Bob Continues to Assert Himself as the Alpha Male

Or, in Soviet Russia, the альфа-самца!

I Google translated that, I don't speak Russian... Anyway, here's a blind taste test for you: 

A) 17, 10-3, 2.42, 92.1

B) 34, 18-10, 2.42, 91.6

C) 29, 16-9, 3.07, 89.1

Only one of those is making $51 million.

What you're looking at are the games played, W-L, GAA, and SV % of A) Sergei Bobrovsky, B) 2010-2011 Brian Boucher, and C) Ilya Bryzgalov. Are we still going to blame the defense?

The Flyers beat the Islanders and their mis-matched, directionless, out-of-touch black and blue and orange and grey and puke jerseys last night, 3-2. Here’s a fun stat courtesy of the Flyers PR department:

The penalty shot save by Sergei Bobrovsky was the first of his career.  He had been 0-for-3 on penalty shots.  Bobrovsky has now been in the net for the last four Flyers penalty shots against.  It was the first saved penalty shot by any Flyers goaltender since 1/30/09 @TBL, when Martin St. Louis stopped by Antero Niittymaki – opponents had scored on five consecutive penalty shots since then.  Prior to that five-shot streak for shooters, Flyers goaltenders had stopped 14 of 15 penalty shots from 1998 – 2008.

[The press notes originally said it was the first stop since 2008, but Flyers all-star intern Alexandra passed along the correction]

 

While Bob is breaking unfortunate barriers, Bryz is sitting on the bench, getting ripped by our friend John Miller of Philly Sports Daily: 

As every incoming athlete is cautioned, you need to be mentally tough to play professional sports in Philadelphia. There’s going to be a lot said about you and you need to not worry about trying to be Mr. Popularity.

It certainly isn’t vicious here; it’s just that it’s oppressive. The media isn’t nearly as tough as people think – I’m pretty sure CSN stands for “Cheerleader Sports Network” – and you fans, believe it or not, are generally positive. Really, it’s just that we pay a lot more attention than they do in other places, not they we have unfair expectations.

 

The former CSN producer is right in everything he wrote there. More here.

Also on the bench, Jaromir Jagr was, um, yankin’ his spacha, or doing something otherwise uncomfortable to a viewing audience via reader (@guffock) and Buzz On Broad:

Lovely. 

This is the letter Peter Laviolette wrote Islanders fans when he took over head coaching duties there in 2001.

Finally, Max Talbot received a healthy elbow from Steve Staios. Here’s video of the hit, and what appears to be a glazed over Talbot speaking with reporters after the game. 

 

Video via Flyers beat writer Randy Miller

...

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Comments

[Jose from Norristown]

We got HOCKEY ACTION, Yo!

[J.T.]

Man, God forbid we have two good goalies and one is playing really well. MUST MEAN CONTROVERSY BECAUSE I CARE MORE ABOUT MY BUSINESS THAN STOPPING RIDICULOUS MEDIA CAMPAIGNS THAT WILL RUN A QUALITY GOALTENDER OUT OF TOWN.

I love how you use the defense of the media, written by... the media. Yeah, because if they were too tough on some of the players (which they are, or are most athletes just insensitive babies? I mean, some are, but not to the extent you see with the disdain for you guys), they would come out and admit it. So ridiculous.

Love how you use Boosh's stats, as well. When he was top 12 in GAA and top 17 in save percentage. Boosh played well during the regular season last season... but yeah, let's use his numbers like they were terrible, so that must mean Bryz is EXTRA terrible.

Anyway, I'm done with this. I'm not giving you any more attention on this goalie thing. We have two quality goalies, one who is playing extremely well right now, one who is struggling a bit. Man, never heard of that happening before. Any goalie who ever struggles is worthless. Completely.

Keep saying it, Kyle. I'm not saying a thing more about the goaltending... till the playoffs, when Bob has cooled off, Bryz hits his stride, takes over and steals a few games. I'm silent on it till then... when I'll be back to say we ALL told you so.

[Aaron]

J.T. = idiot! Kyle is just showing that the stats lead us to believe its not the defense that breaks down and leads Bryz to have terrible #'s. Bryz has let in far too many "bad" goals" and Kyle is just pointing that out, and showing how Bob is truly out performing him.

