1/30/13
I know all of you will be surprised to know that this is my
first blog on the Flyers. I’m expanding my horizons on what to blog about. The
Flyers were coming into this game with a surprisingly bad 2-4 record. However,
the Rangers had a surprising record of 2-3. Both teams are expected to be
playoff contenders which explains why their records are surprising to me, but
will that be the case now? It’s too early to tell. The last time these two
teams met, the Flyers finally beat the Rangers 2-1 for the first time since
2011. Tye McGinn was a healthy scratch for the Flyers, which was shocking
because he was playing well in the past few games filling in for Zac Rinaldo.
The Rangers quickly got on the scoreboard in the first
period as Michael Del Zotto slapped the puck right past Ilya Bryzgalov’s right
skate to make it a 1-0 Rangers lead. The Rangers scored another goal in the
second period on the power play to make it 2-0. Ryan Callahan got credited with
the goal as the shot by Rick Nash rebounded off of Bryzgalov and Callahan
scored off the rebound. The Flyers got on the scoreboard in the third period
when Kimmo Timonen slapped a shot in the middle of the Rangers zone and the
puck found its way past Henrik Lundqvist to make it a 2-1 game, which was the
final score of this game.
The Flyers looked careless in the first two
periods of the game, but woke up in the third period. They had many chances to
get back into this game, but failed to do so. The Flyers were one for six on
the power play, including a five on three power play in the second period. It’s
unacceptable that the Flyers didn’t score a goal on a two man advantage. The
Flyers were also terrible in winning faceoffs. The Rangers won 19 more faceoffs
than the Flyers. Some of those faceoffs the Flyers lost were critical because
it ruined their chances to score another goal or two, especially when they were
on the power play. Another critical stat that the Rangers took advantage of
were giveaways. The Flyers had 11 giveaways while the Rangers had five. The
Flyers may have only lost by one goal but they were lucky that it wasn’t a
wider margin because Bryzgalov was playing “out of his mind” in the net.
Where has Flyers
captain Claude Giroux been and why is he in this scoring slump? Sound off and
stay tuned until next time…
Interesting, do you think the bad starts by both sides are attributed to the lockout?
ReplyDeleteThere have been some.. strange results of late, considering this i wouldn't expect any of the NHL sides to be truelly themselves until a week or fortnight into it.
Last nights game, the Flyers D managed to restrict the Rangers to less than 30 SOG. So is it a volume of pucks on net game against Bryzgalov or is it more the quality of chances allowed to score on him that is the problem?
I mentioned to a well known friend (also a flyers fan) that part of the reason flyers traded out JVR to Toronto to get Schenn, to help out on D. So far this season their defence hasn't improved and their scoring has dropped.
That definately has to change so Flyers can get back to winning ways. Nice blog buddy! :-)
Thanks Rich. To answer your questions: bad starts are definitely because of the lockout. This is familiar to me because of how the NBA started last year coming out of the lockout. The fewer shots on net I think you're correct on that. Flyers D has blocked the shooting lanes. Only problem is not looking for the rebounds that bounce off of Bryzgalov.
ReplyDelete