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Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • NHL.com •
Flyers coach John Stevens hit the nail on the head when he said the team failed to show
"real urgency and a willingness to compete” that their opponent displayed in shutting Philly out 4-0 tonight.
Give the Rangers credit from coming in ready to work and hungry for two badly needed points. They pretty much followed the Devils' blueprint for beating the Flyers: The Rangers consistently made the Flyers work to get up the ice, exploited the weaker puckhandlers and decision-makers and forced all sorts of turnovers. The Flyers got charged with a staggering 28 giveaways tonight-- and there were at least another half dozen borderline ones that weren't charged.
There aren't too many positives you can take away from tonight.
The goaltending from Antero Niittymäki was subpar He looked bad on the first goal he let up, and failed to hold the game close to give his team a chance to right its ship. But he got little to no help from his defense corps and forwards.
How ugly was this performance? Randy Jones had six giveways (and one that wasn't charged) and wasn't even the Flyers' defenseman who had the worst night. That would be Jim Vandermeer, who made a slew of poor decisions, took a costly bad penalty and could easily have been worse than a minus-three on the night. Kimmo Timonen had a bad night. Derian Hatcher had a bad night, too.
Up front, the Flyers best line was the fourth line of Riley Cote, Jim Dowd and Sami Kapanen. Scott Hartnell had a hard-working performance, but the performance of the Richards line was sporadic. Simon Gagne and Daniel Briere looked completely out of synch with one another, and Jeff Carter was invisible.
The Flyers were poor on faceoffs, so-so on the penalty kill and the powerplay had its worst night in a long time. They generated a pathetic two shots on goal in the second period.
In short, folks, this was a team loss in every sense of the word. The good news: The Flyers can't dwell on it for too long, since they face the Stanley Cup champion Ducks on Saturday.
***
In their fifth game of a six-game home stretch, the Atlantic Division leading Flyers (28-16-2-3, 61 points) will take on division archrival New York Rangers (24-22-2-4, 54 points) at the Wachovia Center tonight.
This is the fourth of eight meetings between the teams this season. The Rangers won 2-0 at Madison Square Garden on November 5 and won 4-3 in a shootout at Wachovia Center on November 15 . The Flyers took the rubber match at MSG on Jan. 10 by a 6-2 margin.
The Flyers are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games, with at least one point recorded in 14 of the last 16 games. In the last couple games, the Mike Richards line has cooled off just a bit, but the team has been getting balanced scoring and contributions from the defense. The powerplay also continues to operate efficiently.
In their last game, the Flyers showed some rust from the four-day All-Star break, but got the necessary two points in an overtime win against the Kings. Daniel Briere, who showed some good jump in the Kings game, has a history of playing well against the Rangers (10 goals, 21 points in 21 career meetings with the Blueshirts). He has stayed the course this season with a goal and two assists in the three games so far against the Rangers.
Simon Gagne and Derian Hatcher were given the day off from practice yesterday, but both are expected in the lineup tonight. Despite being moved to the fourth line in favor of Sami Kapanen and benched in the third period and overtime of the Kings game, Steve Downie should be back with Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell tonight.
Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn has points in five straight games (2 goals, 4 assists) and is a plus-four over that stretch. However, he has generally not played his best games against the Rangers so far in his career, and will be looking to reverse that tonight. Defenseman Randy Jones has four points (1 G, 3 A) in the last five games. Just as important, he only has one giveaway and is plus-two over this stretch. Beyond the stats, he has simply looked more comfortable and effective since going back to the third pairing.
Antero Niittymäki will get the start in goal for Philly. Newsday.com is reporting that Steve Valiquette may get the nod for the Rangers tonight instead of Henrik Lundqvist.
After tonight, the clubs will meet in Philly again a week from Saturday (February 9), play at Madison Square Garden on March 2 and in Philadelphia on March 21. The season series will close out March 25 at MSG.
Probable Flyers lines
Simon Gagne - Daniel Briere - R.J. Umberger
Scott Hartnell - Mike Richards - Steve Downie
Scottie Upshall - Jeff Carter - Mike Knuble
Riley Cote - Jim Dowd - Sami Kapanen
Kimmo Timonen - Jim Vandermeer
Braydon Coburn - Derian Hatcher
Randy Jones - Jason Smith
Antero Niittymäki
[Martin Biron]
Probable scratches:
Lasse Kukkonen (healthy)
Joffrey Lupul (spinal bruising, IR)
Rory Fitzpatrick (sports hernia, IR)
Postgame commentary to follow.
