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Look at Bryz' Last 5 Games |
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Amid all the good things the Flyers did against Nashville:
- power play scores for 5th straight game
- penalty kill has a momentum changing appearance
- Wayne Simmonds scores 2 goals and is within 1 of his career-high (16)
- rookie Matt Read turns defense into offense into a goal
Amid all that ... did you notice that beleaguered goalie Ilya Bryzgalov gave up just 1 goal for the 4th time in 5 games?
This includes the fun-filled 6-5 shootout loss to Boston. So, over that span of 5 games and 3 wins for Bryz, he has a 1.75 goals against average and .937 save percentage.
Goalie coach Jeff Reese is right. Take a snap shot of Bryz, section this stretch of games out from the overall, and you see the improvement.
You look at Bryz's season totals and they're awful.
It will be virtually impossible for Bryz to turn those overall numbers around without the aid of a several shutouts where he is facing 30 or more shots.
So, how you need to look at him is within the most recent time frame and take it from there.
Bryz' remarks after the game were again puzzling, but I can tell you that he speaks to the beat writers, especially 1-on-1, is a very different character.
He's been burned so badly by some of his outrageous remarks this season where he hasn't been able to back up his wit with solid play in goal, that he is pretty much shell-shocked now.
For instance, he worked by himself on the ice all through the All-Star break.
Q: Did the All-Star Break help you at all?
"Help what?"
Q: Help your game...help you relax? You seemed real sharp in there..you don't think you've been sharp the last two games?
"Yeah...I was sharp. I was playing very comfortable."
Q: Do you think the break had anything to do with it?
"No idea, maybe."
Q: Do you feel different in the net now than you did a week ago or two weeks ago, a month ago?
"Same. Nothing's changed."
Q: Are you getting better looks? It seems like there's been a lot of deflections maybe a month ago and now it seems better, you're not getting as many screens....
"Well, yeah we've all improved our game around the net....D, forwards.. (inaudible)
Q: On beating Nashville...
“It's nice. It's very important points for us because not many teams can take points from Nashville, and we continue to want to chase the Rangers and the teams above us.”
Q: Do you feel more comfortable facing Western teams?
“I don’t know, maybe. I guess I know the players better since I faced them so many times. So maybe it helps.”
You can almost hear how guarded he is in those quotes. And that is what Reese and coach Peter Laviolette want. Less wit, more focus on his game.
Bryzgalov has a chance to rescue his season but ... all anyone will really care about in Flyerdom is how he plays in the playoffs.
Right now, I feel he's on the right path to success.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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