Potential First Round Playoff Preview

The Philadelphia Flyers (45-24-9) will face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins (48-24-6) this afternoon at 12:30 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins will face off for the 5th time this season. There are only 4 games left in the regular season, and the Flyers and Penguins will meet twice in those 4 games. The Flyers currently lead the season series 3-1, winning games 1, 2, and 4. Their most recent win against Pittsburgh was on March 12th, when they won 3-2 in dramatic fashion. They came back from 2 goals down in the 3rd period to force overtime, then won it with under 1 second left.

The Flyers will be playing on back to back nights, while Pittsburgh had Saturday off. The Flyers are coming off a tough shootout loss against Ottawa, in which they made a great 3 goal comeback in the 2nd period, only to fall in the shootout. They lost that all important second point which would have kept them on pace with the Penguins. However, they are now 3 points back of the 4th place Penguins, who have 102 points and 8 behind the division leading NY Rangers.

Philadelphia has won 4 straight against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. But that trend will be tough to continue, as the Penguins are a stellar 10-1 in their last 11 home games. Both teams have lost 2 of their last 3 and will try to turn that trend around this afternoon. But the Flyers have struggled in afternoon games. They are 4-9-4 in games starting on or before 3 PM, and have been outscored in the 1st period of those games 24-6.

Who to look out for:
Evgeni Malkin is without doubt the best player in the NHL this season. Malkin leads the NHL in points with 102, and is second in goals with 48 (a new career high). Both Malkin and Sidney Crosby, who has scored 17 points in 10 games since returning from his injury, have excelled against the Flyers throughout their illustrious careers. Crosby has 26 goals and 62 points in 37 games versus the Flyers, while Malkin has 19 goals and 48 points in 34 games.

Danny Briere has arguably been the best Flyers player over the last 4 games. During that span, Briere has 2 goals and 9 points. He has also played well against the Penguins this season and throughout his career. Briere has 3 points in 4 games versus the Penguins this season and 37 points in 44 career games. 

Who's in goal:
Sergei Bobrovsky (13-9-2, 2.94 GAA) will make his third straight start in net against Marc Andre Fleury (41-16-4, 2.32 GAA) this afernoon.

Drop the Puck:
The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon at 12:30 PM.

Flyers Comeback, Only to Fall in Shootout vs Senators

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-3 this afternoon in a shootout.

Senators celebrate their shootout victory

The Flyers fell down by 3 goals after the 1st period, but then fought back, as they always do, and were able to tie it up, scoring 3 of their own in the 2nd period. The game needed a shootout, and the Senators scored on both of their attempts as the Flyers only went 1 for 3.

The Philadelphia Flyers have been notoriously slow starters in afternoon games. Coming into this afternoon's game the Flyers had been outscored 21-6 first periods (-18).

Make it 24-6.

Alfredsson adds to the lead

The Senators were able to score 3 goals in 8 minutes against the Flyers in the opening stanza. Poor defense, costly turnovers and bad goaltending all led to the 3 goal deficit.

Jason Spezza opened the scoring when Pavel Kubina turned the puck over in his own zone. Daniel Alfredsson then made a great pass from behind the net to a wide open Spezza, and he beat Sergei Bobrovsky, who was facing the wrong side of the net. Bobrovsky made his second straight start in goal for the Flyers for the first time since February 11th and 12th. It was only the 5th time all season that Bobrovsky started 2 games in a row.

Daniel Alfredsson scored the second Senators goal when he took advantage of another costly turnover by Philadelphia. This time it was Eric Wellwood, who failed to clear the puck in his own end. Erik Karlsson kept the puck in the zone and fed Alfredsson for the one-timer, scoring his 27th goal of the year.

The turnovers kept coming, and the Senators continued to cash in on the Flyers mistakes. Bobrovsky turned the puck over and the Senators went to the attack. Chris Neil picked up the puck and beat Bobrovsky on a very stoppable shot from the faceoff dot.

Simmonds scores after puck deflects off his face

The Flyers didn't play poorly offensively. They outshot the Senators 15-12 in that 1st period; however, Flyers turnovers proved costly and Senators goalie Craig Anderson played perfectly, including a huge stop on Claude Giroux's shorthanded breakaway bid.

