The first home game after a grueling road trip is often a dangerous one. When a team has habitually been getting off to slow starts and falling behind early, the first period of the return game becomes even more critical.
Sure enough, the Flyers once again found themselves trailing with the first two minutes of last night's game against the New York Islanders. Philly was lucky it wasn't 2-0 right off the hop. Thereafter, following an early time out by coach Peter Laviolette, they started to compete like they meant it and the game steadily turned in the Flyers' favor.
At the 1:35 mark of the opening period, Philly suffered a massive defensive breakdown. It started out innocently enough. Defenseman Mark Streit led the rush up the ice and was met by Nicklas Grossman, who took him to the corner. A puck battle ensued, and Sean Couturier came over to provide support. Meanwhile, Andrej Meszaros skated all the way into his partner's corner leaving the other side of the ice wide open.
The Islanders won the battle. Josh Bailey took a pass from Casey Cizikas. With all kinds of skating room, Bailey was ahead of Max Talbot's late desperate checking attempt as slipped the puck through Ilya Bryzgalov's pads.
The next shift went no better for the Flyers. They committed a giveaway, and Frans Nielsen seemingly had Bryzgalov beaten upstairs but fired just over the net. Moments later, Bryzgalov denied Bailey's bid for his second goal of the game.
As soon as play was blown dead, a fuming Laviolette called timeout. From the next shift onward, the Flyers started to take control of the game.
Several Flyers' rookies have been struggling since the All-Star break, including both Matt Read and Couturier. In addition, the Flyers' top line has been in feast-or-famine mode in the two months since the Winter Classic. By the end of the night, Read and Couturier would find their way onto the scoring sheet (three times in Read's case) and members of the Claude Giroux line would figure in four Philadelphia goals.
As the first period neared the midway point, Giroux worked the puck back to Meszaros at the right point. Read deflected Meszaros's shot past Evgeni Nabokov to knot the game at 1-1 at the 9:41 mark.
Late in the first period, the Flyers took their first regulation lead since briefly going ahead of the Jets in the game in Winnipeg that opened the recent four-game road trip. With the Flyers on the power play and the second unit on the ice, Meszaros ripped a shot through traffic into the net at the 19:10 mark. Read and Jaromir Jagr drew the assists.
This lead did not last long. The Flyers had a hiccup early in the second period. On a 3-on-2 rush, Grossman dropped to the ice to prevent a pass from going across but committed himself a little too early. The defenseman slid right out of the play on the still-slick resurfaced ice. Now with plenty of room to make a play, David Ullstrom fed Bailey, who buried a shot at the 50-second mark to make it 2-2.
The Flyers recovered well, and just kept on playing. They caught a break at the 8:58 mark when Nabokov allowed a soft goal. Jagr carried the puck up the right wing, circled behind the net and into the left circle where he shoveled a backhander at the net in the faint hopes that a teammate got to it for a re-direct or it went off the goalie for a rebound. Instead, the puck found its way through the veteran goalie and into the net.
Just 39 seconds later, Read made it a two-goal game. On the play, he hustled to the net a steered Wayne Simmonds' pass from the half boards high over Nabokov. For the third time this season, Read had secured a three-point game for himself.
The 4-2 lead held until early in the third period. This time it was Philadelphia connecting early to build a three-goal cushion. Jagr did some good work down low and got the puck out to the point. Grossman fed it over to Claude Giroux. Meanwhile, Scott Hartnell got open in the slot and ripped a one-timer home off Giroux's pass to set a single-season career high with his 31st goal of the season.
The Islanders got back within two goals with 10:49 left in regulation. Kyle Okposo took a center pass from Cizkas and ripped the puck past Bryzgalov. New York subsequently had a power play opportunity with a chance to reduce the deficit to one goal but were unable to capitalize.
Finally, with 26.1 left in the game, Sean Couturier got a lucky bounce as the puck went off an Islander into the empty net. With the 6-3 victory, the Flyers are now 3-1-1 against the Islanders this season. They meet one more time this season on Long Island.
The Flyers, who will spend the rest of the regular season within the eastern time zone, are back in action on Sunday night. They will travel to Washington to take on Dale Hunter's underachieving Capitals.
It seems like a long time ago when the Caps came to Philly back in October and won the game going away after Philly ran into trouble late in the first and early in the third periods. At the time, Washington was 6-0-0 to start the season. No one would have predicted that head coach Bruce Boudreau would be fired before Thanksgiving and the team would find itself out of the playoffs if the season ended on March 2.
