Flyers Get Dirty, Overcome Ott In 3-2 Win Over Stars
by Geoff Detweiler on Mar 18, 2010 11:34 PM EDT
in 09-10 Game Recaps
45 comments
Welcome back Brian Boucher! In his first start since December 21, 2009, Boucher came back strong, with plenty of great saves in this one. He officially stopped 27 of 29, but there were more than a few great saves in there. He was a little rusty, but that was expected. All in all, a great game by Boucher. Which makes us all wonder, why was this guy unable to get a single start in 3 months?
The Flyers won in Dallas for the first time since 1996, and it came as a result of two pretty ugly goals. First, Simon Gagne plugged away in front, eventually poking one past Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen. Mike Richards tied the game up later on a nice breakaway, only to be followed up with Scott Hartnell having a puck go in off his pants. That would prove to be the game winner.
Kimmo Timonen was unable to score a goal on his birthday, but he did lay a pretty wicked hit on Steve Ott in the third. That alone is well worth checking out on the sidebar.
While it's hard to say tonight was a great 60 minute effort - there were a few too many mistakes - it's easy to say the team played well. Now it's off to Atlanta in hopes of continuing this effort.
Jump for Updated Standings, Questions with Answers, and the Comment of the Night.
With tonight's win, the Flyers move into fifth due to their game in hand.
Questions with Answers
- Obvious question: how does Boucher play tonight? FANTASTIC! Hyperbole aside, Boucher was pretty awesome.
- The Flyers dominated the Stars on home ice last time they met. Any continuation of that? Definitely not a domination, but the Flyers played well.
- Dallas is desperate. Seven points out, 12 games left. Do they appear to be packing it in or do they come out firing? Maybe it was just me, but they didn't appear to do either. They came out like a team who wanted to win, but they didn't look desperate. Basically, they looked like a bubble playoff team.
Comment of the Night:
In honor of Travis falling asleep mid-game:
One thing I miss about Leighton: Not being able to smother shots resulted in much faster games.
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Predicted two goal scorer in the next game for the Thrashers? They don’t seem to have anyone on their roster that really qualifies as a scumbag like Ott or Avery.
"NZFlyerfan"
A decade later, I’m back on the boosh train. Wooooooooooooo!!!
Anybody else remember this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j24KwUGjKpg
Jersey could easily knock Pittsburgh off the Atlantic pedestal… setting up a first round matchup with the Pens. Again.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Mar 19, 2010 8:39 AM EDT up reply actions
Unlikely, NJ has been cold and Pitt has been steady. Plus, I trust us to beat NJ over Buffalo and about the same as Ott.
"NO HONOR"
"We will steal the show, jolly Rogers go, we are wolves of the sea."
Stay the course. I would not mind starting the playoffs in Newark.
I believe what you meant to say was, “Stay the course. I would not mind starting the playoffs in Philadelphia against NJ.”
With how they are playing and how we are playing, it is completely plausable to say we can catch and pass them before the end of the year.
Excellent.
I did wake up in time to catch the last minute of the game. Then I fell asleep again.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
Oh, and I like fifth place.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
Only eight points in so I’m still nervous about the playoffs but Bosh was looking insane at one point. Boucher has always been a streaky so lets hope this is the begining of a good streak.
Bosh is pretty insane.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Mar 19, 2010 8:38 AM EDT up reply actions
I always refer to him as Hieronymus and no one knows what I’m talking about.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
meaning I saw Bosh but saw then saw the the top third of the the painting before reading your cation.. And filed in the blank so speak….You know these must of scared the shit out people back in the day…I always think of his work as the 15th century’s version of horror flims. It’s a beautiful painting.
Let loose tha Boosh! =) I like Leights, but I’m glad they gave Boosh a chance.
I can read the future, while lesser men read comic books.
Every time I go to the studio, the Flyers win. I should record an album every hockey season.
It’s a shame that I missed this one. Thank God for cell-phone-based intArt00bZ.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
I was at the Panthers game last night, so I missed it too, gonna watch it on DVR tonight, but I’m glad that Boosh looked good. That’s an encouraging sign.
Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com
by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 19, 2010 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions
You guys who want the Devils are nuts. They finally got Paul Martin back on Wednesday and once he gets into game shape, if they stay healthy, they’re better than washington and pittsburgh.
I agree, I don’t want the Devils either. Their team is finally healthy again, and if they can get Kovalchuk to click with his linemates, they’ll be dangerous for sure. Oh, and you have the fact that Brodeur can post up a shutout and steal a game almost any game.
If I had to pick between the Devils and Pens, I’d actually rather face Pitt. They might be overconfident in playing us since they’ve owned us in the regular season and playoffs over the past few years.
Conversely, we might be overconfident in playing NJ since we’ve done so well against them this year.
But I agree with Jason below; I’d rather face Ottawa (or even Buffalo) than either of those two.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
I think you’re being a bit dramatic. Certainly they are good and comparable, but better? I don’t quite see it that way. That said, I don’t want any part of Jersey. I’d rather see Ottawa or Buffalo.
Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com
by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 19, 2010 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions
See I agree that the Devils can potentially be better than the Caps and Pens. The Caps are good obviously but their standing has a lot more to do with how much of joke their division is rather than exactly how good they are. But regardless of all of that the Devils have something the Caps and Pens don’t. Marty.
Jersey is the best (defense+goaltender) combination in the conference.
And they have more than enough offense with Parise, Kovalchuk, and Elias.
