Successful third period comebacks have not been a recent Flyers specialty. With their comeback win in overtime over the New York Islanders last night, Philly has now won twice in 29 tries since the start of last season (1-6-0 this season, 1-16-5 last year) when trailing after two periods.
Frankly, the Flyers probably wouldn't have won this one, either, if Sergei Bobrovsky hadn't been brilliant in relief of Ilya Bryzgalov and/or if the Islanders had gotten competent goaltending from Rick DiPietro.
Philadelphia once again played atrocious team defense against a bottom-feeding opponent, and very nearly came away with zero points out of games against the 13th, 14th, and 15th ranked teams in the Eastern Conference. If the opponent had been virtually any team but the Islanders, the Flyers could have been hopelessly out of the game before the third period rolled around.
Bryzgalov did not help matters by failing to come up with any saves to erase the mistakes -- the first Kyle Okposo goal would have taken a nice save, but Bryz had a chance while the Michael Grabner goal that made it a 3-0 game was eminently stoppable despite the loose coverage on the New York rush. That is two straight games now that Bryzgalov has utterly failed to make the sort of saves teams need to keep the game manageable while things aren't going their way.
Bobrovsky had also struggled in recent appearances, but he was nothing short of brilliant in this game. Several times, there were breakdowns in front of him that were every bit as egregious as the ones in front of Bryzgalov, but Bob made the "momentum saves" that allowed the Flyers to chip away at the lead. In particular, Bobrovsky's stop on a semi-breakaway by John Tavares later proved to be pivotal.
DiPietro looked awful even when he was able to make stops. He was falling off the post all night long and committing to the ice extremely early. Every time he handled the puck, it looked like he was going to get it pokechecked away or turn it over along the walls.
The Andrej Meszaros slapshot goal in the open 18 seconds of the game was a decent shot but never should have gone in from that spot on the ice. Scott Hartnell's goal that trimmed the deficit to 3-2 was ugly as could be. Hartnell made a good play to chip the puck upstairs but DiPietro's positioning on the play -- sort of hunched over awkwardly down on his knees -- actually allowed Hartnell to shoot it over the goalie's head into the short side.
Danny Briere, who had been scuffling mightily through the first two periods and for most of the last six games, arrived in the third period and OT to save the day for the Flyers. The game-tying goal was a bit of self-made good luck off a crazy carom off the end boards. Can't blame the Islanders goalie on that one, except that he was down worm farming on the ice and a sniper like Briere was able to put the puck under the crossbar from in close.
As for Briere's overtime winner, that was one DiPietro absolutely could not let get through him. Briere's has a quick shot release but an NHL goalie needs to make the save on that play, especially in sudden death.
To their credit, the Flyers seemed to realize after the game that this was a game they were extremely fortunate to win. There are a host of areas that need to be cleaned up in the days to come:
* Bad first periods have become a problem of late, after the Flyers were one of the NHL's best teams in the opening stanza through the first six weeks of the season.
* The team defense needs to improve dramatically -- everything from the forwards' backchecking, to the reads on coverages, to keeping their feet moving rather making lunging stick check attempts, to breakouts and puck management.
* The penalty kill had been on a roll but has sprung a leak in recent games. That needs to be fixed. Chris Pronger missing from the lineup has hurt but it's far from the only reason. At least the overtime 4-on-3 kill was strong against the Islanders.
* Philly really needs to curtail some of the needless penalties. Tonight, Scott Hartnell took a silly one in the neutral zone in overtime. Zac Rinaldo also took an undisciplined interference call by going for a hit that was way late.
* The Flyers need to get more consistent goaltending from Bryzgalov, who has been far too streaky so far this season. It will be interesting to see which goalie starts in the Black Friday matinee against the Canadiens.
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In retrospect, it was a foolish decision for Jaromir Jagr to rush back into the lineup less than a week after suffering a groin pull early in the Phoenix game. The risk of reinjury is high, and that's exactly what happened in the second period of this game.
Officially, Jagr will miss at least the next two games. But let's hope that the next return isn't rushed by either the player or team.
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The hit taken by Max Talbot at the hands of P.A. Parenteau late in the first period was very scary looking. Parenteau, who drew a two-minute high sticking minor on the play, finished his check up high and the Islander sandwiched Talbot's head between the glass and his forearm.
The immediate fear was a potential concussion, but Talbot returned to the game and seemed no worse for the wear.
Talbot is a warrior. This is the third time in the last couple weeks where he's been busted open or pasted with a very heavy hit. Each time, he's bounced right back and showed no fear in throwing himself right back in the fray.
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Last but not least, Happy Thanksgiving to all American readers of my blog!
I am taking Thanksgiving Day as an off-day from writing (which I why I posted the Flyers and Stars blogs early). I'll post the gameday preview for the Black Friday matinee against the Canadiens early on Friday morning.
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