While people are still wringing their hands over last night's near disaster in the final minute of the Flyers' 3-2 win over Atlanta, the team also deserves some credit for righting the ship early in the game after giving up a goal in the first minute of play.
That got me to thinking about the Flyers remaining games in the Atlantic Division. While it's a truism througout hockey that the team scoring the first goal of the game usually wins, that has often
not been the case of late when the Flyers play either the Rangers or the Devils.
This season alone, the Flyers have played three games against the Rangers where the club that scored first ultimately lost the game. Most recently, the Flyers held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period at Madison Square Garden only to have to battle back to force what ultimately became a shootout loss.
Back on January 10, in the Flyers' only win of the season series against the Rangers, they fell behind the Rangers by a 2-0 early in the game but went on to win handily. In a November shootout loss to the Rangers in Philly, the Flyers grabbed an early 1-0 lead.
The Flyers have also been shut out three times by the Rangers this season. I assume Steve Valiquette will get the start on Friday for the Rangers. Valiquette authored the two most recent shutouts and only allowed one goal in relief of Henrik Lundqvist in the most recent game.
Meanwhile, the Flyers have scored first in three of the six games played against the Devils this season but only have one win to show for it. That has been a pattern for years, going back to the mid-1990s when Jacques Lemaire's Devils delighted in frustrating the Flyers no matter which club scored first.
I've gone back and looked at every season since the Devils beat the Flyers in the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals. Overall, it's not a pretty story for Flyers' fans.
Let's work backwards from last season:
2006-07. The Flyers won twice against the Devils last season, lost four times in regulation, once in overtime and twice in a shootout. In the eight games, the Flyers blew leads in five of the losses, including four games where the Flyers scored first. Three times the Flyers held leads in the final two-plus minutes of regulation, including two games in which the Flyers gave up a tying goal in the final minute of play.
In one of the victories (a 5-4 overtime win), the Flyers and Devils engaged in a seesaw affair, with Philly trailing 1-0 in the first, leading 4-3 after the second and getting scored in midway through the third period to force overtime.
2005-06. The Flyers won three times, lost four times in regulation and lost once in a shootout. Philly scored first in only three of the eight games. There were no lead changes in any of the eight games.
2003-04. The Flyers won three games, lost two in regulation and tied one. The Flyers blew a 2-0 lead in the second period in one of the losses. But they also came back from a 2-0 deficit midway through the game in the tilt that ended in a tie.
2002-03. The Flyers won one game, lost two in regulation, tied one and lost one in overtimie. Almost every game was a low-scoring duel between Roman Cechmanek and Martin Brodeur, with the exception of a 5-1 blowout loss. The overtime loss was a 1-0 final and the Flyers also lost 1-0 in regulation (Jamie Langenbrunner scored midway through the third period). The Flyers scored first and held the lead throughout in their lone win (4-2).
2001-02. The Flyers won three times, lost once in regulation and tied one game. In all three wins (3-1, 3-2 and 1-0), the Flyers scored first and never gave back more than a one goal lead. In the tie (3-3), the Flyers trailed 1-0 after the first period, briefly grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second and led 3-2 after the middle stanza. The Devils scored a shorthanded goal late in regulation to tie the game.
2000-01. The Flyers won one game, lost twice in regulation and tied two games against the Devils. Philly scored first in two of the games, losing both (including a game that was tied 2-2 in the final minute before John Madden scored the game-winner). On the flip side, Paul Ranheim scored at 18:34 of the third period in a 1-1 tie. The Flyers won a 6-3 decision in which they trailed early, built a 3-1 lead, blew it, and came on strong in the third period.
1999-2000. The Flyers won one game and lost four in regulation. The team that scored first won every game. However, three of the games were see-saw affairs and the Flyers trailed 3-2 in the third period of their lone win (after leading 2-1 through 40 minutes).
1998-99. The Flyers won once, lost one in regulation, lost a pair in overtime and tied one game with the Devils. The lone victory ended as a 6-1 blowout but was tied 1-1 after the second period (Philly scored first). The Flyers scored first in two other games, losing 3-2 and tying 5-5 in a game the Flyers led 2-0 and later trailed 5-3 midway through the third period. In one of the overtime losses (5-4), the Flyers blew a 4-1 lead but didn't score first. The other OT loss (3-2) saw the Flyer rally back from a 2-0 deficit.
1997-98: The Flyers went winless in the season series, losing four times in regulation and tying once. The Flyers only scored first in one game (a 4-1 loss) but came back from a pair of deficits in the tie game, including Alexandre Daigle's game-tying goal at 14:56 of the third period.
1996-97: The Flyers won three times and lost twice in regulation. The Flyers only scored first in one game, in which they led 1-0 after the first period but gave up three goals in the middle period to lose, 3-1. But they blew a pair of leads in a 4-2 loss.
In one of the most memorable regular-season game of that era, the Flyers trailed the Devils (by a 4-1 score after the second period, but scored four unanswered goals in the final period to win, 5-4. It should be noted, however, that Martin Brodeur wasn't in goal for the Devils. Mike Dunham was the victim.