The 2nd period came, and so did the Flyers. Less than 3 minutes into the period, the Flyers cut the lead to 2 when Brayden Schenn made a a great toe-drag past the defenseman and took a shot that beat Anderson. Wayne Simmonds went down hard after the goal, and upon further review, the puck ricocheted off Simmonds' face and into the net. Simmonds left the game, but would return after being stitched up and wearing a visor.

Sean Couturier made it a 1 goal game on a great individual effort that almost didn't count. He faked Karlsson right out of his skates and then put the puck past Anderson. The goal was initially waved off as the net came off its moorings, but after a lengthy review, they deemed it a legal goal as the puck crossed the line before the net was completely dislodged.

Coburn watches his tying goal cross the line

The Flyers had pulled within 1 and the crowd was back in the game. Their momentum was strong and less than 3 minutes later it was a tie hockey game. Eric Wellwood made a nice play to get the puck to Danny Briere in the offensive zone, who found himself on a mini 2 on 1 down low. Briere made a great pass to a pinching Braydon Coburn, and he knotted the game at 3 apiece.

Both teams buckled down in the 3rd period, as it was dramatically different from the first two. The first two periods saw a total of 51 shots, while the 3rd period only had a combined total of 9. Neither team scored and overtime was needed.

The Flyers pushed hard in overtime getting 6 shots in the 5 minute session, including playing 4 forwards at one point; however they couldn't get one past Anderson, who made some huge saves.

Anderson stops Briere winning the shootout

So a shootout was needed. And Ottawa came out stronger. Both Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza scored on their attempts, while the Flyers only once on three attempts. Matt Read scored the lone shootout goal, while both Giroux and Briere were stopped.

Ottawa's 4-3 victory over the Flyers gave them a much needed 2 points. They are not have a 4 point cushion over the 9th seeded Sabres. The 1 point pulls the Flyers within 3 points of the 4th place Pittsburgh Penguins, who they will play twice in the final 4 games, including tomorrow.

Game Notes:

Simmonds took 6-7 stitches

• Danny Briere has assisted on 6 of the last 10 Flyers goals.
• Of the 10 goals scored in the last 2 games, neither Claude Giroux nor Scott Hartnell have contributed to any of them.
• Claude Giroux, despite being held off the scoreboard, led all Flyers forwards in ice-time with 22:03 and had a team high 7 shots, while winning 14 of 23 (61%) faceoffs.
• Craig Anderson made 36 saves on 39 shots while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 29.
• Wayne Simmonds took 6-7 stitches after the puck struck him on the bridge of his nose and under his right eye.
• The Flyers went 2-1-1 against the Senators this season.

Watch Full Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Philadelphia Flyers get right back into action tomorrow afternoon when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Flyers, Senators Fight for Playoffs Positions

The Philadelphia Flyers (45-24-8) will host the Ottawa Senators (39-28-10) this afternoon at 1:00 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers will face the Ottawa Senators for the 4th and final time this season. The Flyers currently lead the season series 2-1, winning the first 2 games, 7-2 and 3-2, while Ottawa won the most recent contest on January 12th, 6-4.

The Flyers are coming off a huge victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, 7-1. Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds scored twice while Danny Briere assisted on all 4 of those goals. The win gave the Flyers their 3rd victory in the last 4 games and they are 11-3-1 over their last 15 games. Philadelphia pulled within 2 points of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are currently in 4th place in the Eastern conference, both of which have 5 games remaining, 2 against each other.

The Senators are currently in 7th place fighting for their playoff lives. They are 6 points behind the division leading Boston Bruins; however, they are only 2 points ahead of the 9th seeded Washington Capitals. Ottawa struggled recently losing 5 of 6 games; however, they have since turned it around winning their last 2 games. The Senators special teams have struggled a lot lately. Their PowerPlay has only scored in 1 of their last 9 games going 2 for 29 (7%) during that span. And their penalty killing hasn't been much better, allowing 6 PowerPlay goals against in their last 5 games (17 for 23, 74%). Ottawa hasn't played since Monday, giving them 4 days rest for this afternoon's game.

