With a goaltender like Henrik Lundqvist, the Flyers have to be prepared in every game against the New York Rangers that he is not going to give them many opportunities to score. Fight for the two goals that he may let up on and keep the Blueshirts from scoring more.
Instead, the defense completely laid an egg today and let the Rangers score five uncontested goals to continue their domination over the Flyers.
The offense was there. Even when the Rangers were leading in shots early on, the totals didn’t reflect the amount of blocked shots or shot forced wide by the stingy Rangers defense. The Flyers finished the game with 33 shots on goal and 64 total shots towards Lundqvist compared to the Rangers’ 26 shots on goal and 52 shots towards the net.
The top line had a strong game, as did Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds scored his 18th of the season to tie the game after redirecting a shot from Andrej Meszaros and assisted on a breakway goal for Claude Giroux.
Beyond them, Sean Couturier and Matt Read were invisible, Max Talbot played like a fourth liner and Tom Sestito and Zac Rinaldo were liabilities at different points of the game. Sestito was tagged with 24 minutes in penalties while Rinaldo was hit with 19 minutes on just one instance. Rinaldo had been having a good game until the third period, too.
As mentioned, the defense was atrocious.
The common thread on all five goals was that two or more Rangers were left completely alone in the vicinity of the net. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky could have stopped the first goal if he hugged the post, but the remainders were simple tap-ins that he had no control over.
Kimmo Timonen ripped the team in the locker room, saying that the team wasn’t executing the system for the whole sixty minutes compared to the Rangers, who play “their system every night.” When asked if having Chris Pronger would have made a difference, Timonen said “He’s not coming back” and pointed out that shouldn’t be an excuse anymore.
The penalty kill has stopped 53 of 66 attempts since the Winter Classic, good enough for 80.3% success rate. Since February, that number is 76.7%. Since Tuesday, 71.4%. As much as I do not like the idea of trading for Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman Hal Gill, the Flyers will need to get some help with the PK by the trade deadline.
Bobrovsky was his usual zen self afterwards, saying (as translated), “I’m not going to blame anyone. I really don’t want to comment on somebody else’s play. I think that every game, every player tries to do their best.”
Ryan Callahan, captain of the Rangers, earned the second hat trick of his career today. His first was on March 6, 2011, when he scored four goals against the Flyers.
Jake Voracek was injured during the second period and did not play in the third. The Flyers announced after the game that he had an upper body injury but would travel with the team to Detroit.
Ilya Bryzgalov was in the locker room after the game and appeared much better. He is expected to start tomorrow night against the Red Wings.
“Obviously we didn’t play the way we wanted tonight. The thing about our team is that we always bounce back and that’s what we’ve got to do next game.” – Wayne Simmonds
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Stop writing about hockey. Know one cares. Any sport that rewards a team a point for losing a game is no sport to me.
Sounds like this Team is falling apart and Coach Lav is losing some of his players.. Time to trade some Veterans that have some trade value and continue to build for the future.. Teams surging for the Playoffs may wan to trade some young players nad high draft picks for a Jagr,Hartnell,Briere,Timomen because the Flyers won’t get past the 1st Round at this point and do not match up well in a Series with Bruins,Rangers,Penquins and others in the Eastern Conference..
Flyers are not on the same page as rangers, they are lacking a defenseman or two, I don’t give bob a pass like the author does, there was virtually no reaction on the sharp passes in front of the net, not even an attempt, their only hope is to get hot late like two years back, but laviolette will play goalie carousel even if they do, just not the right way to win a cup
The same problem with this team, is the same problem that exists with all our teams, that is softness, the lack of toughness & balls. The Flyers don’t hit enough, don’t clear the porch, don’t back check, take too many soft stupid penalties & have goons that can’t fight. The Sixers are as soft as cotton on the boards & rely too much on $#!tty shot selection, instead of taking it to the rack. The Birds have no balls, can’t tackle & hit like male pillow bitters. Oops I meant female pillow fighters. Until they get more physically dominant D-men, consistent back checking, non-mentally fragile Russian goalies, & put some fear into some teams, they won’t make it past round 1. Just IMHO.
BTW, Matt Carle SUCKS! Homer please trade him & get some D-men in here!
DCar, stop blaming how much the goalies suck on Lavs. Both of these guys have huge deficiencies even if you let them play 40 games in a row. Pman, they have a ton of young talent, so why would you trade all of your veteran leadership. I could see Briere and or Jagr, but no point in trading Hartnell or Timmonen. First off Hartnell isn’t even that old and Timmonen is the only stable force on the blue line. This team is not gonna win a cup this year, but they have some promise for the next couple of years. Not bad considering they lost their top defenseman and turned over the team last year.
Flyers are currently a #3 Seed with a few Teams right on their Tails and playing better Hockey then the Flyers are ..
Where do most posters think the Flyers will be “Seed wise” come playoff time..
I think that this is where they will end up. They are better than the Caps and the Pens (without Crosby) and about even with TB. They just want be able to get by Boston or NY.
@trufan
Of course you aren’t… just another front-runner type.
@trufan… incidentally, there is no point awarded for a loss, only an overtime loss. Being a purist, I do despise shootouts because it’s not team play. But you can take up your gripes with Bettman for me.
I see the Penquins, & Devils passing the Flyers for sure and maybe even Florida …
bugsyhawk, where the hell, in any of my comments did I blame Lavy for the goalie play!? Please read correctly, before you tell me to stop saying something.
BTW, I think Lavy is a great coach. My only criticisms I ever said on here about him was his constant line juggling & not sticking with Bryz long enough to play out of his funk. Also the soft, garbage DF in front of him, doesn’t help his cause.