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Meltzer's Musings: 2/8/12

February 8, 2012, 6:56 AM ET [765 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The enduring inanity of the NHL's glorified skills competition known as the shootout was never more evident than last night's Flyers-Islanders game. Ilya Bryzgalov received credit for his second shutout of the 2011-12 season and yet was also charged with an "overtime" loss in a 0-0 tie that ended with New York winning the shootout.

That is precisely why it makes no sense to have an artificial resolution to tie games that counts the same (except in end-of-season tiebreakers for playoff seeding purposes) as an overtime goal. Regular readers of my blog know that I would say the same thing regardless of which team earned the bonus point from last night's tie.

Veteran goalie Evgeni Nabokov was nothing short of sensational in net for the Islanders last night. The Flyers controlled the play for the majority of the game -- especially in the third period -- but simply could not put any of their 45 shots past him. The Flyers also had 24 shot attempts blocked by the Isles and missed the net 17 other times.

At the other end of the ice, Bryzgalov did not see nearly as much action (18 shots). However, quite a few of the chances fired his way were difficult ones, and the combination of long stretches of inactivity followed by a prime scoring chance often makes for a tough night for a goaltender.

The Flyers yielded several odd-man rushes in the first period and, in addition, the Islanders generated several chances from in close. Several defensemen had rough patches during the early stages of the games. But most everyone -- forward and defenseman -- got better as the game progressed.

In particular, Andrej Meszaros struggled in the first two periods before playing outstanding two-way hockey in the third stanza. Rookie blueliner Marc-Andre Bourdon finished with a nice stat line (3 hits, 4 blocked shots, only one charged giveaway in 18:14) but looked indecisive on a couple of plays that led directly to Islanders scoring chances.

Coming off the disappointment of his sudden meltdown late in the second and early in the third period of Sunday's game at Madison Square Garden, it was an encouraging sign to see Bryzgalov bounce back immediately. Now he needs to follow it in some of the big games that lie ahead in the days to come.

Claude Giroux's line had a dominating night in terms of creating scoring chances but another frustrating one in terms of finishing the opportunities. The final stage of a scoring slump for a talented offensive performer is usually marked by the player getting chances in abundance but narrowly missing. That is where Giroux has been the last two games after getting off a month-long schneid with an empty netter against Nashville and a tally during the Flyers' too-little-too-late comeback bid against the Devils on Saturday.

Jaromir Jagr is in a similar spot to his linemate right now. He's creating a lot of chances for the other players on the ice, and getting his own fair share of scoring oppportunities -- including a point-blank one-timer last night -- but his drop-off in point production continued last night. If he can play at a similar level in the games to come, the points will start to add up again.

Last night, I thought the Flyers' second power play unit with Jagr, Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn up front was better than the first unit with Giroux, Hartnell and Wayne Simmonds up front and Kimmo Timonen and forward Jakub Voracek on the points. The second unit generated tremendous puck movement but just couldn't come up with a goal; partially because they weren't able to come up with any deflections or rebounds.

Despite the Flyers' "loss" last night (they are now 1-2-2 since the All-Star break), they picked up a point on the Rangers. New York was blanked by the Devils, 1-0, in regulation. The Flyers will practice at noon today in Voorhees in preparation for tomorrow night's game against Toronto.

The Maple Leafs game will mark the start of another three-game-in-four-night stretch. This weekend, the Flyers rematch with the Rangers on Saturday afternoon (this time at the Wells Fargo Center) and then travel to Detroit for a Sunday game against a more rested Red Wings team that will have had a day to recover from their last match.

As far as shootouts go, we know the Flyers do not do well in them. Bryz has stopped just 2 of 10 attempts and the Philly shooters are 1 for their 9 attempts. If the gift point is there for the taking, it's certainly better to get it than not. But by any actual hockey assessment, the Flyers made progress last night and will win (in regulation) far more often than not if they have as much attack zone time as they did last night.

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Prior to last night, the last time the Flyers played to a 0-0 tie decided via shootout was a 1-0 "win" over the Calgary Flames on Dec. 6, 2005, in which Antero Niitymäki made 28 regulation and overtime saves to 38 by countryman Miikka Kiprusoff.

The Flyers' last 0-0 tie before the adoption of the shootout happened on Oct. 16, 2003. Oddly enough, that game also involved Nabokov, who was then a member of the San Jose Sharks. On that night, Nabokov made 26 saves while Philly's Jeff Hackett stopped 27.

The last 1-0 Philadelphia victory of any kind took place on Dec. 30, 2007. On that night, Niittymäki made 38 saves against the Florida Panthers, including stoning Radek Dvorak on a first-period penalty shot. A mid-third period goal by Derian Hatcher stood up the rest of the way.

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