Flyers Get Struck by Lightning
The Flyers headed into tonight’s match up with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wachovia Center with a bit of new look. Newly acquired Matt Carle and the return of Danny Briere and Andreas Nodl from injury should give the team a much needed boost. The Flyers have dropped their past two games, and have not played to their potential in either contest.Â
The Flyers showed good jump from the opening faceoff, outplaying Tampa for large stretches of the first half of the period. The game began to open up midway through the first and, as a result, Tampa wound up with the best scoring chance. Lecavalier picked an errant Flyers shot off the boards and headed out on a breakaway. He tried to fake Biron, but the goalie flashed his left leg to make a brilliant save. Braydon Coburn, never giving up on the play, made sure there was no chance for Lecavalier to get the rebound.Â
Aaron Asham, back in his enforcer role after scoring the only goal in Ottawa, dropped the gloves with Ryan Craig in an attempt to give his team a boost as their play leveled off after having the initial jump. It worked. On the next shift the Flyers got the first power play opportunity of the game as Adam Hall was called for Interference. A few good chances, and a failed clearing attempt led to Marek Malik taking a cross-checking penalty, given the Flyers a 5-3 for 1:33. The Flyers came into tonight’s game with the 3rd ranked power play, and looked to continue on that pace with the return of Danny Briere. It didn’t take long for Briere to score his 4th goal of the season. The goal was the result of a nice pass from Simone Gagne. Recognizing all of the traffic in front, Gagne slipped the puck through the crowd to a wide open Briere. The Flyers outshot Tampa Bay 18-5 in the opening period.
The Flyers opened the second period taking a penalty shortly after the face off. But they were able to kill it off with excellent penalty killing. They didn’t even allow Tampa to set up in the offensive zone. Four minutes into the period Aaron Asham and Ryan Craig renew acquaintances. The first fight seemed to just be the calling card.
Jussi Jokinen got the Lightning on the board at 7:58 when he got behind the Flyers defense and took a pass from Mark Recchi in the high slot. The play came about after a bad defensive miscue between the Flyers forwards and defense. Tampa Bay scored the go ahead goal at 13:35 when, on a 3-2 rush at the end of a shift, Jeff Carter shot wide and, as the puck caromed out to center ice, the Lightning caught the Flyers on a shift change. St Louis made no nice pass to Vinny Prospal who made no mistake as Biron really had no chance to make the save.
The Flyers then began to take bad penalties, two in the offensive zone only four minutes apart. But the penalty killers rose to the occasion as the Flyers had a number of shorthanded scoring chances but failed to capitalize on any of them. The best coming when Gagne picked a loose puck out of the pads of Mike Smith, but hit the post with the shot.
The Flyers started the third period looking very disorganized. Again they are failing to match their opponents intensity. They did get a power play as Steve Eminger, playing against his former team, took down Scottie Upshall as they were both going for the puck. The Flyers power play wasn’t doing much, but, when they finally got set up Mike Lundin took a high sticking penalty when he tried to lift Scott Hartnell’s stick.  The penalty gave the Flyers their second five on three of the game. But their inability to win the battle for a loose puck in the offensive zone resulted in Tampa clearing the zone, and Gagne took another bad, and another questionable, penalty erasing the five on three on the ensuing rush. The Flyers still had a four on three but failed to score.
Braydon Coburn took a delay of game penalty at 7:26 and the Flyers were forced to kill another Tampa power play. The Flyers again had the best scoring chance as Jeff Carter found some open ice in the neutral zone, but lost the puck cutting across the middle.
Good hustle by Hartnell led to another Flyers power play as Andrej Meszaros was forced to drag Hartnell down as he headed in on goal. The Flyers again failed to capitalize on the opportunity. They spent most of the power play in the Tampa end, but the play was kept to the perimiter. With a few more chances, but no more scoring the Flyers dropped their third staright decision 2-1.
Notes:
- Matt Carle played very well in his Flyers Debut.
- After being on fire last week, Joffrey Lupul seemes to have disappeared on the ice.
- The difference in tonight’s game was Tampa taking advantage of the opportunities given to them, and the Flyers failing to take advantage of theirs.
- The Flyers missed the net way too many times in this game
- Streaking:Â The Flyers have now lost three straight games, after winning four straight.
-MT
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