WE ALL HOPE Bryz hits his stride, and there is plenty of season (And contract) left so just relax.

Stop overreacting J.T.

[Tony Bruno]

Hey Jose, go mow my lawn

[J.T.]

Aaron... have you read what Kyle has posted in the last two weeks regarding Bryz? If you haven't, do yourself a favor and read through it, as well as the comments section. Then you'll see I'm really not overreacting, so much as I'm just tired and done with trying to get Kyle to stop with HIS overreaction to Bryz' struggles.

[Jose from Norristown]

WHAT UP Bruno?!

[gan]

So we're comparing last year's Boucher (with quite a different looking team than this year) to Bryz this year? No one is denying Bryz is struggling, but this season is the exception, not the rule. He's not as bad as he's been playing (look back to Phoenix numbers).

[Tony Bruno]

Bob should be the starter.
Not like John Gruden who stinks.
I hate Bill Belichick!
Beautiful man. Beautiful.

[Blonders]

Jagr finishes fast!

[Aaron]

J.T. perhaps your right, but I think the bigger concern is just how much $$ is invested in Bryz and the fact that he is playing so poorly. He is a great goalie, but it may just be scary to see how he has unraveled thus far.

I am an optimist, so I believe he will bounce back, however I can understand why the most EXPENSIVE player on the team who is under performing so badly is getting negative attention.

[MM]

Was it 3-0 last night, thought i saw 3-2, anyway, Defensive coverage in thier own zone, mostly by the forwards, is the flyers issue. They get running around... often. Kyle you must've been a winger, it would explain your views.

[mcline88]

seriously? Jagr jerking off? what are we 12 years old Kyle?

[mca]

Why did they not touch on the gum out of the mouth on 24/7. Did I miss it? An explination would have been good.

[G]

JT, nobody cares if you come back or not. Nobody cares about your opinion, and nobody cares if you boycott this site. Thats why no one is reading your blog. Keep up the good work Kyle.

[Mickloud]

JT, back again after getting schooled on the Tim Thomas comparison?

We're all Flyers fans here buddy.. we all WANT Bryz to succeed. Obviously, we all want him back for the playoffs in full stride and stealing games... but quit being a goddamn douche about it. We gutted our team, and enacted a philosophy change to make room for this guy's $51m contract, and his play has been ABYSMAL and everyone has noticed but you it seems. Maybe the focus is too intense and it's overblown in the short term, but that's what happens when you're the highest paid player on a team in a marquee position.. arguably the most important position in all of sports. (JT, meet Donovan McNabb)

(On the flip side.. let's all chill a bit. Bryz is halfway through Season 1. He has plenty of time and he'll be given ample opportunities to turn it around.)

Regardless, though, I said all summer that Bob would be ready soon.. maybe not ready to be a legit #1 this year, but he'll be ready A LOT sooner than 9 years and $51m.

[Iron Balls McGinty]

"Jaromir Jagr was yankin’ his spacha..."

So I take it you're the expert on "spacha" yanking now, eh Boyo? Maybe I should ask Ms CB (aka Rosie Palms and her five sisters). Hahahahah.

[Ray]

Steve Staios is a jerk-off. I'm talking multi-game 'vacation' for that asshole. Completely not needed in today's NHL. Exactly why the rules are in place. Tough guy gone corporate Mr Shanahan video please enter stage left in 3, 2, 1...

[Tony Bruno]

What up Jose......Hartnell has beautiful hair

[Jose from Norristown]

Bruno - Check those locks out, yo

[J.T.]

Mickloud-

You may want to go back to that post where you "schooled" me on Tim Thomas... and then see how everyone after you and I debated actually agreed with... who was that? Oh, right. Me. Good job schooling though.

And your McNabb comparison doesn't really work. McNabb was given chance after chance and NOT criticized till the end of the season... which is ALL I've been asking for here in regards to Bryz.

And G-

Glad you don't care and are able to speak for everyone else. The 5 commenters in the past week who said "good job, J.T." or "I agree J.T., thanks" on this exact argument... yup, they didn't care about my opinion.

