Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Meltzer's Musings: 1/13/12

January 13, 2012, 2:47 AM ET [1093 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
There have been relatively few blowouts over the course of the Flyers' current run of mastery over the New York Islanders. There have, however, been a lot of tilts like last night's 3-2 win, where Philly did just enough things right to win.

Sergei Bobrovsky -- like Martin Biron before him -- often seems to play some of his very best games against the Islanders; it's just one of those things. On the flip side, the Isles have been victimized by poor goaltending in many of their tilts against the Flyers.

Goaltending was really the big difference in the outcome of the game. New York outworked the Flyers for long stretches of the game (for the fourth straight game, the Claude Giroux line was not very good at five-on-five for the Flyers). But Bob erased mistakes in front of him with a host of outstanding saves, including an early game penalty shot stop on the dangerous Michael Grabner.

At the other end of the ice, Evgeni Nabokov yielded one extremely soft goal on a Wayne Simmonds shot from near the corner that found an opening in his pads. That was enough to put his team in a deep hole and ultimately made a huge difference in the outcome of the game. Philly earned its first goal on a power play deflection by Scott Hartnell and earned its third on a wicked shot by Sean Couturier. But that middle one was a backbreaker.

After two periods, I really thought this was going to be the game where Bobrovsky finally got that elusive first NHL regular season shutout (he had one in the preseason this year). Unfortunately, a coverage breakdown on the first shift of the third period led to a Kyle Okposo goal from the doorstep.

Suddenly, the Flyers had to be concerned about blowing a multi-goal lead and a third period lead for the fourth time in the last six games. But Bobrovsky, who finished with 33 saves on the night, preserved the one-goal lead with 11 saves in the final stanza.

Finally, with 1:30 left in the game, the Flyers got their two-goal lead back. Sean Couturier extended his goal scoring streak to three consecutive games with a sniper's goal. It would have been nice if Philly put the clamps down for the rest of the game but they were guilty of loose coverage as John Tavares snapped a shot past Bobrovsky with 16 seconds remaining. Thankfully, no further damage was done.

The win extended the Flyers' incredible run against the Islanders. Philadelphia has now won eight games in a row and 23 of the last 24 games with the Islanders, including 12 of the last 13 at Nassau Coliseum and each of the last 11 in Philly.

The Flyers have also now won four of five games since the Winter Classic. It hasn't always been pretty, but right now the points are what matter. Let's not forget that, back in mid-November, the Flyers had a bit of a junk food diet of opponents that were struggling in the standings and Philly not only fell into some bad habits, they also lost several of those games.

It's going better this time around, but the Flyers will probably need to crank out a far superior effort to tonight's game if they are to go into Nashville and emerge with a win against Barry Trotz's Predators.

*******

Congratulations go out to Flyers center Claude Giroux, defenseman Kimmo Timonen and rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read for their respective selections to participate in the NHL's All-Star weekend.

Timonen said in a Finnish interview conducted back in November that he would prefer not to play in another All-Star Game and use the time instead to rest his assorted injuries and be with his family for a few days. The player is currently nursing a left wrist injury but has continued to play through it after it initially appeared as though his consecutive games streak would come to an end last Saturday.

There are other aging NHL veterans -- such as Nicklas Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne -- who proactively turned down All-Star invitations (and, hence, were not named to game when the list of selections was announced yesterday). Therefore, unless Timonen begs off due to the wrist injury, it looks like he did not put out word ahead of time that he'd rather be left off the roster rather than play in his fourth ASG.

There is no doubt that Scott Hartnell was a deserving selection. However, I am not at all surprised that he was not chosen for his first ASG. The deck was stacked against his selection. Three reasons:

1) There's always a numbers game involved and the Flyers already had numerous other selections on the initial list. There are almost always a few players who subsequently withdraw, citing injury. I suspect Hartnell is near the top of the list of replacements.

2) There's a popularity contest involved. Despite being just one goal away from securing his sixth 20-plus goal campaign in the last seven seasons, Hartnell's name doesn't have much "star power". He's always been viewed as a supporting cast player.

3) Whether you consider Hartsy a plumber who scores or an underrated scorer who does the dirty work, he's not exactly the type of player the ASG showcases. Yes, there are power forwards who go but those are generally the Brendan Shanahan or Owen Nolan types who get 50 goals a year. Most of the prototypical selections for the no-checking, no-defense ASG style are players who can impress with finesse and skate with flash and dash. That's not Hartnell.

*******

I did not see Steve Staios's hit on Max Talbot until after the game ended. I was in the car running a quick errand, and had that portion of the third period on the car radio as I drove back to the house.

At the time of the play, Flyers radio play-by-play announcer Tim Saunders initially called it a clean hit while color commentator Chris Therien was furious, immediately calling it a "filthy, dirty, stupid play" and angrily demanding a lengthy suspension of the Islanders' player. Upon seeing a replay, Saunders changed his opinion and agreed that Staios had deliberately targeted Talbot's head.

Now that I've seen the play a couple of times, I think there's no question that the head was the point of contact and Staios also appeared to use his elbow to make contact. His smirking demeanor on the bench (which prompted Therien to sneer on the radio, "Yeah, be proud of yourself, Staios. This is the sort of thing that'll help you stay in the league a little longer") looked pretty bad.

In all of this, it also appeared as though the Flyers ignored the NHL's evaluation protocol for a potential concussion. I'm sure Talbot vehemently insisted he was OK; he stayed to the game, and was also yelling at the Islanders from the bench. Nevertheless, I thought that on any play where a player takes a shot to the head like that and is dazed he is supposed to be taken to a "quiet room" setting for an initial evaluation regardless of whether he says he's OK when he gets back to the bench. Perhaps I am wrong.

At any rate, even though there was no penalty called on the play, I'd be surprised if Staios does not get suspended for a couple games out of it.

*******

Several people have PMed me to ask what I think about the trade rumors involving Luke Schenn coming to Philadelphia (possibly in a deal for James van Riemsdyk). I really don't put a whole lot of stock in trade rumors and I prefer to worry about the roster as is, until such a time that a trade is actually made.

A few months ago, Luke Schenn was still considered largely untouchable. Now in his fourth NHL season, he hasn't (yet) become the franchise-caliber shutdown defenseman he was touted to be in his draft year. Keep in mind that he's still only 22. Schenn ice time has been cut a bit this year, but that's exactly how and when other teams try to swoop in and trade for other clubs' young defensemen. The growing pains for defensemen often taken longer to work through than those of forwards.

As for JVR, he hasn't yet become to 35-40 goal scoring winger the Flyers hope he'll be. He was, however, on a 30-goal pace in November and has been battling through some physical problems ever since. Consistency is still the big question mark with Luke Schenn and van Riemsdyk. Both are already pretty good but can do better.

Bottom line: Taking only hockey (not salary cap) issues into consideration, I can see a line of reasoning behind a deal based on JVR for Schenn, Nevertheless, I still think it would more likely take a blockbuster deal for a more consistently proven -- and still relatively young -- talent in order to pry either player from his current team.

*******

Please visit our sponsor HockeyTickets.ca.

Use coupon code "FlyersBuzz" between now and the end of the regular season to receive a 10% discount on all ticket orders over $150 and also have a chance to win two free lower-level seats to a Flyers regular season game of your choice at the Wells Fargo Center.

KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information click here.
Join the Discussion: » 1093 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update
» Wrap: Flyers Pass Huge Test, Beat Boston