Last night's game in Florida was a dangerous one for the Flyers; the type of match that recent past editions of the team have made a habit of losing. For example, a much weaker version of the Panthers came to Philadelphia last season and utterly embarrassed the heretofore streaking Flyers on their home ice in the final game before a prolonged Christmas break.
Coming off Sunday's emotion-laden war of a game against the Bruins, the Flyers had to guard against a letdown in the final game before a week-long All-Star break for the players who aren't going to Ottawa. Although the Panthers are a much-improved team that entered last night leading the Southeast Division, the game did not have even half the cache of the penultimate regular season meeting with the Bruins.
The Flyers came out sloppy and seemingly disinterested, and paid a price by falling behind the Panthers quickly. To their credit, though, the injury-depleted Flyers eventually got going in the first period.
Brayden Schenn, who was richly deserving of a fortuitous bounce, tied the game on a funky goal that bounded in the air and went in off goalie Scott Clemmensen a split second before Sean Couturier crashed the net and took the post off its moorings. Jakub Voracek then put the Flyers in the lead by deflecting the puck home as Tom Sestito put it toward the net.
The rest of the game was much more methodical. Philly controlled the majority of play. However, when breakdowns did happen, they were whoppers. The Panthers knotted the game, 2-2, on a counterattack that turned into a 2-on-0 down low.
Sergei Bobrovsky looked increasingly poised and in control as the game moved along. Even when the real hockey portion of the game ended in a tie, there was a sense of confidence that this would be the night the Flyers would finally claimed their first cheap bonus point of the season by "winning the game" in the shootout.
Bob did his job, making two nice saves and staying with opening shooter Versteeg, who lost the puck as he tried a move from in tight. Claude Giroux took care of the rest, getting Clemmensen to commit first as he decoyed an attempt to go to the backhand (which is how he scored upstairs on Tim Thomas on Sunday) and then tucked the puck home on the forehand.
It wasn't always artistic or entertaining, but the bottom line that the Flyers left the ice with two points. They faced three potential playoff opponents in the final three games before the All-Star break and emerged with five of six possible points despite the absences of three of their top nine forwards.
The Flyers enter the All-Star break with a 29-14-5 record; three points behind the Rangers with one additional game played to date.
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Congratulations go out to Scott Hartnell for his selection to replace the injured Jonathan Toews in the NHL All-Star game. It will be his first All-Star game. Teammates Claude Giroux and Kimmo Timonen will be going for the second time in their Flyers' careers. It will be Timonen's fourth All-Star Game overall.
In addition, Sean Couturier and Matt Read have been selected for the Rookie Skills Competition during All-Star weekend.
Courtesy of the amazing
Flyershistory.com Web site, here's the complete list of Flyers' representatives in the All-Star Game:
1967-68 Leon Rochefort
1968-69 Ed Van Impe, Bernie Parent
1969-70 Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent
1970-71 Bobby Clarke
1971-72 Bobby Clarke, Simon Nolet
1972-73 Bobby Clarke, Gary Dornhoefer
1973-74 Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson
1974-75 Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Ed Van Impe, Jim Watson,Bill Barber, Fred Shero (Coach)
1975-76 Bill Barber, Andre Dupont, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish (sub for Bobby Clarke), Fred Shero (coach), Wayne Stephenson, Jim Watson
1976-77 Tom Bladon, Bobby Clarke, Gary Dornhoefer, Rick MacLeish, Bernie Parent, Fred Shero (coach), Jim Watson, Joe Watson
1977-78 Bill Barber, Tom Bladon, Bobby Clarke, Bob Dailey, Fred Shero (coach), Wayne Stephenson, Jim Watson
1978-79 NHL Challenge Cup vs Soviet Union: Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber
1979-80 Bill Barber, Norm Barnes, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish, Pete Peeters, Brian Propp, Jim Watson
1980-81 Bill Barber, Bob Dailey, Paul Holmgren, Pete Peeters, Pat Quinn (coach), Behn Wilson
1981-82 Bill Barber, Brian Propp
1982-83 Mark Howe, Pelle Lindbergh, Darryl Sittler
1983-84 Tim Kerr, Brian Propp
1984-85 Tim Kerr, Pelle Lindbergh
1985-86 Bob Froese, Mark Howe, Mike Keenan (coach), Tim Kerr, Dave Poulin, Brian Propp, Pelle Lindbergh (posthumously voted in as starting goaltender)
1986-87 Rendezvous '87 vs Soviet Union: Ron Hextall, Mark Howe, Tim Kerr, Dave Poulin
1987-88 Ron Hextall, Mark Howe, Mike Keenan (coach), Dave Poulin, Kjell Samuelsson
1988-89 Rick Tocchet
1989-90 Brian Propp, Rick Tocchet
1990-91 Rick Tocchet
1991-92 Rod Brind'Amour
1992-93 Mark Recchi
1993-94 Gary Galley, Eric Lindros, Mark Recchi
1995-96 Eric Desjardins, John LeClair, Eric Lindros, Craig MacTavish
1996-97 Paul Coffey, Dale Hawerchuk, John LeClair, Eric Lindros
1997-98 Eric Lindros, John LeClair
1998-99 Eric Lindros, John LeClair
1999-2000 Roger Neilson (ast coach), Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Eric Desjardins
2000-01 Simon Gagne, Roman Cechmanek
2001-02 Jeremy Roenick
2002-03 Jeremy Roenick, Ken Hitchcock (assistant coach)
2003-04 Keith Primeau, Jeremy Roenick, Ken Hitchcock (assistant coach)
2006-07 Simon Gagne
2007-08 Mike Richards, Kimmo Timonen
2008-09 Jeff Carter
2010-11 Claude Giroux, Daniel Briere, Peter Laviolette (coach)
2011-12 Claude Giroux, Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell
Notes:
* Simon Nolet became the first Flyers representative to register a point in the ASG when he tallied a goal in the 1971 game.
* Bobby Clarke (1975), Jimmy Watson (1975), Bill Barber (1976), Gary Dornhoefer (1977), Joe Watson (1977), Bob Daily (1978) and Paul Coffey (1997) are the Flyers representatives who have taken penalties in an All-Star game. None took more than one.
* Mark Recchi holds the single-game high scoring record for a Flyers representative. He posted five points (1 G, 4 A) in the 1993 game.
* Brian Propp (1986), John LeClair (1997), Dale Hawerchuk (1997), Simon Gagne (2001) and Danny Briere (2011) are the only Flyers representatives to score multiple goals in an ASG. Each player had a two-goal game.
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