The best teams to win their first round (when officiating is always much tighter), ignoring their projected seeding:
New Jersey
Montreal
Pittsburgh
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Washington
Boston
Ottawa
I really wish I had time to get into this discussion with you as your rankings are way off. By your estimation, we’ll see Montreal vs. NJ in the conference finals, which is actually entirely plausible, but highly unlikely.
Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com
by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 19, 2010 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions
No, because I didn’t incorporate seedings. It was just a random ranking of the teams. Montreal and Jersey are likely to be the 1st round matchup.
But Washington’s first round is a repeat of their first round last year. They’re praying the Rangers bump out Boston, but either way its gonna be a long series because its strength v strength (caps O v 8th seed D) and weakness v weakness (Cap D v 8th seed O). Caps should’ve lost round 1 last season if not for the Rangers melting down (weren’t Torts and Avery both suspended at different times in the series?).
I see what you are saying, but I don’t think Montreal is really that good, despite their current strong run of games.
Washington is going to sweep aside the 8th place team regardless if it is Boston or the Rangers. I know everyone is trying to say that Washington is feasting on the SE division etc. etc., but Theodore has been playing well and their offense is deadly. Plus, there is no way that they are worse than us.
The only thing we both agree on is that Ottawa is the worst team currently in contention and perhaps that Buffalo is a middle of the pack team.
Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com
by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 19, 2010 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions
As I mentioned earlier, its assuming that the teams are all healthy as currently expected to be. That means Montreal gets back Camallieri. They’re solid defensively and that offensive boost I think is enough.
Jersey and Montreal are the two most balanced teams in the conference if they both get as healthy as expected, that’s why I have them as the top 2. Now, they may get paired with a bad matchup and lose first round.
Pittsburgh has enough offense and enough goaltending to erase their weak team defense. Buffalo has good defense, great goaltending, okay scoring which is a worse combination.
The Flyers have good offense, great team defense, mediocre goaltending. They’re rolling the dice that Boucher overperforms in a few crucial games.
Washington has great scoring, but shitty defense and mediocre goaltending.
Boston/Rangers can’t score but have either great defense and good goaltending (boston) or good defense and great goaltending (NYR).
Ottawa is just a balanced team that’s gotten lucky. Their Pythagorean Wins project to 37.5 on the entire season, they already have 37 wins and 5 ties.
Montreal – doesn’t have the size to win a gritty 7 game series, which is what they’ll definitely be facing, kinda like a couple years back vs. Boston when they were the first seed
Jersey has a name goalie, that was great, but has recently shown signs of his age, I expect the Olympic showing is going to replicate his playoff showing, regardless of how good the team is in front of him.
Pittsburgh’s depth and experience is enough to make them the favorites again and a potential easy first round draw is definitely going to help their cause.
Buffalo, I concur.
Flyers are likely going to be outdone again by goaltending, so in essence nothing has changed from the last 10 seasons.
Washington is like Pittsburgh and their goaltending is not nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be, which is why I see them as the second team in the conference.
Rangers/Boston/Ottawa will be fortunate to last more than 4 games of a 7 game series.
Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com
by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 19, 2010 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I think Montreal/Jersey are both good at all three aspects, which no other team can boast.
Washington’s goaltending is mediocre, but its exasperated by their awful team defense. They are 7th in the conference in GA. And thats why a team like the Rangers could beat them this year. Strength v Strength, the Rangers defense can shutdown the Caps offense in 4 of 7 games.
I agree that Montreal is good in all 3 aspects, but they don’t have what it takes to last a 7 game series that is going to punish them.
NJ is good, but Brodeur is morphing into mediocre.
Washington is going to tighten up for the playoffs, I don’t see them having a test until round 2 at the earliest.
Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com
by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 19, 2010 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions
We will probably have to go through three of the following four to get to the playoff series we want to be in: Washington, Pitt, Devils, Ryan Miller. I don’t particularly fear any of them—mostly because I put our chance at no better or no worse than 50/50 against any of them—but we’ve scored on Brodeur this year, and their forwards are the second-least dangerous of the group. I don’t think Marty will steal the series (a rather large conditional, I guess, but I’d say he’s less likely to be THE difference than MAF or MIller, at this point), and given the condition of our skaters v. theirs, I think NJ is a team we can simply outscore.
I definitely don’t want to face NJ in the playoffs. Regular season Devils are nothing compared to Playoff Devils. Don’t let the Flyers regular season victories against them fool you… This Devils team is a lot different. Paul Martin, David Clarkson, Patrik Elias, Danius Zubrus – these guys were all injured for extended periods of time during the regular season. Add a healthy Kovalchuk to this mix and you get a very deep and dangerous team built to win those tight-checking 3-2 or 2-1 playoff games. I would much rather see Pitt or Washington first.
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
|
82 | 48 | 27 | 7 | 103 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
82 | 47 | 28 | 7 | 101 |
|
Philadelphia
|
82 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 88 |
|
New York Rangers
|
82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 87 |
|
New York Islanders
|
82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 |
(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)
Flyers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
@
Pittsburgh
|
Thu 10/07 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
St. Louis
|
Sat 10/09 | 8:00 PM EDT |
|
Colorado
|
Mon 10/11 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
Tampa Bay
|
Thu 10/14 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
Pittsburgh
|
Sat 10/16 | 7:00 PM EDT |
Last 5 Games
|
Chicago
|
Wed 06/09 | OT - L 3 - 4 |
|
@
Chicago
|
Sun 06/06 | L 4 - 7 |
|
Chicago
|
Fri 06/04 | W 5 - 3 |
|
Chicago
|
Wed 06/02 | OT - W 4 - 3 |
|
@
Chicago
|
Mon 05/31 | L 1 - 2 |
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