It is hard to get too excited about the Flyers' 4-3 overtime win against the Islanders last night. The club continued their distressing habit of blowing multiple-goal leads. Chris Pronger had to have his hand x-rayed (fortunately nothing was broken) after taking a puck off the hand or wrist in the third period. Sergei Bobrovsky allowed a bad early goal to dig the team a hole.

The Flyers' fourth line and several Philly defensemen, most notably Matt Carle, struggled mightily in this game. Carle redeemed himself with a secondary assist on Andrej Meszaros' overtime game-winner. Although the Flyers scored four "real" goals for the first time since the All-Star break (going over the 200 goal mark on the season), it should be noted that the Islanders' starting defense is decimated by injuries.

OK, that's enough negativity and red flags. The only that counts right now is whether you come away with points at the end of the night. There are no moral victories as the stretch drive and playoffs approach, and the Flyers continued to pad their lead in the East.

Last night's tilt was one of the Flyers' games in hand over Pittsburgh (the Pens have still played one more game than the Flyers), and Philly extended their lead in the Atlantic Division to eight points over the Penguins. Philly holds a nine-point lead on Tampa Bay for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, with Tampa holding a game in hand.

Against the Islanders last night, the Flyers got a magnificent performance from Claude Giroux, and his line with Jeff Carter continues to be on a roll. Mike Richards played his best game in weeks. James van Riemsdyk tallied again, and Ville Leino made a nice feed to Meszaros on the game-winner to complete a night where members of three different lines figured directly in the scoring. Bobrovsky also made some good stops along the way.

For the ninth time in 10 games, the Flyers won better than 50 percent of their faceoffs. That's one area they've cleaned up since the All-Star break, and deserve credit. The next big hurdle is to get the power play going (Philly only had one power play last night, and special teams were a non-factor in this particular game).

A little more good news: After the game, Paul Holmgren indicated that while Blair Betts (lacerated finger) is unlikely to be ready for Saturday's game in Ottawa, he is gripping a stick again and should be ready by the time the Flyers take on Toronto next Thursday. Pronger will be re-evaluated today to see how much swelling and soreness he has. The player considered returning to the game last night -- and could have in an emergency -- but was not able to get a good grip on a stick after suffering the hand injury.

I was a bit surprised that last night's game wasn't considerably more chippy. The Islanders have a lot of built-up frustration against the Flyers and an ongoing grudge from the first game of the season. The Isles' got an emotional lift from their brawls with the Penguins, and had been playing good hockey of late. I figured something would get stirred up along the way, but I guess with the score close most of the night, it wasn't the right time for it.

Join the Discussion: » Comments » Post New Comment

» Quick Hits: IIHF Worlds, Memorial Cup, Flyers Daily, TIFH

» Deconstructing the Alexei Kolosov Rumors

» Quick Hits: Barkey and Bonk, Memorial Cup, IIHF Worlds, Flyers Daily

» Quick Hits: Gendron, OHL Final, IIHF Worlds, and More

» Quick Hits: CHL Playoffs, Worlds Updates