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In Soviet Russia, goaltender shut your yap! Apparently.

Last night, as you may know, Ilya Bryzgalov faced off against his former team, the Phoenix Coyotes. Earlier in the day, Coyotes defenseman and resident dick Adrian Aucoin had the following to say about Bryz:

“It sure adds to your motivation when you got a good guy back there that you want to do well for [talking about current goalie]… I haven’t met any hockey play who’s a bad person. He's [Bryz] obviously very different as a player, more as a person. He did things that aren’t very typical of hockey players or teammates but… he was a good goalie. [Was it just because of the language thing?] No, he’s a pretty smart guy, he knew what he was saying.”

 

And Derek Morris:

“You’ve got to throw a lot of pucks at Bryz, he’s known for letting in a lot of bad goals. Maybe he’ll go out and play a few, because he doesn’t like to do that. We’ve got to be banging away at rebounds, he gets frustrated that way. The [chirping] might go to the extreme tonight. I’m glad he’s gone… [new guy] fitted in real well, made our team even closer. I know there was some animosity there with Bryz. When he wants to play, he’s one of the best goalies you can have out there… We’ve got to get pucks to the net, I think it’ll be an ugly goal from the side that will go in on Bryz… What about the Tomas Holmstrom [last season] when we were up 2-0 against Detroit?  I think it almost went over the glass and somehow made it in.”

 

After the game, Russian goalie take high road:

Q: This morning on Phoenix radio they did an interview with Derek Morris and Adrian Aucoin and both of those players called you out as a person and as a player in not a very good light, did you have any personal jabs with them?

“No, I always thought good about these guys. They are good defensemen and good guys. I don’t hear anything. Every person in their life has an opinion about every one and we can’t pay attention to it. If he thinks like that I can’t change his mind.”

Q: Is it disappointing though you said a lot of good things about missing these guys?

No, I didn’t hear what they said first of all. Second of all, I don’t know how to say this, you can’t be nice to the whole world; some people hate you, some people like you, some people love, some people its just normal. It’s just life. I hope they continue to play well.”

 

And Paul Holmgren?

Q: A couple of the Phoenix players took some shots about Bryz; what kind of person he is, and the goal keeping he has been doing, do you feel like that is sort of like a low blow?

A: “We love Bryz. Whatever other people say, who cares?”

 

The Flyers won last night, 2-1.

Matt Read scored the winner with 18 seconds left– somehow, he was allowed to Occupy Slot in the final minute of a tie game. The man out of position… Derek Morris.

Of course, we’re just burying the lede in all of this. Look at Claude Giroux’s epic mustache, which he dyed black:

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My God, half of the women reading this just became pregnant. That thing alone can solve this Penn State mystery. Hell, it’s already been given its own crime-fighting show Mondays at 10 on NBC when Rock Center gets cancelled… I can keep going, but I’ll stop.

Anyway, yeah… now that Richie and Carts are gone, it’s pretty clear that G’s balls have dropped and he’s asserted himself as the alpha male on the team. 

Finally, we’re still awaiting word from Coyote Paul Bissonnette, Dan Carcillo’s Tweeting buddy, about his final thoughts on the Flyers’ ice girls. He was excited to see them last night:

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Also, Jaromir Jagr has a lower body injury.

Your photo gallery is here. Your highlights are after the jump.

Flyers quotes and Giroux photo courtesy of the Flyers. More audio of Aucoin and Morris bashing Bryz here, thanks to Randy Miller for the heads up. 2-1 victory courtesy of Morris’ defensive lapse.