Meanwhile, the Flyers have been unable to put together back-to-back wins since Jan. 10 and 12. If they beat Washington, they will have won two in a row and three of four (with the lone defeat being a 1-0 game). That would be a good way to head into the teeth of a ravenous stretch run.
*******
After their two days to prepare for Washington, the Flyers will not have two consecutive non-game days in a row again until near the end of the month. Last night's game was the first of 17 this month, and the club will have to deal mostly with opponents who are either sure bets to be playoff teams or are bubble teams fighting for the eighth spot.
The most difficult part of the month will be on the weekend of March 17 and 18. First the Flyers play a matinee in Boston against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Bruins. Less than 24 hours later, they have a 12:30 p.m. game at home against the Penguins. By the way, these will the second and third games of a three-in-four stretch for the team.
Starting with Sunday's game in Washington, the Flyers will play 12 games in 21 days.
**************
Last night, James van Riemsdyk suffered a broken foot when blocking a shot in the first period. He is out indefinitely but figures at minimum to miss the rest of the regular season. The club is likely to recall either Eric Wellwood or Harry Zolnierczyk.
The 2011-12 season has been a forgettable one for van Riemsdyk. He started out fine, and was on a 30-goal pace in November. But then the injury bug started biting him repeatedly: torn abdominal muscle, sprained knee, concussion. According to some reports (denied by the team), he has been dealing for months with a hip impingement issue that may require post-season surgery.
That is why I find it amazing that so many people are down on JVR. When he tried to play through injuries and not whine or use them as an excuse, he got criticized because he wasn't as effective. When he and the team followed concussion protocols and he sat out of games until he was fully symtom-free, some fans claimed he was malingering to avoid getting traded (which is a preposterous accusation and, quite frankly, a bit offensive).
On the play where van Riemsdyk broke his foot last night, he still gritted out the shift long enough to clear the puck from his knees before he limped off to the locker room. But, hey, he's just soft and lazy, right?
There is no doubt that van Riemsdyk needs to more consistently use his size and strength rather than being content to be a perimeter player. He took strides in that direction after a rough start last season, and was dominant in the playoffs. JVR appeared to making further progress -- not huge, but another small step ahead -- early this season.
I am willing to chalk up the primary reason for his problems since then to the series of injuries he has suffered. JVR will now have to redeem his season where it really counts: the playoffs. By the way, the same thing goes for Danny Briere.
*************
Two Flyers players hit major career milestones last night. Jaromir Jagr's assist on the Andrej Meszaros goal moved him past Joe Sakic into 8th place on the NHL's all-time scoring last (1,642 points). Jagr subsequently added a goal. He is still 80 points away from tying Mario Lemieux for 7th place, and would need a big stretch drive this season and healthy and productive full year next season to catch Mario.
Jagr's goal was the 663rd of his career. He needs five more to tie Luc Robitaille for 10th on the all-time goal list. Teemu Selanne is right on Jagr's heels with 658 career goals.
Jagr's assist last night gave him 980 for his career. Twenty away from becoming the 12th member of the 1,000 assist club in NHL history, he is 36 helpers away from tying Sakic for the 11th spot all time.
Incidentally, Jagr has done more damage to the Islanders than any other NHL team. Last night was his 96th career game against the Islanders. He has 60 goals and 84 assists for 144 points in those games.
Apart from Jagr, Kimmo Timonen also hit a nice career milestone last night. He became the 55th defenseman in NHL history to reach the 500-point plateau (six are still active). In addition, he is one point away from 200 in his Flyers career and now stands alone in fifth place on the team's all-time scoring list for defensemen.
Finally, Claude Giroux clinched 50 assists for the second straight season. He is just the fourth Flyers player to do it in back-to-back seasons. Team record holder Bobby Clarke did it in eight straight seasons between 1972-73 and 1979-80. Brian Propp is the only other one to do it three straight years but Mark Recchi had back-to-back 50 assist years in both of stints with the team.
*********
On Monday, March 5, the Flyersfaithful.com web site will be
holding a fundraising event for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation at Fado in Center City Philadelphia. Please come out show your support.
Use coupon code "FlyersBuzz" on
HockeyTickets.ca 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.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»