Briere leads Flyers to 2-1 win
by Travis Hughes on Dec 27, 2009 8:31 PM EST
in 09-10 Game Recaps
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Danny Briere scored a goal or two and Jeff Carter notched a tie breaking goal in the second period to lead the Flyers to their third straight win, and all the way up to the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference standings. It could've and probably should've been a 3-1 victory, but Briere had a goal waived off in the third period when officials say he directed the puck into the net with his skate. He didn't, but there's no sense in complaining about it.
Instead, with less than a minute left and the Isles attempting to pull goaltender Martin Biron, it was Briere who held the puck deep in the New York end, not allowing the Isles to move in the other direction with it as precious seconds ticked off the clock. Couple that with a few huge penalty kills in the third period, and you have your reasons why the Flyers did in fact win their third straight game today.
For the first time in seemingly forever, I think it's safe to say the Flyers put in a complete, sixty minute effort tonight. Michael Leighton gave them a solid performance in goal and while they weren't able to put the puck in the net with a lot of frequency, they were very strong on the defensive end, won faceoffs, and kept the pressure on the Islanders throughout. Jon Sim's lone New York goal came on an unlucky play where the puck was batted out of mid air right to Sim, who was basically alone in front of Leighton. Hard to be too upset about that.
It's another building block. The momentum is starting to build and regardless of how they're coming, the Flyers are picking up wins. Tonight was a lot better than the last two and that's very encouraging going forward. Let's hope the Flyers take another step when they face the Rangers on Wednesday night.
After the jump, questions with answers, the comment of the night, and highlights of the win.
Questions With Answers
- Michael Leighton has, generally speaking, looked darn good as a Flyer. Can he keep it up? Yep, Leighton looked good again. You've got to worry about overworking the guy, and hopefully Boucher will be ready come Wednesday for just that reason, but we've picked up more than expected from Leighton.
- The Flyers have made Martin Biron look pretty porous in the two games against him so far. Can that continue? Biron didn't look nearly as bad as he has in the previous two games against the Flyers, but the struggles are evident for Marty. He's lost his last nine games.
- Can Mike Richards and Jeff Carter leave where they left off last night? Can the best players be the best players again? Carter scored a huge goal and Richards had another good game, but it was a few of the other best players on the team that carried the Flyers tonight. There was Carter, then Briere, as mentioned, who was the Flyers best player tonight, and Scott Hartnell assisted on both Flyer goals.
- Are there any lasting effects to the Pronger/Tavares incident that happened last time these two met? Nah.
- How many minutes of ice time does Syvret see? The Flyers rotated five defensemen pretty successfully last night. Surprisingly, at least to my eye, Syvret played quite a bit tonight. He didn't really look so bad, either. I'm not sure if it was because Peter Laviolette wanted to give a few guys a break after a lot of work last night or because he wanted to see what he had in Syvret, but the guy played almost 15 minutes.
- Sixty minutes, for the love of god. Sixty minutes? As mentioned in that actual writing part above the jump, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It wasn't perfect, but it was still a sixty minute effort. Woo.
Comment of the Night
Still selling santa sacks.
Highlights
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Comments
Canes have to be kicking themselves
Long term Legace is not the answer backup wise, and catching the last few games of Leightlon he’s looked much better then his play in Carolina.
"So basically, the Stats make no sense whatsoever."
I would actually disagree. In Carolina, Legace has been far superior to Leighton this year. Throughout their careers, Legace has far better numbers. Plus, Legace was a starter just two years ago.
Leighton’s numbers with the Flyers will come down. There’s no way he maintains a .933 save percentage and a 2.15 gaa. He’s only played 4 games, started 3, and the team is giving up 2.82 goals per game. Most of this has to do with the Flyers playing three really bad teams when Leighton started.
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Dec 27, 2009 10:01 PM EST up reply actions
Incredibly impressed with the 60 minute effort. Even dating back to last year, this is one of the few 60 minute efforts I’ve seen the Flyers put in. Incredible pressure, solid defense, significant TOI being registered by all skaters and Coburn didn’t shoot his eye out so to speak. Maybe I have a short memory, but is anyone else starting to get excited about this team? That maybe, we’re starting to see that if this team puts 60 strong minutes in, that it will result in a W?
TAKE THE FALL, ACT HURT, GET INDIGNANT
by CoburnsCuddleBuddy on Dec 27, 2009 9:41 PM EST reply actions
Leighton gone as soon as Emery is back
Boosh should play Wednesday. He’ll have to if he wants to play in the Classic. Boosh is probably the most excited about that game cause he is an RI native. He also needs to play well against the Rags cause Leighton has been pretty serviceable for us. If Boosh falters on Wednesday, look for the Flyers to give Leighton the nod.
Also, 3 wins in a row may have quashed any trade proposals Homer has gotten. It’s a shame because Coburn looks lost our there right now. I’d love to see him get moved so Parent can get promoted up to playing with Timonen.
I was there and had good seats — fourth row, one section over from directly behind the Flyers’ net (right where Coatesy was — I could hear most of what he was saying). I was waiting for Syvret to make a terrible play or do something stupid, but I can’t remember any individual shift being really bad — I would consider that a success.
The goal that was taken away from Briere was absolutely ridiculous. There’s no way in hell that was a distinct kicking motion, or anything of the sort (Coatesy was pacing around the tunnel smiling and shaking his head after the call was made). I was convinced that was going to come back to bite us, especially since they got a powerplay right afterwards, but Leighton made the saves he had to make (the goal against was a pretty unlucky bounce and Leighton can’t stop anything top-shelf). I thought Richards had another awesome game, Giroux had a good game as per usual, and I agree that Coburn looked lost a lot of the time.
Finally, Coatesy looked pretty grumpy. He was rolling his eyes a lot right before he said something. Maybe they don’t serve his preferred drink at the Coliseum? :) Also, a couple times during commercial breaks he pulled out his Blackberry Storm and glanced at a website that looked suspiciously like Twitter… so maybe one of those accounts actually is his…
Good.
Hey, we won a third game in a row.
I didn’t see one minute of it because I wasn’t home.
Yes, these are weak teams, but at least we’re beating them. The next three games on this trip should provide a bit more of a challenge.
Fortunately we’re playing the Rangers on the road… we tend to win more games in their building, and they tend to win more in ours. So that helps, I guess.
Carter seems to have gotten his mojo back ever since:
1. He and Hartnell cleared the air about those rumors.
2. Paul Holmgren said that he would not be traded.
Coincidence? I think not.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
Your point is taken, but: a) it’s a lot better than the 2.00 goals per game they were averaging for about 15 games; and b) 3.00 goals per game would rank them 6th in the leauge
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Dec 28, 2009 4:13 PM EST up reply actions
Let’s just put it this way.
Two of the three teams they beat considered their game against the Flyers to be a big defensive improvement.
Islanders GA/G: 3.125. Flyers GA the Islanders: 2.
Carolina GA/G: 3.667 Flyers GA the Canes: 3.
it must suck to always see the negative in things
The Phillies won a World Series against a team that didn’t deserve to be there…right?
TAKE THE FALL, ACT HURT, GET INDIGNANT
by CoburnsCuddleBuddy on Dec 29, 2009 1:32 AM EST up reply actions
My point is that Boosh is starting (of should be) on Wednesday. They don’t score for him. Since Leighton has come in they are scoring for him. Boosh had to pitch a shutout to have any chance of winning most of his games
by SkookFlyerfan on Dec 29, 2009 7:59 AM EST up reply actions
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