lost a puck at the blue line that resulted in the first Lightning goal (it was a shorthanded goal at that... eek!), and also committed a penalty that resulted in a Lighning power play goal. That led to CSN Philly's John Gonzalez to pen this story about Briere's ability to "flip the switch".

I personally think that last night was a bad night in a month that was chock full of positives. A fluke if you will. I also don't think that Briere is something to worry about... He might not be scoring goals, but he is getting assists, and assists are vital parts of the game.

Carle, Briere, anyone else?! Do you have a scapegoat for the last game?! Do you think the Flyers peaked too early?

Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

We're back to full strength.

Learning to Fly...

Everyone has a passion. Everyone has something that they love. That being said, everyone that loves something has a difficult time not talking about what they love. I love the Philadelphia Flyers and I love talking about the Philadelphia Flyers. I may not be the most knowledgeable person, and I may not have inside access to the goings on of the Flyers organization, but I, like most other internet savvy people read and listen throughout the interwebs constantly. So, that being said, I wish to blog about the Philadelphia Flyers. I wish to have people start seeing what I have to say. I want those people to agree or disagree with me. I want to laugh with you, I want to say witty things, I want to have a good time with the Flyers and with my fellow Flyer fans. This is why I'm starting this blog. More importantly, this is why I'm starting this blog so close to playoff time. This is the height of Flyers hockey, and the Philly fans have an opinion, I have an opinion, and I want us to get it out there!  So with this, my first post, let's talk about the game last night...

Tampa Bay came into the Well for the fourth and final meeting of the season between the two. Prior to the game I thought there was no way that our Broad Street Bullies could lose. We had just clinched a playoff spot, Bryzgalov's on fire, and let's face it, the Lightning didn't have the type of season that was expected of them. Regardless, Stamkos, St. Louis, and company came into the Well and took the early lead on their first shot of the game (whilst aone Jaromir Jagr still holds a slight smirk with his Bobrovsky should start the first shot then bring Bryz in joke still holding true). However, no big deal, right? The Flyers are used to coming from behind, and they were leading in puck possession and in shots.  Which, proves to be true as the Flyers came back in the 2nd period to make a game out of it. However, Tampa Bay took a lead in the third, and although A late goal in the 3rd period by Scott Hartnell, rallies the team with just over a minute left in regulation an empty net goal clinched the W for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So went went wrong with the Flyers? Well, besides good net-minding from the Tampa Bay Lightning, one Matt Carle would like to take the blame for this one. A respectable move, a move in which I admire, but think is not necessary. For those who didn't see the game last night. Carle seemed to have lost control of the puck at one point in our own end and ended up putting the puck right in front of a Ilya Bryzgalov and essentially putting the puck right in Tampa Bay's hands. Fret not Matt, for many mistakes were made in this game, and you're not soley to blame. regardless, He apologized to his teammates and the fans for his mistake (link to video below). Anywho, Flyers lose 5-3 last night despite outshooting the Lightning 38-15. With goals scored by Wayne Simmonds (who had been in a bit of a goal dry spell), Matt Read (rookie extrodinare), and Scott Hartnell (our curly haired klutz).  This game was the last in a five game home stand, and our boys in orange and black head to Toronto to face the struggling Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Maybe Bobrovsky will get the start, he has to have some rust on him, he hasn't played since February...

Highlights and Matt Carle, right... now.

Hightlights here.
Matt Carle Apology here.