Loose ends

November 15, 2011

Snider hints at retiring Howe's number

Okay maybe not so much as a hint, but a statement.

Flyer's chairman Ed Snider, spoke at Howe's induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night, saying that, "I don’t want to say one thing one way or another, but I feel that anybody who was in the Hall of Fame that was a Philadelphia Flyer, their number should be retired."

Sounds like the retirement of Howe's 2 is a matter of when, not if.

The newly titled Hall of Fame Defenseman spent the prime of his career with the Flyers. He played for 10 seasons in Philadelphia.

General Managers meet to discuss the trap

Not a very big deal, the general mangers of every NHL team met on Tuesday to discuss what happened in the Flyers, Lightning game, where the Flyers simply stood and did nothing as a counter to Tampa Bay's trap defense.

Flyer's GM Paul Holmgren feels that the trap is not something to spend a lot of time debating on, "Obviously, it’s worthy of some kind of debate but I don’t think we need to spend a lot of time on it."

A bigger issue? The GM's also discussed the league's realignment, which became an issue when the Atlanta Thrashers were sold to Winnipeg, and became the new Jets, before the season began.

Flyers win in Carolina, take 1st in East

November 15, 2011

The Flyers took a 5-3 win from the Hurricanes in Carolina Monday night, and they took possesion of first place in the Eastern Conference along with it.

The win gave the Flyers 23 points in the standings, giving them a one point lead over the Buffalo Sabres.

Claude Giroux (10, 1:19) and Max Talbot (6, 8:50) both scored in the first period to put the Flyers up 2-0, before Carolina's Patrick Dwyer (1, 19:59) scored shorthanded to make it 2-1.

In the second, Claude Giroux scored (11, 2:45) scored his second of the night, followed by Wayne Simmonds (4, 6:57), who scored on the power play to make it 4-1.

Tuomo Ruutu (7, 12:01) scored to cut the Hurricane's deficit down to two befroe heading into the third period.

Patrick Dwyer scored (2, 4:36) his second shorthnaded goal of the night to shrink the Canes deficit down to one. But Matt Read was able to put the game away for the Flyers, with his fifth goal of the season (16:09).

Peter Laviolette gave Sergei Bobrovsky the start last night.

Bobrovsky saw 20 shots from Carolina, making 17 saves.

Carloina's starter Cam Ward only made 13 saves after 17 shots, before he was substituted for backup, and former Flyer, Brian Boucher, who made 10 saves in 11 shots.

Flyers will not play again until Thursday night, when they come home to play the Phoenix Coyotes.

Flyers.NHL.com
http://flyers.nhl.com/club/boxscore.htm?id=2011020244

ESPN.com
http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400047178

Howe inducted into Hall of Fame

November 14, 2011

Mark Howe, one of the greatest defenseman in Flyer's history, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame over the weekend.

CSNPhilly.com's Tim Panaccio wrote a reflection on Howe for the website. I strongly encourage you to read it.

The link below will take you to the story.
http://www.csnphilly.com/hockey-philadelphia-flyers/news/Howe-inducted-to-Hall-on-emotional-day?blockID=593676&feedID=695

Rested Flyers top Panthers 3-2

November 14, 2011

After a couple days on the golf course, the Flyers got back on the ice Sunday night at BankAtlantic Center to play the Florida Panthers.

In the first Danny Briere scored (5) to make it 1-0 Philadelphia (16:10). Wayne Simmonds earned the assist on Briere's goal to earn his 100th career NHL point.

In the second, Braydon Coburn scored his first of the year off a pass that was fed from Max Talbot, to Jakub Voracek, then finally over to Coburn for the goal to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead (6:50).

Still in the second, Florida's Evgeni Dadonov scored his first of the year to make it a 2-1 game (10:20).

In the third period, Matt Read was given a penalty shot oppurtunity after Jason Garrison was called for a hooking penalty on Read while he was on a break away. Read scored (4) on the penalty shot to make it a 3-1 game for the Flyers.

With less than a minute left in the third, Tomas Fleischmann scored (6) for the Panthers to make it 3-2.

The Flyers were able to hold off the Panthers in the remaining seconds for a 3-2 win.

Ilya Bryzgalov saw 33 shots from the Panthers, making 31 saves.

The opposing goaltender, Joe Theodore, made 32 saves. He saw 35 shots from the Flyers.

After spending close to a week in Florida, the Flyers will head a little further north to play the Carolina Hurricanes Monday night.

Flyers.NHL.com
http://flyers.nhl.com/club/boxscore.htm?id=2011020240

ESPN.com
http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400047164

NHL All-Star ballots include six Flyers

November 11, 2011

Danny Briere, Ilya Bryzgalov, Claude Giroux, Jaromir Jagr, Chris Pronger, and Kimmo Timmonen are the six Flyers on the ballot for this year's NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.

Voting opens on November 14 to the public.

Make sure you cast your votes Flyers fans.

Flyers respond to trap, lose in OT

November 9, 2011

* Sorry that this recap was not posted earlier. I had a lot of work to do for school, and I did not get any time yesterday to write up an article. Again, I apologize.

The big highlight of Wedensday night's game was not an overtime win by the Lightning, but how the Flyers countered Tampa Bay's 1-3-1 trap.

                                                                  Credit to thepuckscene

In the opening minute of the game, while the Lightning switched over from offense into the trap defense, the Flyer's D simply held the puck in their own end and did nothing.

The referees eventually blew the whistle for a faceoff, just so play can resume.

Oh yeah, and that happened again too, not even five minutes into the game. The Flyers tried, but the Lightning would not break the trap, and the refs had to stop play again.