Who to look out for:
Erik Karlsson is the best offensive defenseman in the NHL this season averaging a point per game. He leads all defensemen in every statistical category, including goals (19), assists (57), and points (76). To put his numbers into perspective, Karlsson has 25 more points than the second highest scoring defenseman (Brian Campbell, 51). Karlsson has also had his way with the Flyers this season. He has scored 2 goals and 6 points in 3 games versus Philadelphia.

Matt Read scored his 23rd goal on Thursday, giving him the rookie lead in goals scored over Gabriel Landeskog. Read has goals in 3 straight games and 5 points during that span. He has also played very well against Ottawa this season scoring 2 goals and 6 points in 3 games against the Senators.

Who's in goal:
Sergei Bobrovsky (13-9-1, 2.94 GAA) will get his second straight start in goal for the first time since February 11th and 12th, due to Ilya Bryzgalov's chip fracture in his toe. Bryzgalov skated on Friday, saying he felt better, but would not confirm nor deny whether he is available for this weekend. So Bobrovsky will start in goal against Craig Anderson (31-20-6, 2.88 GAA) this afternoon.

Drop the Puck:
The Philadelphia Flyers host the Ottawa Senators this afternoon at 1:00 PM.

Flyers Step Up in Bryzgalov's Absence and Destroy Toronto

The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight 7-1.

11 different Flyers registered at least 1 point tonight while 6 Flyers had 2 or more points. Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds tallied twice, while Danny Briere had a career high 4 assists tonight.

Schenn gets his 2nd of the night

The Flyers proved they were the better team in every aspect of the game: PowerPlay (1 for 3), penalty kill (2 for 2 including a shorthanded goal), even strength (outscored them 5-1), defense (only allowed 17 shots against), and goaltending.

Just about everything went right for the Flyers tonight. They even managed to have a lead at the 10 minute mark of the 1st period. Over their last 50 games, it was only the 4th time that the Flyers had a lead at the halfway point of the 1st period. It came off the stick of Brayden Schenn on the Flyers 2nd shot of the game. Brother Luke Schenn, Toronto defenseman, failed at his clearing attempt and the puck landed right on brother, Brayden's stick, who one-timed it past rookie goalie Jussi Rynnas. Rynnas stared tonight's game because starter James Reimer is day to day with an upper body injury and back-up goalie Jonas Gustavsson sustained an injury during warmups. Rynnas played in only his second ever NHL game and first ever start. Unfortunately for him, it was not a memorable one.

In the last 20 games, Brayden Schenn had 1 goal; tonight he had 2. His second came on the PowerPlay after Jaromir Jagr patiently waited at the blue line and hit Danny Briere in stride, who went in on a 2 on 1 with Schenn. Briere made the perfect pass and Schenn had his second goal in 6 minutes.

Jagr get 1 of his 3 assists

The only mistake the Flyers made all night was letting Mikhail Grabovski get behind the defense. He went in all alone on Sergei Bobrovsky, who made only his 2nd start in the last 21 games, and he scored cutting the lead in half, 2-1. Bobrovsky played well in replacement of Ilya Bryzgalov, who suffered a chip fracture in his toe prior to Tuesday night's game. Bryzgalov is listed as day to day an is possible for the weekend.

The Flyers dominated the next 2 periods outshooting the Leafs 20-12 and outscoring them 5-0. Wayne Simmonds got his first of the night less than 4 minutes into the 2nd period when he skated out from behind the net and was given all sorts of space by the Leafs defense, which struggled all night, and was able to get a clean shot off, beating Rynnas.

Later in the period Toronto was on the PowerPlay hoping to get back within 1; however, the Flyers had other plans. Matt Read and Max Talbot turned an innocent 2 on 2 rush into a shorthanded goal. Read picked up Talbot's rebound and gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead. It was Read's 23rd goal of the season giving him the NHL rookie lead over Gabriel Landeskog, who has 22.

Despite leading 4-1 going into the 3rd period, the Flyers refused to sit back, and kept pouring it on.

