Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Flyers Gameday: 11/2/13 @ NJ Plus Flyers-Caps Post-Mortem, New FlyerBuzz

November 2, 2013, 12:24 AM ET [1345 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
FLYERBUZZ PODCAST: HANDLING ADVERSITY



*********

GAME PREVIEW (11:00 PM EDT, 11/1/13)

One night after absorbing a humiliating 7-0 pasting at the hands of the Washington Capitals, the Philadelphia Flyers (3-9-0) will be in Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils (3-5-4). Game time is 7:00 p.m. eastern. The match will be televised locally TCN Philadelphia.

This is the first of five meetings between the teams this season. After this game, the Flyers are in Carolina on Tuesday.

FLYERS OUTLOOK (FRIDAY NIGHT POST-MORTEM)

The Flyers got pistol-whipped on Friday night by the Washington Capitals, who were without Alex Ovechkin. Philly played fine for most of the first period, holding the Capitals without a shot for three quarters of the period (and outshooting Washington 8-4 for the opening 20 minutes). At the 17:28 mark, the Caps' Nicklas Bäckström scored on a one-timer -- Washington's second shot of the game -- moments after a failed clear, and the wheels fell off the wagon.

The Flyers sagged after the first goal. They barely hung on for the remainder of the first period and, instead of regrouping and coming out hungry and focused in the second period, they flat out stopped competing.

Mason had little chance on the Capitals' second or third goals. On the second goal, which was scored at 1:24, Brayden Schenn turned a puck over at the offensive blueline, the Caps countered. Washington maintained possession in deep until Joel Ward scored his first of three goals on the night.

Craig Berube called timeout. It was to no avail. At 2:44, Vincent Lecavalier turned a puck over, Erik Gustafsson didn't exactly bust it to help out and Jason Chimera easily outraced Kimmo Timonen to go in and score.

Mason was pulled for Ray Emery, but only because Berube couldn't pull the entire team off the ice.

The Flyers did not better job of competing in front of Emery any better than they did in front of Mason. Goals number four (Bäckström again) followed 1:09 after the Chimera goal. Goals number five (Ward's second of the game at 16:25) and six (Troy Brouwer power play goal at 18:20) were scored in almost effortless fashion as Flyers basically stood around and watched.

In between the Ward and Brouwer goals, Steve Downie (who nearly scored for the Flyers in the opening 20 seconds of the first period) took exception to Matt Read being dumped roughly to the ice, making a beeline for Aaron Volpatti. In ensuing fight, Volpatti caught Downie flush. In trouble and bleeding, Downie said "I'm done!" and Volpatti realized what was going on, letting him go.

Downie, who received an instigation penalty and automatic 10-minute misconduct, did not return to the game. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said after the game that Downie had a concussion. Shortly after that, the news got worse as the team acknowledged that the player had to be taken to University of Pennsylvania hospital for further evaluation.

In the third period, the Capitals added their seventh goal of the game and Ward completed the hat trick with a power play goal at 5:23. Emery, whose mask got knocked off on the play, was steamed about the lack of a whistle and stoppage. He was still seething as the ensuing faceoff moved to center ice.

Eight seconds after the drop of the next puck, a full-scale line brawl broke out in the Capitals defensive zone. The initial fight was between Wayne Simmonds and Tom Wilson along the left side boards. Secondary fights later broke out, resulting in game misconducts to Philly's Vincent Lecavalier and Brayden Schenn and the Caps' Alexander Urbom and Steve Oleksey.

As soon as the first fight broke out at the other end, Emery already had his mind made up. He was going with Washington counterpart, Braden Holtby, whether the Caps goalie wanted the fight or not. Holtby didn't want it, and tried to wave Emery away.

Emery wasn't going to take no for an answer. He told Holtby he'd better protect himself and, realizing he had no choice at this point, Holtby finally complied. It was a one-sided thrashing, as Emery rained one punch after another down on Holtby's head.

