For a team that has historically struggled with afternoon games, the announcement prior to the puck drop against the Montreal Canadiens that yet another forward would be out with an injury was disheartening.
In the end, it didn’t make a difference that James Van Riemsdyk, now with an “upper body injury” that will see him out for one to two weeks, and Jaromir Jagr were out of the line-up, as Claude Giroux led the Flyers to a 3-1 victory over the sputtering Habs.
Andreas Nodl, a healthy scratch in the win against the New York Islanders, played on the second line with Danny Briere and Matt Read while Wayne Simmonds (finally) moved to the third line with Max Talbot. Zac Rinaldo started on the third line but was replaced by Sean Couturier later in the game.
As has become a pattern lately, the energy and focus was all over the place in the first period for the Flyers. There were too many mental gaffes and turnovers, including the failed clear from Andrej Meszaros to 4th liner Petteri Nokelainen that led to the Canadiens’ only goal.
The Flyers took back control in the second period with three unanswered goals from the Claude Giroux-Jake Voracek-Scott Hartnell line and never looked back.
Giroux, who has still not scored a hat trick in the NHL, came up short again today but it was irrelevant. Counting all shots on net (with missed and blocked shots) Giroux led the team with 10 shots on goal while his line combined for 19. The team as a whole outshot the Canadiens by a 31-16 margin after the first period.
On special teams, the powerplay failed to convert on four occasions including a 5-on-3 for 1:41 in the third period, but their lack of success can be attributed more to the skill of the Habs and Hal Gill than a perceived incompetence. Montreal is currently ranked 3rd in the NHL in penalty killing.
The penalty kill was a shaky at first, with the same issue of leaving too many players open in the crease, but Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Max Talbot were back to pressuring the Habs into repeated shorthanded attempts in no time.
The parade of penalties continues to be an issue, though they were much less flagrant in nature than what has been occurring typically. I kept waiting for Danny Briere to cancel out the 5-on-3 with a stick infraction but he managed to stay out of the sin bin.
It was questionable whether Sergei Bobrovsky would earn the start over Ilya Bryzgalov, but coach Peter Laviolette elected to go with the hot hand and was rewarded for it with phenomenal play from the younger Russian netminder.
“There wasn’t a lot of work after the first period. In the first period, he made a couple big saves,” said Laviolette. “I think probably his best save came in the third period where it was 3-1 with that cross-ice play off the rush that they had. He came across with the right pad and was able to make the save.”
“I thought he was sharp, he handled the puck well and gave us an opportunity to win.”
The Flyers play again this afternoon at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. No word yet on who Lavi starts, but considering the games are back-to-back, logic says Bryz gets the call.
For the latest Flyers news and updates, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Defense looked a lot better in the 3rd. Montreal has some good offensive players, and I though the Flyers held up well considering their injuries. I have tried to defend Bryz, but there is no way you can start him now. They need to win games and Bob gives them the best opportunity to win.
Meszaros has continued to make bonehead plays and bad passes in the worst situations. If it weren’t for all the injuries on defense, it might be worth benching him a couple games. His offensive skills are not overcoming his defensive liabilities this year so far.
Talbot has been worth his weight in gold and has been stepping up his level of play as he becomes more acclimated to system and linemates.