**********
Peter Forsberg confirmed the report that Bob McKenzie broke yesterday: He has given agent Don Baizley the go-ahead to negotiate with interested NHL teams.
As expected, Forsberg informed Modo management of his decision yesterday, a day in advance of the Elitserien contract deadline. He likely did so in order to avoid creating a distraction before Modo's game with Brynäs later today. If he'd waited to say anything publicly, the speculation would have overshadowed a game that could mean a lot in the Elitserien standings. Modo and three other teams are tied in points coming into today.
He did not attend practice with the team earlier today.
It is not yet totally clear whether Forsberg could play both for Modo and, after the Swedish season ends, join an NHL team for the tail end of the season and the playoffs. While rather unlikely, one Swedish news outlet (Dagens Nyheter) is reporting that this option may at least be explored today.
To do so, he'd need special permission from the Swedish Ice Hockey League (the arrangement would violate currrent league transfer rules), a contract with Modo by midnight tonight Swedish time, an NHL contract in place by the trading deadline, plus the green light from the NHL league office.
In other words, there's no way it's going to happen. As many as a dozen NHL teams have reportedly touched base with Baizley but there are only a couple of teams Forsberg is seriously considering, including the Flyers. Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson told Columbus Post-Dispatch is reporting that the Forsberg camp politely told the Blue Jackets that the fit isn't right for what Forsberg is looking for.
Earlier today, Forsberg gave a short interview to Aftonbladet's Mats Wennerholm. I translated it below, although Forsberg was as tight-lipped as ever.
Aftonbladet: "Will you continue with Modo?" (Kommer du att fortsätta med Modo?)
Forsberg: "We'll have to see what happens. It's not a hundred percent clear yet." (Vi får se vad det blir. Det är inte hundra procent klart än.)
Aftonbladet: LG Hockey Games?
Forsberg: "No idea." (Ingen aning.)
Aftonbladet: "No setbacks in your training so far?" (Inga bakslag i träningen så här långt?)
Forsberg: No. (Nej.)
Aftonbladet: "You're on the right track?" (Det går åt rätt håll?)
Forsberg: "I hope so." (Jag hoppas det.)
***
"real urgency and a willingness to compete” that their opponent displayed in shutting Philly out 4-0 tonight.
Give the Rangers credit from coming in ready to work and hungry for two badly needed points. They pretty much followed the Devils' blueprint for beating the Flyers: The Rangers consistently made the Flyers work to get up the ice, exploited the weaker puckhandlers and decision-makers and forced all sorts of turnovers. The Flyers got charged with a staggering 28 giveaways tonight-- and there were at least another half dozen borderline ones that weren't charged.
There aren't too many positives you can take away from tonight.
The goaltending from Antero Niittymäki was subpar He looked bad on the first goal he let up, and failed to hold the game close to give his team a chance to right its ship. But he got little to no help from his defense corps and forwards.
How ugly was this performance? Randy Jones had six giveways (and one that wasn't charged) and wasn't even the Flyers' defenseman who had the worst night. That would be Jim Vandermeer, who made a slew of poor decisions, took a costly bad penalty and could easily have been worse than a minus-three on the night. Kimmo Timonen had a bad night. Derian Hatcher had a bad night, too.
Up front, the Flyers best line was the fourth line of Riley Cote, Jim Dowd and Sami Kapanen. Scott Hartnell had a hard-working performance, but the performance of the Richards line was sporadic. Simon Gagne and Daniel Briere looked completely out of synch with one another, and Jeff Carter was invisible.
The Flyers were poor on faceoffs, so-so on the penalty kill and the powerplay had its worst night in a long time. They generated a pathetic two shots on goal in the second period.
In short, folks, this was a team loss in every sense of the word. The good news: The Flyers can't dwell on it for too long, since they face the Stanley Cup champion Ducks on Saturday.
***
In their fifth game of a six-game home stretch, the Atlantic Division leading Flyers (28-16-2-3, 61 points) will take on division archrival New York Rangers (24-22-2-4, 54 points) at the Wachovia Center tonight.
This is the fourth of eight meetings between the teams this season. The Rangers won 2-0 at Madison Square Garden on November 5 and won 4-3 in a shootout at Wachovia Center on November 15 . The Flyers took the rubber match at MSG on Jan. 10 by a 6-2 margin.