Voracek scores his 15th

Eric Wellwood scored after receiving a nice pass from Read, then Jake Voracek made a great individual effort to get past the defense and then beat Rynnas and finally it was Simmonds again after Briere made another beautiful pass right in front of the crease.

The Flyers needed to step up against the 2nd worst team in the NHL especially in the absence of their star goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, and that's just what they did. They only allowed 17 shots on goal for Bobrovsky and scored plenty of goals securing the all important 2 points.

Pittsburgh lost tonight, so the Flyers picked up a valuable 2 points on them and are now only 2 points back. They will face the Penguins 2 more times in their final 5 games.

Game Notes:

• Of the 11 Flyers who registered at least 1 point, neither Claude Giroux (who leads the Flyers in points) nor Scott Hartnell (who is 2nd on the Flyers in points) had any.
• Danny Briere had a career high 4 assists tonight.
• Wayne Simmonds had his second 3 point (2 goals, 1 assist) night of the season. His first came on January 21st against the Devils.
• Tonight was the Flyers 24th road win. Their franchise record is 25. In order to top that record the Flyers will have to win their final 2 road games.
• Philadelphia swept the season series with the Maple Leafs 4-0. It was the first 4 game season sweep against Toronto since 1973-74.

Watch Full Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers get back into action on Saturday when they face the Ottawa Senators.

(photos courtesy of ESPN NHL, highlights courtesy of NHL.com)

Can the Flyers Stay Hot Without Bryzgalov

The Philadelphia Flyers (44-24-8) face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs (33-35-9) tonight at 7:00 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs will meet for the 4th and final time this season. The Flyers have won all 3 previous matchups this season and have won 4 straight against the Maple Leafs dating back to last season. Philadelphia has also won 8 of their last 9 games against the Leafs, including 4 straight in Toronto.

But the story of tonight's game and possibly for the rest of the Flyers season is the absence of Ilya Bryzgalov. It was revealed Tuesday that Bryzgalov has a chip fracture in his right foot that will keep him out of tonight's lineup and he will remain day to day after that. Bryzgalov has started in 19 of the Flyers last 20 games, so the Flyers will be in new territory. Sergei Bobrovsky will have to carry the workload as the Flyers only have 6 games left in the season. Bobrovsky has played in 25 games for the Flyers this season with a record 12-9-1. In his last 5 starts, the Flyers are 1-4.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are also having goaltending issues. Leafs starting goalie James Reimer is day to day with an upper body injury. The Leafs have lost 2 in a row and 4 of their last 5 games. They are currently in 14th place in the East with 75 points; only the Montreal Canadiens have less points than the Leafs in the conference.

Who to look out for:
Phil Kessel has been one of the NHL's top players this season. He is currently 5th in the NHL in goals with 36 and 6th in points with 77, both of which are career highs for Kessel. Kessel has 3 points in 3 games versus Philadelphia this season.

One of the few players hotter than Kessel is Claude Giroux. Giroux has set career highs in goals (27), assists (59) and points (86) and is 3rd in the NHL in points. Giroux also has 3 points in 3 games versus Toronto, and 13 points in 13 career games against the Leafs.

Who's in net:
Sergei Bobrovsky (12-9-1, 3.03 GAA) will make only his 2nd start in the last 21 games against Jonas Gustavsson (17-17-4, 2.92 GAA) tonight.

Drop the Puck:
The Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at 7:00 PM.

Flyers Injury Woes Hits Bryz

Bryzgalov has chip fracture

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today Ilya Bryzgalov has a chip fracture in his right foot.

GM Paul Holmgren announced that Bryzgalov had an MRI today that revealed the fracture. Bryzgalov took a shot off his right toe during warmups before the Tampa Bay game on Monday night and felt some discomfort.

Bryzgalov has been ruled out for Thursday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and his status after that is day-to-day.

Chip fractures normally heal on their own and can take anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks. However, that doesn't mean he'll be out that long. The injury is about pain management. Since he can't make it worse, it will all depend on whether or not he can play through the pain.

Holmgren stressed that the injury isn't that serious saying, "We're hoping that he'll be back practicing on the ice on Friday with the idea that he can play on the weekend."

