Against all Odds Flyers Move on to Conference Finals

The NHL promised that "history will be made" this post season, and on Friday night in Boston's TD Garden the Philadelphia Flyers obliged, becoming just the 3rd team in NHL history to rally to win a series after being down 3-0. The Flyers fought furiously to win games 4,5 and 6 to earn a one game do or die game 7 in Boston.

The Flyers found themselves in a familiar position in the 1st period, down 3-0. The Bruins, fueled by desperation and ruckus crowd dominated the Flyers in the first 15 minutes of the game. "I'm glad you guys wanted to talk about the last 45 minutes of the game and not the first 15." said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette.
The Flyers looked flat and giddy at the start of the game, which resulted in a few bad penalties. The first, a high-sticking penalty charged to Scott Hartnell led to Michael Ryder netting a power play goal and the first of the game. Less than 4 minutes later Danny Briere found himself in the box for the same offence and the Flyers, now looking at a 2 goal deficit as Milan Lucic received a beautiful pass from behind the net off the the stick of Dennis Wideman.

Lucic was not finished, sloppy play in the offensive end led to a turnover and an odd man rush for the Bruins. Lucic carried the puck up ice, and finished himself, scoring his second and the teams 3rd. The Bruins had taken a 3-0 lead with 5:50 still to play in the first period.

To calm the troops Laviolette called a time out. "Lets get 1" Laviolette said. Rookie James van Riemsdyk answered coach's order as he got the Flyers on the board with hustle, a nice move and a weird bounce. "We hopped on a 20 year old's shoulders for the first half of the game" said Flyers captian Mike Richards.

With the damaged being managed at only a 2 goal deficit after 1, the second period was owned by the Flyers. Scott Hartnell scored early in the second period, on a goal that epitomes the Flyers play over the last 4 games of the series. Hartnell carried the puck into the corner, got knocked down, passed the puck back to the point to Ryan Parent on one knee. Parent then wrapped the puck around the boards to Danny Briere, who was behind the net. Briere then threw a quick pass in front of the net, where Ville Leino in traffic, got off a spinning back hand shot that took an opportunistic bounce onto Hartnell's stick who burried a backhand top-shelf goal. "The Stanley Cup is a sacrifice you have to be willing to do that" said Laviolette.

The game was tied by the Flyers' postseason leader in points, Danny Briere. Hartnell found a streaking Briere who took the puck around the net and ricocheted the puck off Boston defender to square the score at 3-3. "My head was thinking go to the net and my hands went around" said Briere. "He is sneaky around the net" Hartnell said. Perhaps a better word would be stealthy or deadly as Briere has 15 points in 12 postseason games in 2010.

At the end of second period every thing was all even. Score 3-3. series 3-3. It was only fitting that this game 7 would come down to one period with the score tied. The third period had a feverish pace, with both teams generating scoring chances. With 7:08 remaining in the third, the longest tenured Flyer on a bad foot, Simon Gagne scored a power play goal to put the Flyers up 4-3. That would prove to be the game winner. "Simon is an elite player in the National Hockey League, he is a pure goal scorer" said Laviolette. "We didn't do it the easy way, we took the hard way, but we're part of hockey history now" Gagne said.

The Flyers have launched themselves into the conference finals by defying all odds with hustle, hard work and belief. "Belief in our system, belief in the way we play and belief in ourselves" said Hartnell.

Game 7 was filled with energy on every shift, and contributions from every player even if it doesn't show in the box score. "It was a complete team effort, the leaders lead the way and everyone else followed" said van Riemsdyk.

The Flyers fought through a seemingly insurmountable amount of adversity, not only dropping the first 3 games of a series, but losing their top goal scorer in Jeff Carter for the series, starting goalie Brian Boucher, and key contributor Ian Laperriere. "There are the right people in that locker room to come back from 3-0 and win a game like [Friday]" said Laviolette.

