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FlyersWIRE: Road-savvy win for Flyers
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Biron and good 'D' helped the Flyers win (AP)
With a strange weekday afternoon start time on tap, the Flyers got down to business and picked up a 3-1 win over the lowly New York Islanders on Veterans Day at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Why was this win important? Well, first the Flyers desperately needed the two points. Sitting at 4-6-3 heading into the contest, only the Panthers and Islanders were behind them in the Eastern Conference. Their record had them in the bottom five in the entire league. Second, the points were even more important because it was a game they were supposed to win.
The game against the Islanders two weeks ago, the day before the Phillies' championship parade, was way too close for comfort. Before Jeff Carter ended it in overtime, the Islanders had outplayed the Flyers for most of the second half of the game.
Tuesday’s effort was much better. Here are a few small details that helped propel the Flyers to a win:
Penalty Kill: The Flyers were an incredible 8-for-8 on the ‘kill on the Island. While a few of the penalties were questionable calls (see: Josh Gratton’s first period boarding penalty), and John Stevens said that the penalty kill was “taxed more than [he] would have liked to seen it,” they were still perfect.
Defensive Zone: One aspect that was largely different than in most contests prior, the Flyers were calm with the puck in their own zone. They didn’t rush to make decisions, and that really cut down on turnovers. Plus, it got the puck out of their end more efficiently. On two different instances, Danny Briere spun around near the goal line, and without many options, chose to skate the puck out and make a head-man pass.
Did You Notice:
1. That Simon Gagne perfectly chose his shot location on his shorthanded 2-on-1 odd-man rush in the third period? Instead of trying to force a pass to Richards, Gagne shot towards Islanders’ goaltender Andy MacDonald’s right side (blocker) where he knew a rebound would be produced. If his original shot did not go in, he knew that Richards would be there for the easy put-back.
2. That Briere left after the second period? He did not play in the third period because of what the team is calling a lower-body injury. Briere re-iterated what Stevens said in his media availability, that it was not a re-occurrence of his abdominal injury that kept him out for nearly two weeks.
3. That Scott Hartnell was benched in the third period, or that Joffrey Lupul was mostly benched for the first period? Stevens definitely didn’t like Hartnell’s unmotivated, sluggish play in the first two periods. After the game, Hartnell was upbeat, but just hoped out-loud that Stevens will treat everyone else the same.
4. That the Flyers have been deft with their indirect passing? In both the game against Tampa Bay and the Isles’, the Flyers have found open space by bouncing pucks off of the boards and around players. That is how Andreas Nodl found Briere breaking for the first goal. He chipped it around the New York defender to spring Briere.
Ice Cubes: The Flyers next game is on Thursday in Pittsburgh. On Tuesday night, the Penguins overcame a 5-2 deficit to take the Central-leading Red Wings to overtime. Jordan Staal netted a hat trick for the Penguins.
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