There were a lot of questions prior to today's game vs. the New York Rangers on Peter Laviolette's decision to start Sergei Bobrovsky for the second straight day. When it came down to it, Bob didn't disappoint, making 30 stops and keeping the Flyers in the hockey game.

Unfortunately, the team in front of him didn't give him much help. The Rangers completely stifled the Flyers attack for the entire 60 minutes, and the Flyers didn't have any sustained pressure for... well, basically the entire hockey game. There were a few shifts here and there where the Flyers were able to make something happen, but for the most part, there was nothing going on in the offensive end.

Most of the credit really has to go to the Rangers. They were in the faces of the Flyers all afternoon long, and they didn't give up any space or give the Flyers any room to work. They blocked 21 shots, and the number of strong scoring opportunities by the Flyers were really, really limited.

Even when they did set up in the offensive zone, everything was out at the perimeter. Not too much cycling, not too many shots from in tight. Just a lot of passing back and forth up top. They just couldn't seem to generate any pressure inside the faceoff dots, and that made things very easy on Henrik Lundqvist and his defense.

That's how you get shut out, 3-0.

On the bright side, there was plenty for the HBO cameras to see today. Mad Peter Laviolette, several fights, a lot of first period chirping between Max Talbot, Sean Avery, Wayne Simmonds and I'm sure plenty of others. Also, Brandon Dubinsky is still a weasel.

One more thing: Andreas Nodl left the game, potentially related to a collision with Danny Briere. He's listed with an upper-body injury. We'll have more on that and what it means in a bit.

Questions with Answers

1. First day HBO is filming. What stuff happens in the game that we should really look forward to seeing from behind the scenes? The fights. The chirping. The Mad Lavi.
2. Sergei Bobrovsky starts for the second straight day, as Lavi rides the hot hand. How's he perform? Bob was fantastic, and the only reason this game wasn't a blowout.
3. Kevin Marshall is back with the Flyers. How's he look today? I thought Marshall was fine. Defensively the Flyers were really pretty solid, although a lot of that did have to do with Bob. But on the Rangers second goal, which was a backbreaker for the Flyers, Marshall seemed to be the only defensive player that was actually in position.
4. The penalty kill was fantastic yesterday. Can that carry over, or was it just the result of a crappy Montreal PP? The
5. Sean Couturier was all over the place yesterday and had what I thought was one of his best games thus far. Is he rewarded for that at all? Nope. Still stuck with Jody Shelley. He did get some PP time today, though, so I guess that counts a bit. But that was limited since the Flyers didn't have much time on the PP.
6. Brandon Dubinsky definitely knows that Jody Shelley called him a weasel on HBO last night, so clearly, that spills over on the ice. Right?!? You know, if Rinaldo and Simmonds are going to fight and give their team a spark, I'm not really sure what the hell Jody Shelley is doing with a spot on the team.

Comment of the Day

Well Bryz is 2nd in the Toyota Cup Standings, so there's that....

>> jbernat17