The Flyers will come home on Sunday to face the Montreal Canadiens, a team in which their odds are probably equally unlikely to be in the conference finals after eliminating the Presidents trophy winning Washington Capitals and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. No team has ever defeated the Presidents trophy winner and the defending champions since the current format was adopted in 1994 until the Canadiens pulled off the feat Wednesday night.

The the 2 teams of destiny, the 7th and 8th seeds, will square off for the Eastern Conference finals. The series will certainly be a test of wills, teamwork and of course sacrifice. "If you make it until the end, and you reach to grab that thing you know you sacrificed. You play injured, you play hurt, you do anything to move on" Laviolette said.

The Flyers have made plenty of sacrifices thus far and have given us a team that we can be proud of. "I'm proud of the way they played, I'm proud of the way they represented the organization" said Laviolette.


(all quotes courtesy nhl.com)

Flyers "Promising" Season Is Over

How about we take something positive from these happenings just like coach John Stevens did after every loss the past two or three weeks.

Yeah...let's not.

The fact of the matter is, yesterday's 5-3 New York Met-esque collapse will go down as one of the most frustrating games in not just Flyers history, but Philadelphia sports history.

I mean what team takes a 3-0 lead AT HOME in a playoff game and lose 5-3? Is that possible? Obviously, especially in this town, it is. To be perfectly honest though, I attended yesterday's game and I just came back from the 76ers game (which will be posted about soon), so I'm too tired, gassed and horse to critique the game. The result speaks for itself. The team became too complacent with their lead and with Dan Carcillo's thrashing of Max Talbot. After that fight everything went downhill. Then, in the third period after Sergei Gonchar's basically blue line goal, the team showed no urgency or intensity until the last couple of minutes. Then, when they pulled Marty Biron for an extra attacker, they botched that up and inexcusably let Sidney Crosby score the fifth goal.

This team needs to be addressed in seriously in some areas. And no, John Stevens in not the problem. He's done no worse than any other of the fifty million coaches the Flyers have had over the past twenty years. Think about it. Since Mike Keenan left after the 1988 season, they Orange and Black have not had a coach for a consistent amount of time. Seriously, other than Roger Nielson (may he R.I.P.), they have either fired or let go of a lot of coaches. So, Stevens is not the issue. From what I can tell, and counter me if you think I'm wrong, here are the issues.

1) The Blue Line: The defense needs improving. Kimmo Timonen is good and Braden Coburn and Ryan Parent are promising young players. Luca Sbisa is another promising young defensman. Matt Carle is OK, but he is not great. Andrew Alberts shows bits and spots of good play. And Randy Jones flat out stinks. I don't care what anyone says. Maybe he did in last year's playoffs, but he is so overrated in my opinion. I am not a Randy Jones fan.

2) Goalie: Marty Biron shows flashes of brilliance, such as Game 5 and the first period of Game 6. Last year's playoffs can go into that mix too. But, he is not consistent enough. While I say the goaltender position is an issue, there is not really anybody out there to replace him. He might be the best option.

Those are the two key areas I see right now. I can't really say offensively because the Flyers did have like six guys with 20 or more goals this year. Yet, where was Jeff Carter in this series? Where was Mike Richards? Where was Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul? They got outplayed by Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. They did. Say what you want. Make as many excuses as you want. Blame the refs for all I care. They got outplayed. This team got outplayed.

And furthermore, even though the 76ers lost tonight (as I said more on this soon), it's really a shame people continously go out and fill the Wachovia Center for the Flyers but not the 76ers too. The 76ers battle back from decifits and play with heart. They're scrappy. They represent the city well in times of perrill. I'm not saying to stop cheering for the Flyers and being crazy for the Flyers. Keep that going. It's great. We're the best fans in hockey by far. However, it would be nice if more people would support the 76ers. There is no reason the 76ers should have problems filling the arena for playoff games when they're tickets are cheaper than the Flyers. Maybe this town just doesn't like professional basketball. Maybe this town just likes the physicality of hockey better. Maybe I'm just the only one who gets excited for a 41-41 team. Who knows?

