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Meltzer's Musings: Preseason Opener |
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It only took 25 minutes and a shootout in one exhibition game for the Sergei Bobrovsky hype to kick up another notch. He and the Flyers could hardly have hoped for a better first official outing in North America, as he stopped every shot he saw in the third period and overtime of last night's 4-3 shootout win over the Devils, and turned aside three of four shots in the shootout. His most important saves came in stoning Jason Arnott on a breakaway and in making a sliding pad save on Jamie Langenbrunner.
Bobrovsky passed his first test, and that's great. But it doesn't change my perspective that what's best for the player -- no matter what he does for better or worse in the preseason when no one has a "book" on him -- is to spend at least half a season (and preferably a full season) in the AHL while he adapts on and off the ice.
Of all the positions on the ice, goaltenders are typically the ones who are in most of need of a little minor league seasoning. That's especially true of Europeans making the small-rink adjustments.
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Michael Leighton's preseason opener was somewhat reminiscent of his performance in games 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He had stretches where he looked solid and in control of the game, but also created his own monster with a couple goals allowed that the team in front of him really could not have prevented.
The Flyers as a whole played a poor second period last night, and Leighton didn't help his own cause with the Dainus Zubrus goal or Jamie Langenbrunner rebound tally. On the latter goal, Leighton boxed a rebound and it quickly ended up in the net.
Listen, it's one exhibition game. As with every other player, there are no conclusions to be drawn about whether Leighton will justify the club's show of faith in him when the bell rings for real.
But the second period of last night's game illustrated a point that the Flyers are going to spend much of the year downplaying if Leighton does not perform up to expectations. You can only protect your goalie so much. Eventually his weaknesses will get exploited by quality NHL opponents.
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In the absence of Ville Leino and Blair Betts, Ben Holmstrom and Andreas Nodl got a chance last night to start building their cases for being in the front of the line for callups when the season starts.
I thought Holmstrom showed the type of balanced game and physical style the club wants to see from him. He lacks the hands to play on a scoring line but he could probably play on the fourth line now if there were a spot for him.
Nodl really didn't do much of anything to impress. He didn't make any glaring errors, but he also didn't show the energy and speed he needs to display in order to finally stick in the NHL.
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Bill Guerin was pretty much invisible out there last night. Although he's likely only "trying out" in name only and will be signed even if he has a mediocre preseason, it would have been nice to see a little more involvement from him in his debut.
Meanwhile, Nikolai Zherdev was flying out there early in the game but his energy level dropped significantly as the contest progressed.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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