Oh nos!
Not good. You can only tempt fate so many times (I’m looking at you, bin Laden). The Flyers have now outplayed their opponent – by a somewhat wide margin – in three of their five playoff losses. The common denominator? Goaltending. Let’s delve.
Neither the loss in Game 1 nor Game 2 can be blamed on the Flyers’ goaltending, but once again a superior opponent netminder was able to beat the Flyers.
via the Flyers:
The Flyers had 54 shots on goal tonight, which is a season high. The regular season high was 46 (11/15/10 vs. OTT) and they also surpassed the 49 SOG in Game 6 vs. Buffalo. It is the most shots for the Flyers in a playoff game since their franchise-record 75-shot game vs. Toronto in Game 4 of the 2003 ECQF (4/16/03).
The 22 shots in the third period set a Flyers franchise record for shots at home in a single period of a playoff game. The previous record was 20, done twice before, most recently in the 2nd period of Game 2 of 1980 Semifinals vs. Minnesota. . The overall franchise record is 28 at PIT in the first period of Game 3 of the 1997 ECQF.
The Flyers put 89 pucks towards the net tonight (54 on goal, 23 that were blocked and 12 that missed), which is a playoff high.
It seems like every playoff game we are marveling at how many shots the Flyers got off. The problem is that none of them go in.
Both Bob and Bouche played well last night and, as per the usual, we can find defensive lapses which led to the Bruins’ goals. Once in a while, however, it would be nice to see a Flyers goaltender bail them out. The Bruins (and Sabres) both had significantly more defensive issues than the Flyers, but they were often erased by Thomas (and Ryan Miller). 20 years later, and the Flyers still don’t have a goaltender that can win them a game. How many more times can they outplay their opponent and lose, before the squandered chances catch up with them? No more in this series.
God Bless America: Lauren Hart’s ridiculous God Bless America should have put a couple of tears in your eyes. If it didn’t, you either A) hate America or B) are a bit less sensitive than I am. Probably B- I cried during The Rookie when Dennis Quaid told his wife he made the Majors.
JVR: God Bless America kicked off one of the most intense five minutes spans of the season. Just 30 seconds into the game, JVR, the Flyers' only American-born forward, let us all know that he was playing the game in Beast Mode. And he supported the troops post-game with a Navy SEALS hat.
via the Flyers:
James van Riemsdyk posted eight shots on goal, making this his fifth game this postseason with eight or more shots on goal. He had never posted more than seven shots in a game in his two-year career before this year’s playoffs started.
Video montage of JVR’s night put together by CSN, after the jump.
Boucher: According to Lavs, Bouche left the ice in the second period with a "malfunction." That's new.
Q: Can you talk about the play of your goalies, especially Bob coming off cold off the bench?
"Yea it was great. Boosh had a malfunction and Bob went in and did his job. He played terrific and once the malfunction was fixed, Boosh went back in."
Q: Speaking of the malfunction was that not kind of of a gutsy thing, when he takes that shot of the hand there, it was clearly bothering him. That's not an easy thing for a guy to come in.
"I thought he came in and did a great job, really good."
Per observers, Johan Backlund was in the press box as the third-string goalie. He left to go to the locker room once Bouche left the ice, but, obviously, he wasn't needed.
Pronger: Oh look, Howard Eskin (and our speculation about Pronger leaving the bench on Saturday) was right. Pronger missed Game 2 with either a back or leg injury. Oh, hockey playoffs. You can officially believe nothing you hear about injuries.
The Captain: Mike Richards played his best game of the playoffs – by far – last night, leading the team with 10 shots on goal. For some reason, he just can’t seem to finish. He doesn’t quite have the hands around the goal that Briere has…
Briere: Well, maybe not. He had a malfunction:
Adam McQuaid: He flew home with the team, so we'll go ahead and post this:
Ole!
which was followed by this:
Malfunction.
CSN:
It was that kind of night.
Here are the JVR highlights.
H/T to Robert Horner, Matt Fehrle, and kmaccrap.tumblr.com
16 Responses
That Adam McQuaid whiff and crash was one of the funniest things i have ever seen live in a professional game. My man came flying in, not only trying to crush Richie, but also give him a high elbow. Then Richie moves, dude whiffs, and BAM dude face raped himself on the boards.
I wonder what he said to the trainer?
McQuaid – “Hows Richards? I’m really feeling it, I know I hit him HARD!”
Trainer – “Uhhhh, you fucking whiffed bro, you got allll boards. You knocked your ownself the fuck out.”
“Neither the loss in Game 1 nor Game 2 can be blamed on the Flyers’ goaltending, but once again a superior opponent netminder was able to beat the Flyers.”
I can’t agree. The OT win goal last night should have been stopped. As a matter of fact Bouche missed one just prior where he was lucky the goalpost jumped in the way of the puck. It went right past him, and he got lucky. Then he missed another that ended the game. Had we switched out goalies the score would have been 10 – 0 …… or worse. There is no other reason why besides goaltending that the Flyers lost the first 2 of the series imo.
lauren hart’s god bless america is awful. HOpefully one day they’ll get someone that can sing. I’m being totally serious.
I cant blame Boosh for the final goal, as Coburn telegraphed exactly what he was going to do. It’s very tough to stop a wide open one timer from the slot. Everyone in the building knew he was going behind the net to Timonen. His pass was 30 mph and a foot off the ice, which understandably handcuffed Kimmo, and led to a turnover. Again, the Bruins were in position along the far wall because everyone knew where Coburn was going. They Flyers do those stupid passes all the time to one another, by the way.
That said, it was so clear that Bobrovsky is better than Boucher. On the shot that “the post got in the way” on, Boucher reacted AFTER the puck hit the post. He’s old, he’s slow, and he needs to go.