All I know is that I'm horse, frustrated and tired as a 99-year-old man. I have a four hour drive back to Ithaca early tomorrow morning. I'm going to bed. There will be a post on the 76ers loss, Phillies win and state of the Eagles tomorrow.

And...WE GOT A GAME 6!

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT BOYS!

Way to show some adversity tonight and shut out those stinking Penguins 3-0. Marty Biron was stellar. It's like him and Marc-Andre Fleury switched positions from Games 4 to 5. Fleury was great in Game 4, while Marty was great tonight.

And even though the Flyers still did not score on the power play (UGH!), Mike Knuble did get one past Fleury tonight, which is a good thing to see. Another great thing about tonight was the continued emergence of Claude Giroux. Every game I'm liking this kid more and more, especially after the way he screwed up in Game 2. It's always great to see a guy rebound.

Now, what the Flyers need to do is play the same way they did tonight Saturday. Let's make something clear though: THEY HAVE NO MOMENTUM! Let's review what has happened in the Flyers/Penguins recent playoff history when the Flyers have "momentum."

After the Game 4 victory last year in the Eastern Conference Finals to cut the series lead to 3-1, the Flyers had "momentum." What happened? They got romped 6-0 in Game 5 to be eliminated.

After the Game 3 victory this year, the Flyers had "momentum." What happened? They got shelled at home 3-1 in a game where the physicality was done.

So, even though the Flyers had an impressive win tonight, they have NO MOMENTUM. They're still down in the series and still playing catchup. Win Game 6 and we can talk about "momentum." But let's be honest with ourselves and look at Game 6 like this:

-Our backs are still against the wall because these Penguins are very capable of winning on the road. Let's take advantage of having our home crowd behind us because our fans are THE BEST in the NHL. Let's play physical. Let's knock these guys around and let's get a win and get on a plane ride back to the other side of this state.

LET'S GO FLYERS! CROSBY SUCKS!

Man That Was Frustrating

Not to mention, when the Flyers scored there only goal in their 3-1 loss to the Pens last night, someone who lives down my hall decided to come over to my room and start banging on my door, shouting at me to be quiet while I was cheering loudly. That really pissed me off.

Back to the game though, I have been hearing and seeing a lot of different things about this game.

A) Some people think the Flyers played better.
-I can see that with them having 46 shots on net compared to Pittsburgh's 26, but the Flyers were 0-8 on the power play. They were freaking stopped EIGHT times on the man advantage. That's inexcusable no matter how good Marc-Andre Fleury was.

B) On that note, Marc-Andre Fleury was the factor in this game.
-Duh. The guy only made 45 saves and a lot of them were rather impressive.

C) The first goal scored by Pittsburgh and Sidney Crosby should not have been allowed.

Video was found on the700level.com and of course YouTube.
Wrong! I know everyone hates Crosby. I hate him too. He's definitely overrated and a pansie, but still, the contact was incidental and the puck crossed the goal line legally. He didn't bat it in. It just bounced off of his shoulder. Also, the posts came out of the ice after the goal was scored. Besides, he barely made any contact with Marty Biron anyway. He didn't prevent or deny Biron from making any type of save.

Is the goal annoying? Yes, and that is not just because it's against the Flyers. It was pretty annoying, but legit as well.

The fact of the matter is "B," Fleury, was the key in this game. Also, another point I haven't really heard and something that I personally feel, the physicality the Flyers showed in Game 3 was pretty much non-existent in this game. There weren't a lot of scurmishes and the only real physical action was the two hits Mike Richards put on the Pens. They were sweet. But the rest of the team failed to show that tough nature.

If you want to blame the refs, go ahead, but that's not the right way to look at this game. The truth is, the Flyers really put themsevles in a hole and this started before the playoffs.