Emery received 29 minutes worth of penalties: two minutes for leaving the crease, two for instigation (with the automatic 10 minute misconduct), five for fighting, and a game misconduct. To those asking if he's going to be suspended, the answer is that's highly unlikely. Everything Emery did is addressed in the NHL rulebook and, as this was his first instigation and first game misconduct of the season, there is no supplementary discipline.

As for my own reaction to the line brawl, this is what I will say: I will take a team triggering a line brawl and goalie fight over what I saw in the second period. To me, it's not a matter of whether I think it was gratuitous. It's a matter of how it plays in a team atmosphere.

Like it or hate it, a massive fight can actually serve to bring a team together. A club meekly accepting a butt-kicking in "Thank you, sir, may I have another?" fashion is far more internally troubling from a team standpoint.

Unfortunately, the Flyers suffered another injury casualty in the line brawl. Lecavalier suffered a facial injury, believed to be his mouth. He was not concussed, according to Holmgren, but will not make the trip to New Jersey and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

In the absences of Downie and Lecavalier, the Flyers will almost certainly call up Tye McGinn. The power forward, who scored three goals for Philadelphia prior to being returned to the AHL, notched a pair of goals for the Adirondack Phantoms in the team's 3-1 win on Friday.
It remains to be seen if the team will make a second callup or just dress enforcer Jay Rosehill and rotate Michael Raffl back up higher in the lineup.

Mason returned to the game to finish it after Emery was tossed out. Raffl had a late chance to break up Holtby's shutout bid and get his first NHL goal, but was unable to finish it. Holtby finished with a 30-save shutout.

During the second period, there were loud chants of "Fire Holmgren!" in the arena. The Flyers general manager said after the game that he did not blame the fans and understood their frustration.

In his postgame address, Berube was asked if the team has hit rock bottom.

He replied, "It can't get a whole lot lower, can it?"

Asked about the team's start to the game and what happened thereafter, Berube said, "We played pretty good in the first period. They got a goal. We didn't respond. That's what I saw."


DEVILS OUTLOOK

The Devils have had their own share of problems in the early going of the season, but have played better of late. New Jersey has struggled to score or prevent goals, although they actually have six more goals than the Flyers anemic total of 20 tallies in a dozen games.

New Jersey is 3-1-1 in its last five games. The club, which has been idle since Tuesday, is coming off a 2-1 home win against Tampa Bay. Adam Henrique and former Flyers right winger Jaromir Jagr notched the goals.

Jagr needs 16 more goals this season to reach 700 for his regular-season NHL career. The 41-year-old future Hall of Famer leads the Devils in scoring this season with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 12 games. Czech compatriot and longtime Flyer-killer Patrik Elias has three goals and seven points to date.


PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (Flyers linuep a guess, will be updated later

FLYERS

19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
15 Tye McGinn - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read
37 Jay Rosehill - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo

44 Kimmo Timonen - 41 Andrej Meszaros or 26 Erik Gustafsson
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
32 Mark Streit - 22 Luke Schenn

35 Steve Mason/ 29 Ray Emery

Scratches: Erik Gustafsson or Andrej Meszaros (healthy), Steve Downie (concussion), Vincent Lecavalier (facial injury), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).

DEVILS

26 Patrik Elias - 21 Andrei Loktionov - 68 Jaromir Jagr
25 Rostislav Olesz- 14 Adam Henrique - 17 Michael Ryder
9 Dainius Zubrus - 19 Travis Zajac - 12 Damien Brunner
18 Steve Bernier - 11 Stephen Gionta - 20 Ryan Carter

6 Andy Greene - 7 Mark Fayne
22 Eric Gelinas - 5 Adam Larsson
28 Anton Volchenkov - 2 Marek Zidlicky

30 Martin Brodeur
[35 Cory Schneider or 1 Keith Kincaid]

Scratches: Peter Harrold (healthy), Jacob Josefson (healthy), Mattias Tedenby (healthy), Ryane Clowe (IR, head), Bryce Salvador (IR, foot), Cory Schneider (day-to-day upper body) or Keith Kincaid (healthy).

*************

Kindle users: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information click here.

Click below to follow me on Twitter:

Join the Discussion: » 1345 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Flyers Gameday: 3/28/24 @ MTL
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update