Timonen is day-to-day

Jason Bacashihua has been called up from the Phantoms to replace Bryzgalov on Thursday.

Kimmo Timonen has also been added to the injury list. He is also listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Timonen sat out a few games about a month ago; however, it was due to a lower body injury caused by a lower back problem. So his upper body injury is new.

Marc Andre Bourdon has been called up to replace Timonen for as long as needed. Bourdon has 4 points and is a +1 in 39 games with the Flyers this season.

Flyers Fall to Lightning

Malone gives TB early lead

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 tonight, in a game that they needed the 2 points.

The Flyers, who are 4 points behind Pittsburgh (who has a game in hand) and 5 behind the NY Rangers, only have 6 games remaining and 5 of those are against playoff contenders.

Tonight's game was against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who coming into tonight's game had the 3rd lowest point total in the Eastern conference with 75. The Flyers needed to take advantage and they didn't.

Simmonds ends his goalless drought

Philadelphia got off to their notoriously slow start as Tampa Bay scored on their 1st shot of the game. They Flyers held the Lightning to 0 shots in the first 8 minutes of the opening period, but when Tampa Bay finally got their first shot, it was a beauty. Ryan Malone took advantage of a poor Flyers entry into the offensive zone during their PowerPlay and took off on a shorthanded breakaway, in which he beat Ilya Bryzgalov.

Briere showing frustration

The Lightning added to their lead late in the 1st period on their PowerPlay. Steven Stamkos scored his league leading 53rd goal of the season with just 1 second left in the period, putting the Flyers down 2-0 after 1.

It was a tale of two periods as the Flyers came out storming in the 2nd. Wayne Simmonds started a give and go play with Matt Read and put the finishing touches on his 23rd goal of the season cutting Tampa Bay's lead in half. Simmonds' tally snapped a 16 game goalless drought.

The crowd came alive and the Flyers kept buzzing. At one point during the period, the Flyers outshot the Lightning 12-0, and went on to outshoot them 16-2 in the period.

Read ties it at 2

Their momentum kept building and payed off late in the 2nd period when Jake Voracek made a great move to protect the puck at the blue line and then fed Kimmo Timonen. Timonen then made a beautiful backhand, backdoor pass to a diving Matt Read, who buried the tying goal while being dragged down.

The Flyers made another comeback, but they needed to finish.

Less than 3 minutes into the final period, Tim Wallace sprung Martin St. Louis on another Lightning breakaway (3rd of the game). And St. Louis gave Tampa Bay it's lead right back. And the Flyers were forced to comeback again.

Carle makes costly mistake

However it all collapsed on an innocent mistake. Matt Carle flubbed a pass from behind the net and it landed right on the stick of J.T. Wyman, who put it past a confused Bryzgalov, giving Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead.

Scott Hartnell got the Flyers back on the board in the final minute on the PowerPlay with the goalie pulled on a slap shot, but that would be as close as they would get.

The Lightning tacked on an empty net goal, finalizing the score at 5-3.

The Flyers are in their final stretch of the season. They play their final 6 games in 10 days, with 3 of them on the road. They are currently 5th place in the East with 96 points.

Game Notes:

Timonen records 400th assist

• Kimmo Timonen scored his 400th career assist tonight.
• Ilya Bryzgalov broke his 11 game 2 goals or fewer streak.
• The Flyers heavily outshot the Lightning 38-14. The Flyers have outshot their opponent by 20 shots or more 7 times this season. Their record in those 7 games is 3-4.
• Claude Giroux, despite being kept off the scoreboard, lead all players with 6 shots and all Flyers forward with 21:01 minutes of ice time. 
• Matt Read's goal gave him 22 for the season, tying him with Gabriel Landeskog for the rookie goal scoring lead.
• Pavel Kubina had an assist in his 1st game against his former club, since being traded to the Flyers.
• Tampa Bay wins the season series over the Flyers 3-1.

Watch Full Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers get back into action Thursday when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs.