Unfortunately, Peter Laviolette is like Pakistan in this scenario in that, he has some explaining to do. He botched the fuck out of this goaltending situation. Bob played a solid Game 1 allowing one goal, and Lavs gave him WAY too short of a leash in Game 2. And then Leighton sees the ice? You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. Maybe we don’t have a #1 goalie like Boston, Buffalo, or Vancouver, but you cant treat goalies like Lavs has.
you know this is a legit blog when philly haters troll through every post. i think their 2nd goal (marchand) was the only one that should’ve been stopped. the ot winner was a pass from coburn that kimmo wasn’t able to stop along the boards which gave horton all the time in the world to find a wide open krecji between the hashes for a one-timer. you can’t expect a goalie to stop that.
Unfortunately, I agree with the poster above about Ms. Hart (sorry, Gene!). Her half-assed R&B rendering is a bit lame in it’s own right, but when juxtaposed with Kate’s awesome power it’s just downright obnoxious (sorry, sorry). That said, her back-story is inspiring and she is part of the soul of the franchise, so she can sing it as long as she likes. I just wish she’d stop trying to be Beyonce.
Oh, and last night was just another instance in which I realized I’m getting old. While McQuaid’s swing-and-a-miss was amusing in theory; there’s nothing funny about watching a guy go into the boards like that. When I was 21 I booed Michael Irvin, but now those kind of things just really give me pause.
mark- i hear you, we made sure he was OK before posting. I mean, he’s obviously dinged up, but nothing too serious it seems. Didn’t want to feature it because I thought it was a bit horrific
Hey Kyle, no worries at all! I definitely thought you gave it the proper respect and whatnot. Good work as always.
wow, mcquaid is going to be like 3 inches shorter now. Dude coulda got killed.
as far as lauren hart goes, I guess one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
I give her a 6 on the 1-10 singing scale. She can hit notes, but really flubs some others. IMO they need to scrap the GOD BLESS AMERICA before every game. It’s lost its mojo.
Time for the captain to step it up. Also, having carter back would help. I wonder which 2 goalies will play tomorrow night?
just a disclaimer…i didnt laugh at McQuaid until I saw he got up and skated off…but after that it was fair game! Severs him right for trying to cheap shot Richards with that high elbow he threw before he KO’d himself.
First:
54 shots but a preshuss few were any good. They can beat Thomas but they got to go high like they did with Miller. Most of those 54 either didn’t get airbourne or they wer just not high enough and went into TT’s sweetspot (the logo). Why can’t they riase the puck? Is the ice at The Well crappy this late into the season? Maybe they were better off not getting home ice advantage.
Lastly, The Offishal IBMcG Sinopsis:
Blah blah blah WTF! goaltending still sux… Blah blah blah defense needs to be better… Blah Blah Blah JVRules… Blah blah blah Lauren Hart is getting tired… Blah blah blah but screw you if you don’t like her singing… Blah blah blah you’re a f*cking Al Kayda if you don’t like “God Bless America” either… Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!! Briere fans on the GWG… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Richards o-layed McQuaid.
PS: Earlier pre-game 2 reports were saying that Pronger was out because of a “head cold”? So is that sin-non-nah-muss for an upper body inury? Ahahaha
@Iron Balls – im usually the guy giving you points but i cant say i agree with you this time. the game that i watched i saw at least 25+ highlight reel saves from thomas. but you are correct they need to stop going low in him. hes only like 5’11” he goes down on every shot. if theres any goalie in the league youre not gonna beat down low its thomas. no better example of that than zherdevs slam dunk right into timmys pad. they need to shoot high cuz his high shot rebounds (stick side in particular) are awful. shoot high and crash the net. thats how you beat thomas. anybody with an ounce of hockey knowledge could see that. bostons defense is awful. theyre about as bad as coburn is at clearing the porch.
side note – coburn should not recieve a jersey next game or ever again. ive been saying that since they got him. hes the single worst player on the team and possibly in the league. id take randy fuck jones and matt walker over coburned. and as much as i love boosh and i think hes a great goalie and has played well, bob needs to start the rest of the series unless he has an absolute meltdown. hes the better goalie. has been all season. people are looking for the goalie that can steal a game for you they overlook bob. anyone recall when he went cold in like november then told lavs that he wouldnt lose for a month and then went out and didnt lose for a month or more?
I couldn’t look at McQuaid going into the boards more than once, eevn though he’s a member of the opposition, I’m surprised he didn’t break his neck or wind up paralyzed. Not once did it occur to me to chuckle at his misfortune.
As for Lauren, she’s okay, she’s easy on the eyes, and that’s good enough for me. Would you rather have a horse-faced cow with a golden voice like Susan Boyle waddle out on the ice to sing the anthem instead? I rest my case.
Johnny Rockets,
“25+ highlight reel saves from thomas”
Naw. Piss poor shots most of them (not even a dozen) and the way Timmie flails aboot just makes them savies look better’n they’re. Read your own comment and you’re actually agreeing with me. hahaha
Coburn made one bad move. he’s been one of the more dependable D’ers out there besides Kimmo and I wish they’d split them up to even out the talent despite wanting the big and the small guys out 2gether to even out size. If anything on the D side, Carle should be in the hot seat, followed by Mezzy. Carle’s positioning has been terribull and his clearing attempts have been atrohshuss, leading to too many turnovers, and giving me a burnin hart (not just in the playoffs, but almost all season long). just look at his +/-. But there’s plenty of blame to go round and no-one will be sat that isn’t hurt unless the hurt guys are healthy again. You just have to let Lavs and the leading players (whoever they may be) to keep the heat on the slacking players arses all 60 minutes.
I cried during God Bless America… so beautiful.
JVR was more than outstanding; he’s proved to be an extremely dominant player, just as I predicted.
Comments are closed.