On Saturday, the Flyers took a 2-0 in the first period, a score that would stand until the 3rd. In the 3rd period the Flyers hit the Islanders with a scoring blitz. The flyers got 3 goals form Matt Carle, Arron Asham, and Simon Gagne all with in 1:07 of each other. All the goals where unassited and Gange scored on a sweet move on a penalty shot. The Flyers would go on to finish off the Islanders 5-1.
The Flyers have games in hand on most teams in the Eastern Conference, however they did enter the weekend trailing by a few points to several teams so it was important that the Flyers beat up on a bad team in the Islanders to gain some momentum to face a better Rangers teams.
The Flyers entered Madison Square Garden on Sunday facing a 1 point deficit in the standings to the Rangers. The Flyers would take the lead by force.
Claude Giroux scored the loan goal in the first period to get the scoring started. In the second period the Flyers were hit with a 5 on 3 shorthanded penalty. The Flyers took advantage of the Rangers sloppy play. Chris Drury took a bad shot in the slot that was blocked, Braydon Coburn hopped on the lose puck and hit Mike Richards with a perfect outlet pass. Richards finished the play with a fluttering shot that found its way to the back of the net. The goal made Mike Richards the only player in NHL history to score 3 5 on 3 shorthanded goals.
The Flyers would take a page from Saturday's playbook and they would score on their next 2 shots, resulting in 3 goals on 3 shots. This would lead to the Rangers pulling their starting goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, however this would not save them as the Flyers would put in another goal before the end of the period.
The Rangers played much better in the 3rd period, and as expected when the Flyers and Rangers do battle, the game got very physical in the latter parts. The Flyers would go on to defeat their division foe 5-2.
A very nice bright spot for the Flyers this weekend has been the play of Claude Giroux. Giroux registered 2 goals and 2 assists in the 2 games but also demonstrated great ice vision, and good skating abilities as well. The Flyers might have found a long term answer for Danny Briere, if Giroux can keep his level of play where it is right now.
From here the Flyers will come back for some home cookin' to the Wachovia Center for 8 out of their next 12 games. After getting absolutely embarrassed by the Senators at home on Thursday, the Flyers recovered nicely by putting together two very solid games this weekend.
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