1995-96: The Flyers won two, lost two in regulation and lost another pair in overtime. Philly scored first in four of the six games, winning two and losing two in OT. The Flyers blew multiple-goal leads in both of the overtime losses, including one game in which they held the Devils to two shots in the third period but gave up a goal in the final minute of regulation.
***
Tim Panaccio had a very good
article today in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Jaroslav Modry having to cope with his father's terminal cancer while continuing to play hockey.
Modry's situation is expecially heart-wrenching because he plays in North America but his father is in his hometown of Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The player, who has briefly flown home several times to be at his dad's side, never knows if he has seen his father for the last time.
I remember when Mike Ricci went through the same thing during the 1991-92 season when his father, Mario, was dying.
It's easy to forget sometimes that players are human beings. Money and fame don't insulate you from the same sorts of pain we all have to deal with.
Tim's piece also pretty much confirms the Edmonton Journal item on Jason Smith from the other day. The article stated the New Jersey Devils were likely to sign Flyers' captain Jason Smith when "Gator" becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
****
The Flyers have
signed Michigan Tech goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak to a free agent contract.
The 22-year-old Teslak has spent the last three seasons at Michigan Tech. He's been the Huskies' starter for the last two seasons and has put strong seasons together both years.
Given the lack of goaltending depth in the Flyers' farm system, the signing of Teslak makes sense. There is not currently a single projectable NHL prospect at the pro level, so it couldn't hurt to give the 6-foot-2 keeper a shot at winning the Phantoms' job. From there, we'd have to see.
The organization has also
signed a pair of college players selected in the NHL Entry Draft: University of Maine's Rob Bellamy (third round pick in 2004) and Western Michigan University's Matt Clackson (seventh round pick in 2005) to entry-level contracts. Their contracts kick in on July 1.
Teslak is already with the Phantoms, as is Bellamy. The latter is on an ATO for the remainder
of the 2007-08 season.
Both Bellamy and Clackson are physical players with good wheels but have trouble finishing.
Bellamy have five goals, 18 points and 61 penalty minutes in 33 games this season, while Clackson tallied three goals, six points and 87 penalty minutes in 35 games.
Finally, the Phantoms have
signed Ohio State defenseman Jason DeSantis to an ATO for the remainder of the 2007-08 season and an AHL contract for the 2008-09 season. The 5-11, 185-pound DeSantis tallied 16 goals and 49 assists for 81 points in 144 games during his four-season collegiate career.
Phantoms defenseman Nate Guenin and Flyers winger R.J. Umberger are both Ohio State alumni. Guenin and DeSantis played together for two seasons.
***
I meant to mention this the other week. Italian hockey legend Lucio Topatigh has retired at age 43 after a 25-season career that included four Olympics for Team Italy.
Back in the mid 1990s, there was interest in Topatigh among high level minor league clubs in North America (particularly the Chicago Wolves) but he elected to honor a contract with his Italian team. By the time he was free to sign with a North American club, he was 30 years old and teams here were no longer interested.
In his prime, Topatigh was a prolific scorer -- way too talented for the Italian league, where he sometimes averaged two to three points per game -- and had a real nasty streak. He probably would not have been more than a marginal NHL player, but would have had a shot to at least crack the league if he'd come over at about age 23 or 24.
Most famously, Topatigh refused to come out of a championship finals game in which he suffered torn ligaments in his knee, and then went on to score a critical goal.
On NHL.com today, you can read a
retrospective I wrote on the career of "The Hawk of Gallio."
If he'd been a soccer player, Topatigh would be remembered as one of Italy's top team-sport athletes of the last quarter century.
***
At the Ivan Hlinka Tournament late last summer, a few NHL scouts were grumbling about Nikita Filatov's performance. No one is naysaying now.
The youngster has had a terrific season on CSKA Moscow's top farm team and earned a promotion to the RSL level. Even more important, he played very well at the WJC and was dominant at the Five Nations back in February.
The concensus is that Filatov is a more complete player and a harder worker than Alexei Cherepanov. The "Siberian Express" dropped like a stone in the first round of the 2007 NHL Draft despite setting the RSL rookie goal scoring record and earning tournament All-Star honors at both the Under-20 and Under-18 WJCs.
Based on overall play, that's unlikely to happen with Filatov, who is now considered at minimum a top-five worthy pick. But there could be a major question about signability.
As you know, Russia has refused to participate in the last two NHL-IIHF transfer agreements. The NHL currently has no transfer agreement for next season with any European country, but that'll be the subject of another blog.
CSKA Moscow has allegedly locked Filatov up in a four year contract, one in which he stands to make a good deal more money than he'd make under even the maximum NHL entry level deal.
From what I've heard, the Russians are willing to go to great financial lengths to lure their top young players -- and Filatov is a world-class prospect -- to stay home as long as possible rather than opt for the NHL as teenagers.
That's more rumor than fact at this point. But with billions of Russian dollars backing the new Euro-Asian league slated to replace the Russian Super League, signability of young players the caliber of Filatov could become even more of an issue in the next few years.
It'll be veryl interesting to see what happens. Whichever NHL clubs drafts Filatov could face a rough time getting him over here, at least in the short term.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»