Emery Gets Revenge As Flyers Roll On
He made no bones about it. Ray Emery had this date circled on his calendar since the start of the season. A matchup against his former team. A team he led to within one game of a Stanley Cup Championship in 2007, and a team that bought out his contract less than a year later citing that a lack of maturity and emotional issues forced a need for a split. Emery, exiled from the NHL, played a year in Russia and excelled there. Having taken notice, the Flyers took a chance on the goaltender who wanted to rehab his image. And the move has paid immediate dividends. Emery is among the league leaders in both wins and save percentage.
But, now, came the first personal test in his season of redemption. A date with his old team. It was a game that meant a lot to his new teammates as well. They wanted to win for him. And they played with that sense of urgency, but not from the start.
Typically, the road team has to whether the storm for the first ten minutes of the game. But it was the Flyers, winners of four straight, who seemed tense during the first period. And Emery was on his game, keeping the game scoreless as the Flyers regrouped and ended the period playing the type of team defense their coaches expect.
The Flyers offense took over from there. Netting five goals, the fifth time in the last six games they have surpassed the four goal mark, the Flyers cruised to their fifth consecutive win. They got goals from JVR, Darroll Powe, Blair Betts, and two by Danny Briere, who returned from a quad injury.
The Flyers are definitely rolling now, but this is just one test in a long season. This was just the 15th game in a little over a month, an odd on and off start to the season. The Flyers will now play nine games in the next eleven days. The season finally feels like it’s starting to unfold.
Going Post To Post
- The Flyers have the number one ranked power play in the NHL. They went 2 for 4 with the man-advantage last night.
- In Baseball they use the term “scoring in bunches”. The Flyers scored their first goal of the evening at the 9:34 mark of the 2nd period. They scored four more times. That’s an average of one goal every 6:05. That’s scoring in bunches.
- Blair Betts 2nd period tally was his first as a Flyer.
- Danny Briere has seven goals in the eleven games he has played this season.
- The Flyers current five game winning streak is their first since December of 2008.
-Mike Tursi
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