They backed in, gettin ghte fifth spot when they had no business relinquishing the fourth (I know we see how important home ice is in this series). Furthermore, they didn't show up in Game 1 and they choked in Game 2.

I'm not giving up on this team. If they win Game 5, they can surely build up some hype around Game 6, but the key is winning Game 5 first. Last night in a pre-game interview with Chris Simpson of the Versus Network, Simon Gagne was already bringing up Game 5 and the Penguin fans. Think about Game 4 first Simon. That comes before Game 5 and you guys NEEDED that last night.

Game 3

After losses in games 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh, the Flyers were saying all the right things as the attention and the action shifted to the Wachovia Center for game 3. It was clear from start the Flyers were determined to play a much more physical and disciplined game than the previous 2. 

Over the course of the season the Flyers have had a very balanced team, not just scoring attack. The Flyers have combination of skilled young guys and savvy veterans and the luxury of being 3 lines deep; In game 3 the Flyers were able to perfectly display their team dynamic.

The scoring got started by the Flyers regular season goals and points leader, Jeff Carter. Carter received a nice drop pass from fellow line mate Joffery Lupul, completely froze a Pittsburgh defender and goaltender Marc Andre- Flurry and buried a beautiful backhand goal.

The Flyers scored their second goal by captain Mike Richards sniping awkward side angle shot to put the Flyers up 2-0.

The Penguins were certainly not going to go away easily as Evgini Malkin scored on a defensive miscue with 11 seconds  remaining in the 1st period. The Penguins continued where they left off in the second period tieing the score at 2-2 less than a minute into the period.

After the loss in game 2 its possible that no one felt worse about it than rookie Claude Giroux. With the score tied at 2 and a feeling of momentum changing, Giroux came to the rescue. Giroux gave the  Flyers a 3-2 lead after getting a perfect rebound pass from Danny Briere. Then after a terrible holding call against Richards Giroux out hustled a Penguin to a puck in the corner of the Penguins zone then out skated 3 Penguins and made a pass that not many people can make to Simon Gagne to score a shorthanded goal and to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead.

To put the "nail in the coffin" the honors were done by another rookie, Jared Ross who scored his first NHL goal to put the Flyers up 5-2. Penguins would score again, of course on the powerplay, and of course it was Malkin, however the Flyers would add a empty net goal by Simon Gagne to double up the Penguins 6-3. Also not to be over shadowed was the terrific defensive effort by Kimmo Timonen. 

Yesterday certainly was a joyous day in Philadelphia, however if the Flyers do not come with the same intensity on Tuesday as they did yesterday their chances of making it out of the first round will be significantly hurt. 

Yesterday Was Amazing

I hate using that word—amazing because it makes something out to be more incredible than anything else or it makes someone out to be more outstanding than anybody else.

Well, yesterday was amazing and the700level.com sums April 19, 2009 up in the perfect video highlight. 

Now it's on all three of these teams to keep it up. Yesterday was great, but it will be looked down upon if positive things don't result from it.

More Re-Cap Of "The Tri-fecta Of April 19, 2009"

Holy Adam Eaton's Arm (a.k.a. S***), what a day. What a day! What a day! What a day!

Whether or not you were as fortunate as I was to witness all three games  or if you had the opportunity to at least see one, you would understand that Sunday was absolutely phenomenal. 

Mike said it best in a text message he sent to me earlier: "Best day in philadelphia sports since october 29 2008" Even though he did not include the Phillies Parade in that text, he couldn't be more right.

First, the Phillies after being down 4-0 again because Chan Ho Suck stunk up the place, they came back like THEY ALWAYS SEEM TO DO and won 5-4 on a Raul Ibanez walk-0ff two run home run in the bottom of the ninth. Now, since I'm in Ithaca, I watch the Phillies games on my computer on MLB.TV. So, I had the Phillies game on the same time as the Flyers game on my television.