I really don't care if you don't care about my opinion. I'm doing what I can (since I don't have a blog) to get the media (which includes Kyle, whether he likes it or not: when you have the "best sports blog in Philly" you are a part of the media) to STOP making this a goalie hell. You disagree, that's great. But at least I'm not just dismissing people I disagree with- I'm bringing up points to back up my argument and attempt to get them to understand. You are not.

[Pete H]

Hey JT...Good to hear from ya again.

I think part of this controversy argument has to do with the fact that Bob has played pretty well all year. (Before I go any further, lets just acknowledge that the Defense is definitely part of the problem and needs to improve if we want to have a chance of winning. Maybe Homer can pull a nice Shea Weber rabbit out of his hat soon...who knows. Ya can't always blame the goalie for games like the winter classic or when Carle decides to stand right in front of Bryz with a guy shooting the puck from the slot. )

Having said that, Bob has played with the same defense in front of him as Bryz has, and he seems to hold the team together a lot better thus far. Even though hes played only a little over half the time that Bryz has, Bob's been making the most of it. More often than not, he's bailed his team out when the defense shat the bed, and he's made a ton of really key saves when hes needed to since the beginning of the season. Even though hes played more, I feel like Bryz hasn't bailed this team out when hes had to. I just feel more confident when the opposition is swarming around our net with Bob than Bryz. Maybe Bryz will improve, but it better be by the end of March/Beginning of April or else we WILL have a controversy on our hand with the playoffs around the corner.

And as far as the argument "going with the hot goalie doesn't mean theres a controversy"...I get that. But I think that would apply if Bryz is playing well. He hasn't. Instead the sophmore on a rookie contract is outplaying the 52 million dollar man that we gutted our team for. I'm not personally giving up on Bryz yet, but its still worrisome to an extent.

And comparing Bryz's numbers to Boosh's...Boosh did play well. And thats just it. He didn't play great. Didn't bail us out of games as much as he could've. Still gave up bad goals. Was very standard. All of the things that apply to Bryz applied to Boosh. Why did we end up giving all that money to Bryz when we could have just kept Boucher for cheaper? I'm not saying they should have done that, but I think thats what goes through people's heads when they watch Bryz.

And finally, I agree with Millers article. I think the whole "fear the media" mentality in this town, and sports in general, is over rated. I don't like a lot of them (See: Tim Pannachio). I don't like that they try to make something out of nothing, and act like they're actually part of the team (See: Tim Pannachio). But, to me, the sports media is the guy that thinks hes a tough motherfucker, when in reality he's just a pussy with a small dick wearing a muscle shirt driving a fast car to over compensate. (See: Tim Pannachio) Everyone marvels in awe over their exterior but its easy to see right through the bullshit. And yeah, I get that you're under the microscope a lot more here...But again--Professional athlete. 52 million dollars. He should have thicker skin than this, if the pressure really is the problem.

[Schtick Coma]

Is it me, or has the Giroux line faded. Other than on the power play, how much is Jagr contributing right now? He seems slow and turns the puck over A LOT. Maybe they should be cutting into his ice time and mixing Voracek on the top line to get some speed. They were lucky to get three goals last night, and Bob stole a couple of goals away from the Isles.

[Kyle Scott]

yes, i was a winger, center. did block my fair of shots, though. i was skinny timmo.

[AndBrown12]

I can't blame Jagr. Claude has the same effect on me

[Doom Hooligan]

I hope the Islanders lose every game they play when they wear the awful sweaters they wore last night. I can't decide if they're as bad as those terrible red alternate sweaters the Beefalow Sabres were using a while back, or the gaudy, atrocious old Vancouver sweaters (the black/yellow/orange ones) that are long-retired. And while on the topic of sweaters, who is the asshole responsible for the home-team-wears-white going away? The home team crowd already knows what their team's main colors are. Why the fuck would the league want to showcase the less-awesome, previous standard home-white for a visiting team? Is that another Bettman FAIL? That shit is extremely stupid.

