Skate Bites: We Have a Goalie! (?)(!)(?)

Do we have… a goalie?

Last night was the first time in twenty-five years (since I was, like, 3) that I felt like the Flyers had a legitimate tender of the nets.

I don’t know what to do with this. It’s as if I spontaneously grew an extra appendage, designed solely for pleasure, over which I have no control. What do I do with this thing?!

I’ll touch it– that’s what I’m going to do with it.

Let’s touch.

Ilya Bryzgalov has a .948 save percentage and 1.67 goals-against average in this recent three-game win streak, which counted a 3-2 victory against the Red Wings last night.

Whatever meeting he had with a “Flyers leadership group” appears to have worked. His positioning is better, his reaction time is quicker, and he looks like he’s into the game, rather than displaying the seeming indifference that we saw for the first five months of the season. Oh yeah, his antics – slamming his stick in frustration over poor defense and telling CSN’s John Boruk to shhhhhh – are charming– dare I say cute – when he’s actually stopping the puck.

The game picked up following Niklas Kronwall’s massive hit on Jakub Voracek. Kronwall quickly became public enemy number one, and, in my opinion, Bryzgalov, who was already playing well, received his first injection of type OB blood when he stoned the Red Wings defenseman’s one-timer from the slot (video here).

There were many more saves befitting a top-tier goalie, including this one with just under a minute to go. There are too many more to point out individually, so I’ll just recommend that you watch the full highlights after the jump.

Still need to see more from Bryz before anointing him the goalie of our dreams, but, for now, let’s just enjoy playing with our new appendage. Mmm, that feels nice.

Other nonsense:

Jason Babin was at the Flyers game, sitting in a Club Box. No pictures, but I imagine he was rocking his tribal tats and chomping on one of the 13 foods that will make you smarter, like crab fries… or hot wings. Or glass.

Claude Giroux had a little chat with Matt Carle following a play in which Carle lazily iced the puck. All appeared normal… until G two-handed his teammate:

Awesome.

Many on Twitter thought they saw Peter Laviolette flip the bird to the referee. While this makes for a cool picture, further video inspection revealed that Lavs had removed his gum™, placed it between his thumb and index finger, and was simply motioning to his chin (most likely about Kronwall’s hit on Voracek). And yes, these are the things I do with my time.

Jaromir Jagr is listed as day-to-day with a hip injury. Voracek had stitches to his upper and lower lips. Howard Eskin reports that Voracek does not have a concussion, but he will be reevaluated today.

Full video highlights are after the jump.