The Flyers are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games, with at least one point recorded in 14 of the last 16 games. In the last couple games, the Mike Richards line has cooled off just a bit, but the team has been getting balanced scoring and contributions from the defense. The powerplay also continues to operate efficiently.
In their last game, the Flyers showed some rust from the four-day All-Star break, but got the necessary two points in an overtime win against the Kings. Daniel Briere, who showed some good jump in the Kings game, has a history of playing well against the Rangers (10 goals, 21 points in 21 career meetings with the Blueshirts). He has stayed the course this season with a goal and two assists in the three games so far against the Rangers.
Simon Gagne and Derian Hatcher were given the day off from practice yesterday, but both are expected in the lineup tonight. Despite being moved to the fourth line in favor of Sami Kapanen and benched in the third period and overtime of the Kings game, Steve Downie should be back with Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell tonight.
Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn has points in five straight games (2 goals, 4 assists) and is a plus-four over that stretch. However, he has generally not played his best games against the Rangers so far in his career, and will be looking to reverse that tonight. Defenseman Randy Jones has four points (1 G, 3 A) in the last five games. Just as important, he only has one giveaway and is plus-two over this stretch. Beyond the stats, he has simply looked more comfortable and effective since going back to the third pairing.
Antero Niittymäki will get the start in goal for Philly. Newsday.com is reporting that Steve Valiquette may get the nod for the Rangers tonight instead of Henrik Lundqvist.
After tonight, the clubs will meet in Philly again a week from Saturday (February 9), play at Madison Square Garden on March 2 and in Philadelphia on March 21. The season series will close out March 25 at MSG.
Probable Flyers lines
Simon Gagne - Daniel Briere - R.J. Umberger
Scott Hartnell - Mike Richards - Steve Downie
Scottie Upshall - Jeff Carter - Mike Knuble
Riley Cote - Jim Dowd - Sami Kapanen
Kimmo Timonen - Jim Vandermeer
Braydon Coburn - Derian Hatcher
Randy Jones - Jason Smith
Antero Niittymäki
[Martin Biron]
Probable scratches:
Lasse Kukkonen (healthy)
Joffrey Lupul (spinal bruising, IR)
Rory Fitzpatrick (sports hernia, IR)
Postgame commentary to follow.
**********
Peter Forsberg confirmed the report that Bob McKenzie broke yesterday: He has given agent Don Baizley the go-ahead to negotiate with interested NHL teams.
As expected, Forsberg informed Modo management of his decision yesterday, a day in advance of the Elitserien contract deadline. He likely did so in order to avoid creating a distraction before Modo's game with Brynäs later today. If he'd waited to say anything publicly, the speculation would have overshadowed a game that could mean a lot in the Elitserien standings. Modo and three other teams are tied in points coming into today.
He did not attend practice with the team earlier today.
It is not yet totally clear whether Forsberg could play both for Modo and, after the Swedish season ends, join an NHL team for the tail end of the season and the playoffs. While rather unlikely, one Swedish news outlet (Dagens Nyheter) is reporting that this option may at least be explored today.
To do so, he'd need special permission from the Swedish Ice Hockey League (the arrangement would violate currrent league transfer rules), a contract with Modo by midnight tonight Swedish time, an NHL contract in place by the trading deadline, plus the green light from the NHL league office.
In other words, there's no way it's going to happen. As many as a dozen NHL teams have reportedly touched base with Baizley but there are only a couple of teams Forsberg is seriously considering, including the Flyers. Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson told Columbus Post-Dispatch is reporting that the Forsberg camp politely told the Blue Jackets that the fit isn't right for what Forsberg is looking for.
Earlier today, Forsberg gave a short interview to Aftonbladet's Mats Wennerholm. I translated it below, although Forsberg was as tight-lipped as ever.
Aftonbladet: "Will you continue with Modo?" (Kommer du att fortsätta med Modo?)
Forsberg: "We'll have to see what happens. It's not a hundred percent clear yet." (Vi får se vad det blir. Det är inte hundra procent klart än.)
Aftonbladet: LG Hockey Games?
Forsberg: "No idea." (Ingen aning.)
Aftonbladet: "No setbacks in your training so far?" (Inga bakslag i träningen så här långt?)
Forsberg: No. (Nej.)
Aftonbladet: "You're on the right track?" (Det går åt rätt håll?)
Forsberg: "I hope so." (Jag hoppas det.)
***
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