If Bryz is still the Lost Woodsman, well, he has half a season to get his shit together. At the end of the season it would be fair to evaluate his season, but his whole season can't be evaluated properly yet with only half the games played. BOB maybe should have been given one more year to see how he develops as a #1 before the decision to lay out $51mil was made, but nothing can be done about that now. Fuck it. Go Flyers.

[Andrew Mc]

Bryz has obtained 62.5% of the available points in games played (16-9-3 = 35 of 56pts)

Bob has obtained 75% of the available points in games played 10-3-1 = 21 of 28pts)

[Tony Bruno]

Jose....SF, Baltimore, Pats and GB.....book it my Mexican friend

[Dave S]

Anyone who doesn't think there is a brewing controversy apparently doesn't watch the Flyers. Or has their head stuck up Homer's ass. Right now Bob is the better goalie, and is developing into a legit #1 starter. Bryz will turn it around, but maybe not this season, every goalie has their bad years.. But the fact is the Flyers jumped the gun on signing him when they had Bob to start with. Look, worst case scenario is that Bob continues to play great, and all anyone talks about is a goalie controversy in with Bryz riding the pine in the playoffs, in the offseason they'll trade Bob for stud defenseman, Bryz will get his job back by default next year.

[Wilson]

Can't we all just get along?

[Andrew Mc]

You know, Dave S there has a good point. Maybe the Flyers are creating a bit of Buzz around Bob to fish him out there as trade bait.

[Matt]

JT are you kidding me? Excluding Lundqvist the top 4 goalies in S% all make less than Bryz. There is no problem with the Flyers defense, there was last year in the post-season when every goal was banged in off a rebound from a guy 2 feet infront of the net, but there isn't now.

The only way I can put it is every defense has a lapse sometime or another, teams with a good goalie will bail them out every once in awhile, and Bryz has failed to do that whereas Bob has been doing that.

Everyone knew the situation coming into this year, Bryzgalov has NOT performed well under pressure. The first two playoffs in Anaheim he did well, then in Phoenix he folded. Last years playoffs, the 4+ GAA isn't as bad as the sub .880 S%. Save % is based soley on the number of shots the goalie stops so it's a great indicator of a goalie's performance.

The problem is fans here have no patience with this team. All you had to do was watch Bobrovsky play 54 games last year as a 22 year old rookie to see how quick and how great of positioning he had. The problem was, come playoff time the defense couldn't clear Boston from the front of the net. Anyone who knows hockey could have told you Bobrovsky would/will be a very good goalie in this league, and considering the fact that hes outplaying an 11 year veteran on a good team, and has the 13th best S% in the NHL as a backup, says something.

[Tyler]

Jagr was fixing his jock. A lot of chaffing can occur down there during the course of a game. If you played hockey you would know.

[J.T.]

Matt-

What, exactly, of what you said contradicted what I said?

If you think the defense had no role in some of the goals Bryz has given up, I can't help you. But they had a role (again, I've said all along, Bryz has NOT been great.. he hasn't even been good. I've only said that he WILL be better than this- that last year's team peaked right around now then shit the bed. I'd rather Bryz shit the bed now than in April, May or June). Not to mention, players talk about how they play better and more responsible defense for the backup. That's something I've heard many players say. So, by that logic, they do actually play better in front of Bob than Bryz. Again, that doesn't excuse Bryz' poor play, but to dismiss it, and actually say last year's defense was worse, is incomprehensible to me.

I like how you say Bryz has not performed well under pressure... then throw out the two instances where he did in favor of the two where he didn't. Gotta take the whole picture. Yes, Bryz had a bad series last year. It was against Detroit, but let's discount that. Oh, what's that you say? Bob did bad in the playoffs last year, too? Oh, that must mean he can't handle pressure? See? It doesn't work.

You say the "fans here have no patience." Only it wasn't the fans that didn't have the patience that caused the team to go get Bryz... it was Ed Snider's impatience. HE is the one that said we would never again have the goalie situation we had last year.

I also love that you say the "fans here have no patience" in the DEFENSE of the argument that Bryz sucks and we have a goalie controversy. If you have so much "patience" WHY DON'T YOU GIVE HIM THE WHOLE YEAR BEFORE YOU SAY HE SUCKS? The man was a Hart finalist 2 years ago, top 3 in GAA last year, has had a couple good performances in the playoffs, has been very consistent prior to this year... but 30 bad games and it's time to throw him under the bus?