In the second period, Scott Hartnell broke a scoreless tie, when he redirected a shot by Jakub Voracek for his sixth goal of the year (9:34).

In the third period, with the Flyers up 1-0, the Lightning's Marc-Andre Bergeron (3) scored on the power-play to tie the game at one (7:41).

The game went into overtime, but Brett Connolly (3) scored to win the game for Tampa Bay (2:30).

Ilya Bryzgalov saw 24 shots, and made 22 saves Wednesday night.

The Flyers only managed to get 15 shots on Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson, which he saved 14 of.

The Flyers have a few days off in Florida before they play the Panthers on Sunday. They will be using the down time for team bonding.

* Forward Matt Read was back in the Flyer's lineup Wednesday night, after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

Flyers.NHL.com
http://flyers.nhl.com/club/boxscore.htm?id=2011020212

ESPN.com
http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400046980

Pronger returns, Coburn gets extension

November 9, 2011

After missing six games, defenseman and captain Chris Pronger will play tonight in Florida for the Flyer's matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Pronger has been out since October 24 with an eye injury, but has since made a quick recovery. He has been skating with a visor attached to his helmet during practices, and will continue to wear the visor during games (for now).

Fellow Defenseman Braydon Coburn signed to a four-year extension that is worth $18 million.

The longest tenured Flyer will stay on the team now for a few more years. He has been with the team since February of 2007.

Defenseman Erik Gustafsson has an injured wrist and did not make the trip to Tampa Bay with the team, according to CSNPhilly.com's Tim Panaccio.

Gustafsson is likely to join the team in Florida after Wednesday night's game against the Lightning for some team bonding.

The Flyers will get three days in Florida after their game against Tampa Bay for team bonding, before they play the Panthers on Sunday.

The Flyers play the Lightning tonight at 7:30 PM.

Read expected to return, updates on other injuries

November 7, 2011

Forward Matt Read is still listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

However, CSNPhilly.com's Sarah Baicker is reporting that Read expects to be back in the lineup for Wedensday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Read has missed the last three games.

Forward Andreas Nodl and defenseman Chris Pronger are also still listed as day-to-day. Nodl with a lower-body injury and Pronger with his eye injury.

Baicker is also reporting that the Flyers have sent forward Eric Wellwood back to the Adirondack Phantoms, suggesting that Pronger is almost ready to return.

Forward Brayden Schenn is still recovering from a broken left foot according to the Flyer's website, stating that he will need a minimum of two more weeks recovery time.

Pronger making progress in recovery

November 6, 2011

According to CSNPhilly.com's Tim Panaccio, defenseman Chris Pronger is progressing from his eye injury.

Pronger has missed six games already with his eye injury, and it seems like he will miss a few more.
Panaccio wrote in his article, "Chris Pronger says he still lacks proper conditioning and needs to have some contact before he's ready to play again."

Panaccio also wrote that Pronger is still adjusting to wearing the visor, and that Pronger's eye doctor, Stephen Goldman is happy with his recovery thus far.

You can read Tim Panaccio's report at CSN Philly.com, just click on the link below.
http://www.csnphilly.com/blog/flyers-talk/post/Pronger-progressing-adjusting-to-visor?blockID=588768&feedID=695

Flyers score nine on Columbus

November 6, 2011

James Van Riemesdyk made his way back into the lineup Saturday night, after missing Thursday night's game against the New Jersey Devils with a minor knee injury.

Meanwhile, Jakub Voracek was looking for a win against his old team, and boy did he get that.

The only missing storyline was Jeff Carter’s return to Philadelphia. Carter was at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday night, but a broken foot would only let him watch as the Flyers crushed the Blue Jackets 9-2.

The Flyers had an incredible first period.

James Van Riemsdyk (6, 1:38), Jaromir Jagr (6, 3:09), Maxime Talbot (5, 13:09), Claude Giroux (9, 14:37), and Jakub Voracek (3, 19:25) all recorded goals to give the Flyers a 5-0 lead by the first intermission.

Voracek played a great game against his former team, recording two assists on top of his goal for a three point night. He fed a nice pass to Talbot, who scored the third goal of the night for Philadelphia, to get an assist. Voracek earned another assist in the third on Sean Couturier’s goal, which was the team’s ninth of the night.

In the second period, Columbus still could not stop the Flyer’s offense.

Sean Couturier (4) scored a shorthanded goal (7:08) to give the Flyers a six goal lead.

Later in the second, Wayne Simmonds scored his third goal of the year to make it 7-0 Philadelphia (15:50).

Then Matt Carle scored his third on a backhander to give the Flyers an 8-0 lead (16:10)

In the third period the Blue Jackets finally made their way on to the scoreboard.

Forward Derek Dorsett made it 8-1 with his second goal of the year (13:13). But Sean Couturier answered back with his second goal (5) of the night, and the ninth for the Flyers, to give them an eight goal lead again.

Blue Jacket’s defenseman Grant Clitsome (1) scored late in the third period to make it 9-2, but it did not make any difference.

The Flyers won 9-2 in a very lopsided matchup.

Steve Mason only made 21 saves in 28 shots for the Blue Jackets. He was pulled in the third after going through a 53:09 nightmare.

Allen York played final 6:51 of the game. His time in net was not much better than Mason’s though, making three save in five shots, and allowing two goals.

Ilya Bryzgolav turned in a solid performance for Philadelphia. He allowed two goals, but made 33 saves out of 35 shots faced.

Bryzgalov will get the win, while Mason gets charged with the loss.

The Flyers will get a few days off, before they head to Tampa Bay to play the Lightning on Wednesday night.

Flyers.NHL.com
http://flyers.nhl.com/club/boxscore.htm?id=2011020189

ESPN.com
http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400046844