|
Flyers gameday wrapup: 2/14/08 vs. Lightning |
|
|
|
|
|
The Flyers have quickly undone a lot of the good things they accomplished in January, and are now just as close to fighting for their playoff lives as they are for battling for the second seed in the conference.
Coming into tonight, the Flyers were 11-1-1 when leading after one period, but a horrid second period forced them to chase the game the rest of the night. Over the course of the game several horrendous giveaways -- including ones by Jim Vandermeer and Lasse Kukkonen that ended up in the net-- proved fatal.
Coach John Stevens, who was as openly angry at his team as I've ever seen him, said it best" There's a difference between working hard and competing. Working is not competing. We can all go work hard, I can go outside and run and ride the bike and I can get a workout in. Working is one thing, competing is a whole other level. Competing is working with a will and determination that you’re not going to be denied."
Added Scott Hartnell, "I could go on and on about the things we didn't do right tonight. We didn't take care of the puck, we didn't keep our feet moving, we didn't draw penalties - we only had one powerplay and that [delay of game] was kind of questionable. We aren't doing the things we did when we were winning."
Notes:
* Steve Downie had everyone, including Bolts' goalie Johan Holmqvist, thinking pass on his rush leaving the penalty box that led to the goal that put the Flyers up, 2-1. Holmqvist had the five hole open and was starting to cheat with his feet to move toward the other post.
* Apart from the awful giveaway in the third period (a blind pass behind the net) that led directly to Jason Ward's goal, I thought Kukkonen had been playing a very solid game. But one killer mistake like that is what stands out. Before then, I thought he and Randy Jones were the Flyers' best pairing tonight. Thereafter, John Stevens flipped pairings, putting Jones with Kimmo Timonen and Kukkonen with Vandermeer. Kukkonen looked to go the offense much more frequently tonight than his norm.
* Ryan Parent looked understandly nervous and had several giveways, but seemed to settle in a bit as the game went on.
* The Flyers hit the goal post several times tonight, including one by Kimmo Timonen that looked like a sure goal off the stick.
* Daniel Briere was all but invisible on about 16 of the 19 shifts he skated tonight.
* Vaclav Prospal, Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis have always been Flyer-killers (see game preview) and once again tormented the Flyers with goals.
* Two people from Modo Hockey in Sweden -- radio play-by-play announcer/Modo TV host Martin Sedin and Patrik Bengtsson-- were in the pressbox in Philadelphia tonight as the first of several stops in NHL cities. For me, that was by far the highlight of the night, as Martin and I are old friends and I sat next to Patrik at a Modo-Färjestad game I attended in Sweden last December.
****
The struggling Flyers (30-21-2-3, 65 points) will look to end their four-game losing streak when they take on a Tampa Bay club (24-27-5-1, 54 points) that perpetually gives them problems.
Although the Flyers won the most recent game against the Bolts, they are 2-10-1-1 in the last 14 tilts. Ex-Flyer Vaclav Prospal, who scored two key goals in the Bolts' last game, has repeatedly punished Philly when he's played against them, scoring 11 goals and 24 points for his career. Of course, Vincent LeCavalier (10 goals, 33 points in 34 games), Martin St. Louis (10 goals, 28 points in 23 games) and defenseman Dan Boyle (6 goals, 20 points in 25 games) have also done plenty of damage.
Top defensive prospect Ryan Parent will be in the lineup tonight for the Flyers. Although captain Jason Smith is the Flyers' defenseman who has been struggling the most of late, I assume Lasse Kukkonen is back on the scratch sheet. Kukkonen looked very rusty in his two games back after being scratched for over a month, and also hobbled off the ice after blocking a rocket of a slapshot during a 5-on-3 penalty kill in the third period of the Flyers-Islanders game.
It's also possible that the Flyers could ease Parent into the lineup and help Kukkonen continue to recover his game conditioning by going with seven defensemen, but John Stevens has only used that approach once this season.
Probable lines and scratches:
Umberger - Briere - Lupul
Hartnell - Richards - Downie
Greentree - Carter - Knuble
Cote - Dowd - Kapanen
Timonen - Vandermeer
Hatcher - Jones
Smith - Parent
Biron
[Niittymäki]
Scratches
Kukkonen (healthy(?))
Gagne (concussion)
Coburn (ruptered artery)
Upshall (ankle)
Fitzpatrick (IR, sports hernia)
Rathje (LTI)
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»