The Flyers did a lot of good things in their game against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, but just couldn't bury a goal in regulation or overtime to claim two points instead of one. Last night, Philly built on the performance by controlling the majority of play and skating off with a 4-3 regulation win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It was very important psychologically for the Flyers to get on the scoreboard relatively early in this game and to play from ahead. The team spent last weekend chasing the games against the Devils and Rangers, and needed something to show offensively after Tuesday's game.
The Claude Giroux line, which had run into some sheer bad luck and great goaltending the last two games, led the way against the Leafs. Scott Hartnell took care of two-thirds of his Gordie Howe hat trick (the goal and a fight with Dion Phaneuf) in one fell swoop, and then later bagged an assist on Giroux's 21st game of the season. Jaromir Jagr, who had an initially credited assist taken away on the Hartnell goal but drew a helper later on the Giroux goal, also had a strong game.
Prior to tonight's game, the Flyers had been blanked in six of their last nine regulation periods. When you can't snipe goals or score off the rush, you have to get some dirty-but-good ones off screens, deflections and/or rebounds. That's exactly what Max Talbot did in putting Philly ahead, 2-1, early in the second period.
James Reimer had little chance to stop Talbot's redirection of Andrej Meszaros' point shot from trickling through his pads. Jagr also attempted to deflect it just before Talbot got it and, with all the bodies moving around the slot plus the tip by Talbot, the goalie had to battle a lot of different elements all at once.
Shortly after the Giroux goal, the Flyers' second line combined for what proved to be the game winning goal. Brayden Schenn (whose brother, Luke, was on the ice for Toronto at the time) drove toward the net and the puck came right to him for his 6th goal. All of his goals have come since the new calendar year. Danny Briere and Wayne Simmonds drew the helpers.
Meszaros played arguably his best game of the season. He was very active and physical in all three zones and made good reads rather than forcing the play. Matt Carle also had a strong game. Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen played into a bit of tough luck.
Sergei Bobrovsky, playing in substitution for flu-riddled Ilya Bryzgalov, was adequate in the first two periods and then very strong in the third as he helped the team slam the door (including a late penalty kill) with a one-goal lead. Bob had a few puckhandling misadventures in periods one and two (charged with three giveaways) and left out a bad rebound on Joffrey Lupul's power play goal. He was flawless in the final stanza.
Bob had no chance on the first Leafs' goal, as Tyler Bozak's shot deflected in off Coburn's skate in front of the net. The second goal was partially caused by a Timonen giveaway but I still thought Bob got handcuffed on Phaneuf's point shot and created his own monster on the rebound opportunity. The third goal (Bozak's second tally of the game) came off a scramble around the net, where no Flyer could get a handle on the puck.
With two badly needed points in the bank, the Flyers must now prepare for arguably their most difficult set of back-to-back weekend games of the season: a home tilt with the Rangers on Saturday afternoon followed immediately by a Sunday night match in Detroit.
If it's a challenge the Flyers crave, they are certainly about to get a chance to test their mettle. By the time the Flyers conclude Sunday's game, they will have played seven games in 10 nights. In addition, the Red Wings (riding an 18-game winning streak at home) will get an off-day on Saturday while Philly is playing its Atlantic Division rival whom they have yet to defeat this season.
That's why it was so crucial for the Flyers to start the three-in-four finale of the stretch with a win against Toronto. The body doesn't ache nearly as much and it's much easier to get the adrenaline pumping when your team feels positive. Winning cures a lot of ills.
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Much like a slumping .300 hitter in baseball who has been hitting the ball hard of late but right at the fielders, Claude Giroux had been right on the brink of scoring a goal in each of the last two games. You just knew he'd bag one soon, and last night was the night where he finally potted a meaningful goal again and stopped squeezing the stick.
From my observations over the years, scoring droughts often go in a cycle something like this:
1) A player gets away from doing the things that made him successful. No one talks about it in the first 3-4 games of the drought, but the player is quite often invisible on the ice in these games.
2) The player himself starts to lose a little confidence, and passes up shots he was taking before. Now he's being asked questions about why he isn't scoring, although the reasons should be obvious if you really look at his recent games.
3) The player focuses on simplifying his game a bit, and the scoring chances start to come again. Unfortunately, few (if any) chances end up in the net, because he's pressing to finish the chances rather than simply reacting.
4) Fans and media are now all over the players' case but it's just a matter of time until the beginning of the next offensive outburst. He looks like his old self again, and the results will start to come again real soon.
Giroux had been in stage 4 the last couple games against the Rangers and Islanders (after an empty netter against Nashville and a goal in the too-little-too-late comeback bid against New Jersey). Time after time, he'd either got robbed by the goalie, shoot it just wide, or hesitate just long enough for the defense to block the shot. This time, there was no denying him as he calmly roofed a shot over Reimer.
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Hartnell's Gordie Howe hattie was the second of his Flyers and NHL career. His previous one came in a 5-2 win against Buffalo on Jan. 11 of last season. The feat of at least one goal, one assist, and a fight in a game has been accomplished
74 times in franchise history.
Rick Tocchet is the Flyers' all-time leader with eight Gordies. Bobby Clarke and Eric Lindros are second with five, and Gary Dornhoefer had four.
On
Jan. 9, 1972, Dornhoefer and Clarke both did it in a 10-3 win over the California Golden Seals. Meanwhile, Al Hill's NHL record-setting five-point big league debut also saw him become the first and only Flyer to get a Gordie Howe hat trick in his first NHL game.
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When the Flyers signed Jason Bacashihua as a free agent over the summer, they did it primarily for the reason that, if they ever found themselves short a goalie this season at the NHL level, they would have a recall waiver-exempt goalie serve as a backup. Last night, such a need arose after Bryzgalov came down with the flu.
Michael Leighton (and Johan Backlund who is on loan to Finnish team Kärpät Oulu for the rest of the season) would require a one-day waiting period for them to clear recall waivers -- if they went unclaimed. Bacashihua, meanwhile, was free and clear to call up to be available as the backup.
Assuming nothing happens to Bobrovsky in the next couple days, Bacashihua's stint with the big team will last until Bryzgalov regains his strength enough to be available to play.
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