FLYERS HOLD SERVE IN PLAYOFF CHASE
Going into last night's home game against the injury-depleted and NHL cellar-dwelling Buffalo Sabres, the Philadelphia Flyers had one objective in mind: win ugly or win comfortably but just win. In the end, the Flyers took another step toward clinching a playoff spot, claiming a 5-2 victory.
The Flyers dominated the first period but could get only a Matt Read goal on the long rebound of a Mark Streit shot off the post. The Flyers defensemen later added two more helpers to his ledger for the night. A three-goal explosion by Philadelphia in the second period turned the 1-0 lead into an insurmountable advantage.
Brayden Schenn, who had been mired in a seven-game pointless drought, scored power play deflection goal in the second period and an even strength line rush goal in the final period. Schenn become the sixth Flyers player to hit the 20-goal mark this season. Vincent Lecavalier bagged a right-circle goal to draw within one tally of becoming the seventh.
Zac Rinaldo, who scored the Flyers second goal early in the middle period, also made things much more difficult on his team than they needed to be. After taking three minor penalties over the first two periods -- goaltender interference, charging, tripping -- Rinaldo received a match penalty at 4:29 of the third period.
On the play, Rinaldo delivered a needless check to the head of Sabres defenseman Chad Ruhwedel. The woozy player was in immediate distress with what quickly diagnosed as a concussion. Rinaldo was tossed from the game and is certainly going to be suspended when the NHL reviews the play.
There is no place in the game for that sort of hit. Rinaldo has tried to live down the reputation for bad hits that caused him to rack up numerous OHL and AHL suspensions before he ever set foot in the NHL, but type of play makes it hard to truly trust the player. He had been walking the line pretty well of late but he is always a risk of making bad decisions such as this head shot or jumping Dallas counterpart Antoine Roussel -- a very similar sort of player and personality -- earlier this season.
Rinaldo also has a previous NHL suspension on his rap sheet and at least one other incident that resulted in a fine. That will also figure into the impending suspension.
The Sabres' Cody Hodgson scored a deflection goal midway through the Sabres' five-minute power play to cut the deficit to 4-1. After Schenn restored the four-goal lead for Philadelphia, Buffalo got a meaningless late-game goal by Mike Weber to make it a 5-2 final. On the final goal, Weber pinched down into the slot on a delayed penalty and was left unmarked to receive a centering pass from Hodgson and stuff the puck home.
Steve Mason stopped 17 of 19 shots for the Flyers. Sabres netminder Nathan Lieuwen turned back 32 of 37 shots.
With the win, the Flyers remained two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus defeated the New York Islanders last night. The second-place New York Rangers were idle last night, moving the Flyers two points behind the Blueshirts with one game still in hand.
MONDAY QUICK HITS
* The Flyers have a complete off-day today. In the afternoon, they will fly to Florida. Tomorrow night in Sunrise, the Flyers play the Florida Panthers.
* Michael Raffl centered the second line last night, flanked by Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds. Vincent Lecavalier centered the fourth line.
* Jay Rosehill dressed for the second straight game.
* Luke Schenn was credited with 10 hits in last night's game as well as four blocked shots. Nicklas Grossmann (3 blocked shots) led all Flyers with 21:09 of ice time.
* Longtime Flyers defenseman, HockeyBuzz blogger Brad Marsh, was in attendance at last night's game. Former Flyers center Peter Forsberg attended Thursday's game.
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