2/28/13
Welcome back Simon Gagne. Last night he made his Flyers
debut and boy was it a dandy. On Tuesday the Flyers acquired Gagne from the Los
Angeles Kings for a conditional fourth round pick in this year’s draft. Gagne
was originally drafted by the Flyers in 1999 and stayed with the team until
2010. This trade was nostalgic for Flyers fans and the start of a honeymoon.
I’m hoping Gagne plays well for the Flyers. I say this because in 2009, Allen
Iverson did a comeback tour with the 76ers. That honeymoon ended sadly. The
Flyers and Capitals were both coming into this game as mediocre teams. The Flyers
were 9-11-1 in the standings and the Capitals were 7-10-1. Mike Knuble was a
healthy scratch for the Flyers as they had to make room to put Gagne on the
active roster. The Flyers have also been hit with the injury bug as they were
without Matt Read, Andrej Mezaros, and Tye McGinn. Read has a torn hip. Mezaros
has a left shoulder injury and McGinn hurt his face in a fight recently against
the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Capitals were without their backup goalie, Michael
Neuvirth. He was scratched because he has the flu.
The Flyers got off to a fast start as they scored the first
goal 23 seconds into the game. Claude Giroux scored the goal on a nice
backhanded pass by Scott Hartnell. Hartnell forced the Captials to turn over
the puck in their own zone, which is how the goal was set up. Four minutes
later, the Flyers scored another goal, but this time it was on the power play.
Hartnell shot the puck and Wayne Simmonds got the rebound and put the puck in
the net as he fell on his rear end. The Flyers led 2-0 after the first period.
In the second period, the Flyers started out quick too. The Flyers scored
another power play goal four minutes into the period. This time it was the
new/old guy as Gagne got the puck on a sweet backhanded pass by Brayden Schenn,
and scored. With five minutes left to go in the second period, Max Talbot
blasted a slap shot into the net that made it 4-0 and ended Capitals starting
goalie Braden Holtby’s night. Holtby got replaced by Philipp Grubauer, who was
playing in his first NHL game. The Capitals got one late goal in the third
period by Joel Ward so they can say that they were not shutout by the Flyers. The
Flyers won this game 4-1 and are now the eighth playoff seed in the Eastern
Conference.
I thought the Flyers played a dominant game. The way they
started out the game was the best the team has played all year. They started
fast, played energetic, and played with a sense of urgency. The Flyers outshot
and outhit the Capitals. Both teams were disciplined as there were very few
penalties called. There could be a cause for concern for the Flyers since Eric
Gustafson left the game in the second period with what is known as a lower body
injury. He was playing well on defense for the Flyers. Hopefully Kurtis Foster
can step up for Gustafsson if he has to miss any games. Ilya Bryzgalov didn’t
have to work that hard to get his saves because the Flyers’ defense was playing
very well in front of him. Bryzgalov has also been the most consistent Flyer
this year.
Could this be the
start of a turnaround for the Flyers season now that their schedule is more
spread out? Sound off and stay tuned until next time…
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