As far as the Orange and Black go...OH MY GOODNESS! That is by far the best game I have seen them play all season. They came out with intensity. They came out with a chip on their shoulder. They took no prisoners. Not to mention, the fans were top notch. Even though at this point we should stop bringing it up, I think the importance of getting home ice advantage before the playoffs started was pretty important. None the less, the Orange and Black need to take each game, minute and possession one at a time to tie this series up and go back to Pittsburgh with a lot of momentum.

So, after Ibanez hit that homer (which I went so nuts for that one of my neighbors had to tell me to be quiet), the Flyers dominated their way to a Game 3 victory. Very exciting.

Then came the 76ers—the team that it seems like I'm the only one who believes in them. They stuck with the favored Magic in the first half, but fell way behind in the third quarter. They were down by as many as 13 points. Now, this team may not be the most talented 76ers team of all-time. They may be extremely streaky shooters. But, they have heart and in a town that prides itself on scrappiness and determination, the Philadelphia 76ers surely have that and they proved it in a Game 1 upset victory. Quite frankly though, they stole that game. They have to play much better and consistent to win Game 2.

Still, how about Andre Iguodala at the end of the game. I got sooooo mad when he missed those free throws that I texted a friend of mind who was watching the game and said: "Did i mention i hate iguo-f*** up?"

Well, Iguodala came through in the end with a nice jumper. Even though Iguodala hit the game winning shot with 2.2 seconds left in the game, I think the story was my man Donyell Marshall. The guy may be as old as Jamie Moyer (well...no professional athlete is as old as Jamie Moyer), but dog gonnit he can shoot. DOWNTOWN DONNY is what we should start calling this guy. Give him the ball so he can load up, fire and drain those threes.

Oh man April 19, 2009 was a great day in Philadelphia sports. I think we can all agree this past week has been extremely painful. Watching and listening to Phillies game are not the same. And even though the pain will stick forever, Sunday's success numbed it down a little bit. I'm sure HK was smiling from above, making one heck of a call for Ibanez and giddy about the fact the Flyers and 76ers won too, making Philly fans extremely happy.

Sunday was the one year anniversary of the sad and unexpected passing of John "Johnny Marz" Marzano. As Johnny Marz always said, he was a BIG Philadelphia sports fan. You know he had a big grin on his face Sunday.

So, mark it down in your journals, calendars, notebooks or whatever. And the reason is, Sunday, April 19, 2009 will always go down as a TRI-FECTA for out beloved teams that sport the first name of PHILADELPHIA.

Flyers-Pens

The Flyers are underway in their round 1 playoff series against their cross state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. You might be able to argue the point that we here at Southbroad have been purposely neglecting this post because just in case you haven't been watching the series its been, in a 2 words, not good.

In game 1 the Flyers completely failed to match the intensity of Penguins from the opening drop. The Flyers got out shot, out skated, out hit, and straight up out played. One problem that the Flyers have had so far and specifically in game 1 is their inability to stay out of the penalty box. The Flyers took 12 penalties and put the Penguins on the powerplay 8 times. When all was said and done in game 1 the Flyers fell to the Penguins 4-1 hoping to get the split in game 2.

With some scrappy action coming at the end of game 1 this resulted in the suspension of forward Dan Carcillo and the fining of head coach John Stevens. The Flyers seemed to be motivated by this, matching the intensity of the Penguins in game 2. The Flyers struck first in the first period by, who seems to be enemy no.1 in Pittsburgh, Scott Hartnell. The Penguins evened the score on an odd man rush goal by Bill Guerin on a nice pass from Evgeni Malkin.

The Flyers scored early in the 3rd, Darroll Powe recieved a beautiful pass from Claude Giroux and snapped a screamer stick side on Marc Andre-Flurry. 

