With one more non gameday to go before the Flyers take on the Phoenix Coyotes at the Wells Fargo Center tomorrow night, the team is currently in third place in the Atlantic Division; two points (with a game in hand) behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and tied in points with the New York Rangers (but with one more game played).
More often than not, the Flyers are a good November team. Most years, the club posts its gaudiest record of the season during this month. Thus far, the Flyers are off to a 4-0-2 start to their November schedule.
After tomorrow night, the upcoming slate of games is a bit of junk-food diet of opponents for Philadelphia, at least in terms of their overall records this season and/or recent histories against the Flyers.
First up, however, is Ilya Bryzgalov's old team. Dave Tippett's club is typically greater than the sum of its parts. Phoenix sports a 5-1-1 record on the road to date, and would have been 6-1-0 if not for a late-game letdown and shootout loss in Dallas on Columbus Day.
Coyotes goalie Mike Smith has had a strong season so far (2.19 GAA, .933 save percentage) but an uneven history against the Flyers where he's either been unbeatable or gets torched. Overall, in 10 games played against Philly, the 6-foot-4 puck handling wizard has a 4-4-1 record, with an unimpressive overall 3.66 GAA and .884 save percentage.
Following the Phoenix game at home, the Flyers take a long trek to play a road game against Winnipeg followed by their third meeting (second at home) against the Carolina Hurricanes within the last month and then a home game against the Islanders.
The Flyers should not be satisfied with anything less than 6 of 8 points over the next four games. Strange things happen in hockey, but these are all teams Philadelphia ought to be able to handle. Of course, as we saw in the first game against Winnipeg, there's a reason why the games aren't played on paper.
The remainder of the calendar year schedule is extremely road-heavy for Philadelphia. The club has three home games between tomorrow and Black Friday. Thereafter, the team only has three more home games (out of 14 overall) until the Winter Classic.
With so many games on the road, I am back in Texas from now until late December. I will continue to blog the Flyers on the usual daily basis, but my next Flyers game from the pressbox will not be until the club travels to Dallas to take on the Stars on Dec. 21.
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Over the next several games, I'd like to see James van Riemsdyk push himself to pick up his two-way game and get back to going to the net on a semi-consistent basis.
Offensively, JVR is actually way ahead of his pace from this time last season. After 17 games last season, he was still looking for his first goal. It was about this time a season ago that he finally broke loose with an OT game winner in a comeback win against Montreal and went on to score goals in four of six games (including three games in a row). He had seven points (7A) overall after 17 games played season, compared to 6 goals and 13 points through his first 16 games this season.
Defensively, JVR's work thus far has left a bit to be desired at times. Other games, it's been adequate. There have been a few too many times where he's left the defensive zone a little too quickly, been guilty of some loose coverages or otherwise not played up to his full capabilities in his own zone.
At various junctures in JVR's career to date we've seen that he has the ability to be a complete player in all aspects of the game. He just needs to push himself to play at that level on a regular basis.
JVR was not one of the Flyers' better players during the now-completed 2-0-1 road trip. during the recent three-game road trip, he was a non-factor offensively in two of the three games (1 assist, combined 5 shots on goal, minus-two) after posting two goals and five points over his two previous games -- with a game missed in between due to a lower body injury. Tomorrow night's game against Phoenix is a fresh opportunity for a breakout.
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This week's installment of Across the Pond at NHL.com looks at Jaromir Jagr's ownership of HC Rytyri Kladno (the Kladno Knights) in the Czech Extraliga, and his efforts to save the financially troubled hockey program that gave rise not only to himself, but a host of other notable players since the time of the organization's foundation in 1924.
Among recent notable NHL players apart from Jagr who either hail from Kladno or at least got their hockey start within the HC Kladno program are Jakub Voracek, Tomas Plekanec, Patrik Elias, Tomas Kaberle, Ondrej Pavelec, Tomas Vokoun, Michal Frolik and Marek Zidlicky.
Past NHL players or international hockey standouts with ties to the town of Kladno and/or its hockey team include Michal Pivonka, Frantisek Kaberle (Sr. and Jr.), Milan Novy, Otakar Vejvoda (Sr. and Jr.) Frantisek Pospisil, the still-active Pavel Patera and Martin Prochazka.
For more,
click here.
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