A solid road win is defined by controlling possession of the puck, limiting chances for the opposition, being opportunistic offensively, and overall just not being too fancy in your game. When you're in a city like Calgary, which sits 3,399 feet higher in the sky than Philadelphia, these tenets become even more necessary as you try to adapt to the change in altitude.
The Flyers put together a perfect formula on Monday night as they defeated Flames 3-0. Ray Emery was fantastic, despite only needed 18 saves in the shutout. That number tells you just how good the defense was in limiting the Flames offense, which admittedly is slightly in-flux these days.
It was a pretty boring game, to be honest, although the camera positions in Calgary are closer to the ice, which makes the game seem a little faster and therefore a little more entertaining. But there's certainly nothing wrong with boring when the Flyers get the two points. Besides, there's enough drama in the Calgary organization the last few days to go around for everybody, right?
Mike Richards: two goals, including his 100th career. Hopefully this gets him out of his slump. The top line on the whole looked pretty awake tonight, as Simon Gagne had some legs and several chances himself.
Lukas Krajicek had a nice Flyers debut. He's played around 18-20 minutes per night throughout his NHL career, and despite not skating at all for three days prior to joining the Flyers on Sunday, Peter Laviolette clearly didn't feel uncomfortable playing him for 18:25 tonight. He looked very strong on his skates, he moved the puck well and he didn't seem hesitant to jump into the offensive zone.
Krajicek had the privilege of starting the game with paired with Kimmo Timonen, instead of Oskars Bartulis, who wound up playing with Braydon Coburn. Krajicek earned the right to stay with Timonen the entire game with his solid play, and because of it, he wound up with more ice time than both Coburn and Bartulis.
He was nothing spectacular but he was serviceable, which is much more than can be said for Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. If he can continue to eat up those kind of minutes, he'll give the Flyers just what they need.
After the jump, an updated look at the playoff race, questions with answers and the comment of the night.
Playoff Race - only two games affecting things tonight. Flyers win, Florida loses.
- 5th: Ottawa - 56 GP, 66 pts (didn't play)
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6th: Philadelphia - 54 GP, 59 pts (won tonight)
- 7th: NY Rangers - 56 GP, 57 pts (didn't play)
- 8th: Florida - 56 GP, 57 pts (lost tonight)
- 9th: Atlanta - 54 GP, 56 pts (didn't play)
- 10th: Montreal - 56 GP, 56 pts (didn't play)
- 11th: Boston - 53 GP, 55 pts (didn't play)
- 12th: Tampa Bay - 54 GP, 55 pts (didn't play)
- 13th: NY Islanders - 56 GP, 54 pts (didn't play)
Questions With Answers
- Braydon Coburn's hometown is Calgary. Does he celebrate the homecoming by doing something expected (scoring a hat trick in the opening five minutes) or something more expected (having three Calgary goals bank in off his skates in the opening five minutes)? Is playing on the bottom pairing what his hometown fans expected?
- This Krajicek guy -- he any good? As mentioned above, he's not too shabby thus far.
- Has Ray Emery learned to control a rebound yet? He didn't see much work, but Emery looked quite strong tonight in the limited time he did have to punch the clock and show up. Rebound control didn't seem to be an issue.
- Do the cameras catch anybody in the arena wearing an Atlanta Flames throwback jersey? No, but lots of Flyers jerseys.
- Are the Panthers and Flyers still tied at the end of the night? Nope! Flyers win, Panthers lose.
Comment of the Night
i was gonna say it’s weird seeing a #2 that can skate.
>> psudrozz, referring to such defensive stalwarts as Derien Hatcher & Eric Weinrich