In game 2 the Flyers were able to stay out of the penalty box...for 55 minutes. Refs were definitely "lettin' 'em play" in game 2... for 55 minutes. The Flyers had a 2-1 lead late in 3rd (worth mentioning, if not for a great save on Jeff Carter the score would have been 3-1.) when a ticky tack hooking call was made of Jeff Carter. The Flyers, unfortunately, were not able to live to tell about it. The Penguins knotted the game at 2-2 with about 4 minutes left in the 3rd period.

Overtime started at a furious pace with the Pens and Flyers exchanging shots and rushes. Then the refs took the game into their hands. Mike Knuble was tagged with a questionable cross-checking call. The penalty was called when Knuble was set in front of the net trying to clear space, slightly extended his arms and apparently knocked over the 6'2 220 pound Brooks Orpik, who delivered 14 hits during the game. As if the Knuble penalty wasn't enough for the Flyers a bad rookie mistake was made by Claude Giroux when he got called for a slash. The 2 man advantage would prove deadly, as the crafty veteran Bill Guerin top shelved the game winner on Marty Biron. Just like that the Flyers fell into a 2-0 deficit on the series with a 3-2 loss.      

Going into game 3 the Flyers have somethings to be concerned about. Obviously their incapability of staying out of the box especially in crucial situations. Another area of concern is generating offense. The Flyers seem to be playing defense a lot, credit the Pittsburgh defense for stifling the Flyers offense but the Flyers need more sustained offense. The Flyers got out shot 33-27 in game 1 and 49-40 in game 2. Which leads me to my final concern. To say the Marty Biron has not been good might be a little harsh so what I will say is that Biron is not playing as good as the Flyers need him to be. 

Game 3 will be Sunday afternoon on NBC at 3 p.m. Hopefully being in their own beds' will help the Flyers dig out of the heck of a hole they've got their selves into. 

Last Night Looked Promising...

...if you are a really wide eye optimist. After a 4-1 ass whooping by the Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Flyers looked totally out-manned. Can they take Game 2 and gain momentum in this series? Absolutely. But, the turnovers, lack of winning face offs, the damn penalty minutes, etc just hurt the Orange and Black extremely.

It was painful to watch. I am hoping tomorrow night is better.

The Flyers Disappoint Me

They played hard, but in the end, they still lost 4-3 when they NEEDED to win or at least get a point today. 

The Orange and Black had a 3-2 lead going into the third at HOME against the Rangers, but New York scored two in the third period. One of those was scored by one of the biggest jackasses on the face of the earth—Sean Avery.

Anyway boys, have fun in Pittsburgh for the first two games of the playoffs. Someone explain to me how the Penguins who at one point after the All-Star Break were 10th in the standings and now they're fourth, IN FRONT OF US! Sheesh this pisses me off. 

And if it doesn't piss you off get your pulse and "fandom level" checked out. 

Flyers Defeat The Islanders and Have A Rematch Of Last Year's East Finals

You know, a part of me wants to be happy over this 3-2 win. But then again, another part of me is like—YO, this is against the putrid Islanders. 

None the less, they will definitely play the Penguins in the first round. However, nothing is totally set in stone yet. Why? While it is definite they will play Pittsburgh, whether or not they get the fourth seed is unknown. The Pens are done in the regular season. They have played 82 games and accumulated 99 points. The Flyers have played 81 games and have wrapped up 99 points. Yet, if they lose tomorrow in regulation to the Rangers, they will be the fifth seed and Pittsburgh will be the fourth. I'm sure none of us want that to happen. We want this series to start in Philly.

So, the Orange and Black have to get at least a point tomorrow when they play the Rangers at the Wachovia Center. Without question it will be a playoff-like atmosphere because this game does mean a lot. 

Truthfully, tomorrow's game will be a great telling card if this team is going to make a run in the post-season. I'm sorry to all you positive people, but today didn't mean jack squat. The Islanders suck. They provide no test for the Flyers. The Rangers will. If the Flyers lose (in regulation or not), I will not feel good about them going into the post-season. If they win tomorrow, I will feel great because they would've won a clutch game.

We'll see what happens.