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Making a Case For All Four

March 16, 2011

Photo Credit: AP Photo Like any other coach in the NHL, Peter Laviolette has been juggling the starting lineup season long as is of course expected. At various times in the season different players have been healthy scratches. Having options and depth is obviously a great thing. Because of that depth, we are seeing four guys battling for a spot in the lineup. But at the the same time, nothing is ever set in stone as we saw in the playoffs last year with Carcillo and van Riemsdyk. Different playoff series may call for a different type of player. The four guys that have found themselves in and out of the lineup this season are Daniel Carcillo, Jody Shelley, Nikolay Zherdev, and Andre...

Flyers Rebound, Down Panthers

March 16, 2011

Mark Trible

1 Comment

After a more than troublesome overtime loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night, the Philadelphia Flyers sorely needed to get back in the win column. In the first of a three-game road trip, the team faced off against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. In the Panthers, the team found a scrappy young lineup would give them all they could handle. Although the Flyers were once again bitten by a less than impressive period, they regained their composure and skated away with a 3-2 victory. It seemed that the Flyers had found their stride early in the first period of Tuesday night’s game. Mike Richards took a Ville Leino pass and held on to the puck for a few seconds until...

Game Day: Flyers / Panthers

March 15, 2011

Larry DAngelo

0 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers (42-19-7), coming off their biggest let down of the season, will head into Grapefruit league territory to take on the Florida Panthers at 7:30 pm EST. After blowing a three goal lead in the third period on Saturday night to the Thrashers , the Flyers will take on a team that has always given them fits. The Panthers are out of the playoff race but still continue to play hard, picking up points in four of their last five with their two most recent being wins. Matchup This will be the fourth and final meeting between these two teams this season. The Flyers are 2-1 versus the Panthers in their three previous matchups. The Flyers won their most recent mat...

The Flyers Power Play study

March 14, 2011

Matthew Brigidi

4 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers power play has been performing poorly as of late. In the 10 games prior to the week of March 8th, the Flyers had only converted successfully on 3 of 35 power play opportunities. For a team with 7 players with 40+ points and 9 players with 15+ goals, a power play that weak is mind-boggling. In my article last week, I provided a comprehensive study of the Flyers shot selection against the New York Rangers , which diagramed the spots on the ice in which the Flyers attempted even strength and power play shots. For this week’s article I decided to narrow my shot study and focus only on the Flyers’ power play. The Flyers power play made a drastic leap in the ...

Flyers: In Case You Missed It (Week Ending 3/13)

March 13, 2011

Kim Pollock

1 Comment

Welcome to the first edition of Flyers: In Case You Missed It. In this column, we’ll briefly recap the Flyers games from the past week, as well as report on any current team news. Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac, Getty Images North America Tuesday, March 8th – Flyers 4, Oilers 1 The Flyers got the win on Tuesday against Edmonton, but it wasn’t pretty. Again, they lost steam partway through the game and struggled with turnovers. Jeff Carter scored two goals for the Flyers, while Blair Betts and Danny Briere also scored. After losing four in a row, the Flyers needed this win; however, it was clear that there were still problems. Defenseman Chris Pronger said after the game that there ...

Flyers Collapse and Blow Lead... Again

March 13, 2011

Alicia Sprenkle

2 Comments

> Photo Credit: AP Photo Saturday night is a night that Flyers fans everywhere would love to forget. In a game where the Flyers had a comfortable 3-0 lead going into the third period you would not expect a loss, especially on home ice. But the Flyers did just that. They had every reason in the world to win tonight's hockey game and finally get a convincing win after their short losing streak that was ended this week, but instead they left themselves and fans shaking their heads. The Atlanta Thrashers are one of the teams in the east fighting for a playoff spot. You know they are going to play hard every single game down the stretch. They have no choice. The Flyers, on the other hand,...

Game Day: Flyers Look To Thrash Atlanta

March 12, 2011

Larry DAngelo

0 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers (42-19-6) who have recently broke out of a four game slump are currently on a two game winning streak and will host the Atlanta Thrashers (28-28-12) tonight at 7:00 PM EST. The Thrashers are coming off two overtime games, a win against the Hurricanes and most recently a loss to the Devils. Matchup In their previous matchup this season the Flyers beat the thrashers in Atlanta by the score of 5-2. Jody Shelley had a nice goal as he stopped a shot at the Flyers blueline and carried it the whole way up the ice and fired a shot off the far cross-bar elbow and in the net. Check out the video below in the Highlight Reel section of the blog. These two teams w...

Flyers Improve, Beat Leafs

March 10, 2011

Mark Trible

0 Comments

After a four game losing streak, the Philadelphia Flyers may be back on track. Thursday night in Toronto, the team played against a Maple Leafs team that is starving to make the playoffs. Recently, the Flyers have found it difficult to match the intensity of such teams, including the Leafs. A week prior to Thursday’s matchup, the Flyers blew a pair of one-goal leads in a 3-2 loss to Toronto. This time, they put together two strong periods of hockey and hung on for a win by an identical score and in the process, hitting the 90-point mark for the season. If the Flyers needed help getting jumpstarted on Thursday, Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek supplied the power. On a dangero...

Game Day:Flyers / Leafs

March 10, 2011

Larry DAngelo

1 Comment

The Philadelphia Flyers (41-19-6) will head to Toronto tonight to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (29-28.10) at the Air Canada Centre at 7:00 pm. The Flyers snapped their four game losing streak on Tuesday with a 4-1 versus the speedy Edmonton Oilers. Although it was a much needed win, as a team the Flyers were far from happy with their effort. They played a great first period scoring two goals off of seventeen shots and started to look like they have found their game. Not so, they would play a horrible second period and only managed a total of ten shots in the second and third periods combined. The Leafs are coming off a 4-3 OT loss in NY to the Islanders on Tuesday night and ...

Flyers End Streak, But Continue Third Period Woes

March 9, 2011

Alicia Sprenkle

3 Comments

Photo Credit: AP Photo The Philadelphia Flyers ended their four game losing streak Tuesday night on home ice against the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-1 victory. It was nice to see the Flyers get back to their winning ways, but tonight's victory wasn't exactly one to be particularly proud of. It was obvious that tonight's game was expected to be an important one for the Flyers. After the disaster that occurred on Sunday afternoon, everyone was looking to see how the team would respond. Peter Laviolette gave the guys a complete day off. He just wanted them to get away from the rink and away from each other for the day. The idea sounded like a perfect one. The first period was one of th...