And I believe we all knew Bob was a good goalie. But this team (what with the Prongers and Timonens getting older) thought their window to win a Cup with those pillars was closing. They wanted a goalie who could do it THIS YEAR, instead of a question mark in Bob. And coming in (and still to this day) Bob IS a question mark for the playoffs. He played just as well at times last year as he is playing now... how'd that work out in the end?

And that's NOT ripping Bob- I love him. I wanted Bryz on a 2-3 year, high salary contract just to bridge the gap until Bob was ready for the full-time gig. I didn't have a say in the 9 year deal... but since we signed Bryz to that, my argument THIS ENTIRE TIME has been to give Bryz this season before everyone starts saying how big a mistake the deal was (there's that patience thing again) and how we have a controversy.

And, again- having two quality goalies does NOT a controversy make. It is a POSITIVE, because when one is struggling (EITHER one), the other can come in and carry for a bit.

@Pete H- thanks for being sensible even though we disagree. It's nice that we can have a good conversation without the verbal attacks others have to resort to.

[Chirp]

Kyle, name the 2 Rookie defenseman that played infront of Boucher last season.

Name the #1 D man that played for the Flyers last year in front of Boucher.

Wait let me help you. Boucher had a defense last year. The worst defender was who O'donnel? Walker? This year we have what? Marshall? Lilja? Bourdon(worst D in the NHL by far)?

Oh hey this guy Pronger played last year too...hes okay.

So we have one defender right now Coburn...Timmo is hurt in case you didn't know. Also in case you didn't know the big talk has been about the Flyers picking up a D man since...hmm pronger went down? Why is all the talk about getting a D man? Maybe because the D is awful.

Did you notice on that Bob save how that play happened? Did you see bourdon look like a turn style. If your going to expect your goalies to play like this every game then your in for a let down. What happens next we give Bob another start and he shows his inconsistency and loses. (See Rupp, Mike)

Right now this team is relying too heavily on the goaltender and yes bob played well and is the better goalie right now but there is no controversy.

Every team plays diff with a diff goalie in net. Boucher last year the team knew they had to play well in front of him to win and they did. This year they don't think that cause they expect Bryz to make every save. Bryz does need to be better. but Kyle please stop talking about it. It is so clear you know very little about hockey and what your doing is feeding a fire that is always lit in Philly weather we like it or not.

Philly will always have a goalie controversy because of media people like you that think you know something about the game...go look at all the numbers you want and post them all you want. You don't understand the game, the position, or for the most part hockey...

JT once again great points. Its like talking to a brick wall though. No matter how much evidence you put in front of them and how piss poor the D plays it seems to always get overlooked...

[Chirp]

@ matt

"There is no problem with the Flyers defense,"

wow...I don't even know how to respond to that...what games are you watching? The Flyers defense is one of the worst in the NHL...if you cannot see that then you must be on some good shit or something...crazy...

[Matt]

The whole city has been patient with Brygalov, he hasn't changed all year, from the game against Winnipeg, to the crappy goals against Ottawa. Like I said, the defense WILL make mistakes, it happens, but the goalie needs to bail them out in some situations and Bryz is not doing that. It's no coincidence that Bob's GAA and S% are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than Bryz's considering they both face on average 26 shots per game. Bryzgalov has started 28 games in which to prove he's performing like a top tier goalie and he hasn't done it. As a comparison Tim Thomas makes $5mil, he's posting a 1.59GAA and a .939 S%, Lundqvist who makes about $6.5mil is posting a 1.89 GAA and a .937 S%, and ladies and gentlemen the man who you traded away half (of the only team who made it to the Finals in the last decade) your team for has a 3.07 GAA and .891 S%.

And I didn't throw away Bryz's two good playoff performances, I put them on the backburner because his two most recent playoff runs were atrocious. To further prove my point, this may not be Bryz shitting the bed, this may be what type of goalie he is, because quite frankly his play hasn't changed since game 1 of last years Western Conference Finals.