(Thanks to ESPN NHL and Dave Nahill for the photos & highlights courtesy of NHL.com)

Can Flyers Slow Down Stamkos

The Philadelphia Flyers (44-23-8) will host the Tampa Bay Lightning (34-33-7) tonight at 7:30 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning will face off for the 4th and final time this season. Tampa Bay currently leads the season series against the Flyers 2-1, winning the 1st and 3rd game, while the Flyers took the 2nd contest. The Flyers have only won 2 of their last 7 games against the Tampa Bay; however, they have won 5 of their last 7 against the Lightning in Philadelphia.

The Flyers are coming off a huge victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, 4-1, in which they clinched a playoff birth for the 5th straight season. Danny Briere scored 2 goals (he had 1 in his previous 29 games), and Ilya Bryzgalov made 23 saves on 24 shots as the Flyers won for the 3rd time in the last 4 games. Bryzgalov became the 1st Flyers goalie since Bernie Parent in 1974-75 to allow 2 goals or fewer in his last 11 games. The Flyers are 9-1-1 during that stretch.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have struggled all season gaining only 75 points in 74 games; only the NY Islanders and Montreal Canadiens have less. And despite having the leading goal scorer in the entire National Hockey League (Steven Stamkos-52), Tampa Bay still holds the 2nd worst plus/minus in the East with a -43. They have currently won 2 in a row; however, they have lost 6 of their last 9 games.

Who to look out for:
Steven Stamkos is the most prolific goal scorer in the NHL. No player has more goals than Stamkos over the last 3 seasons. During that stretch, Stamkos has 148 goals in 238 games. He leads the NHL in goals this season with 52, over Evgeni Malkin, who has 46. Stamkos has 15 more goals than the 3rd leading scoring, Marian Gaborik. Stamkos has 2 goals in 3 games versus the Flyers this season and 10 goals and 15 points in 15 career games against Philadelphia.

Scott Hartnell continues his career season, already setting highs in goals (35) and points (64). He is currently 1 assist shy of tying his career mark in assists (30). Hartnell leads the team in goals and has scored 3 goals and 4 points in 4 games against the Lightning this season.

Who's in goal:
Ilya Bryzgalov (32-14-7, 2.43 GAA) will make his 8th straight start in net tonight for the Flyers while the Lightning will start Dwayne Roloson (10-14-2, 3.67 GAA), who is coming off back to back victories on March 22nd and 24th.

Drop the Puck:
The Philadelphia Flyers host the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at 7:30 PM.

Flyers Clinch Playoff Birth with Win Over Canadiens

The Philadelphia Flyers have clinched a playoff birth with a win over the Montreal Canadiens tonight, 4-1.

The 2 points gave them 96 for the season, good enough to make the playoffs for the 5th consecutive year and 16th of the last 17 seasons. They are currently in 5th place in the Eastern conference, 2 points behind the 4th seeded Penguins and 5 points behind the 1st place Rangers. After the game Danny Briere, who scored 2 goals tonight, said, "We want to come into the playoffs on an upswing unlike last year. It was a good all around effort tonight."

Pronger makes an appearance at the game

If making the playoffs wasn't enough of a motivator, then seeing their captain certainly was. Chris Pronger was in a attendance tonight in the owners box, and when the Jumbotron found him, the fans gave him a standing ovation and the Flyers, who didn't know he was going to be there, all tapped their sticks on the ice with smiles on their faces. Several players commented on the appearance after the game:

Giroux: "Yea we didn't know he was here. Its obviously good to see the big man again and we just hope he's getting better."

Briere: "I didn't know he was going to show up. It's nice to see him out taking a step in the right direction. You saw the reaction from the crowd too, there's always that thought you wish he was sitting on the bench with us. But first and foremost we're happy that's he's moving in the right direction and that he's able to come and join us at the game."

Coach Laviolette: "It's great to see Chris. We haven't seen too much of him. It's good he's out and moving around. Hopefully he's feeling better for the game of life.

Pronger appeared to be happy smiling as they showed him on the big screen. He waved and gave the thumbs up. However, Pronger didn't talk to the media before of after the game and GM Paul Holmgren said there was no update on Pronger's condition. 

Bryzgalov making 1 of his 24 saves

Ilya Bryzgalov stole the show once again, and made it look effortlessly. He made 23 saves on 24 shots and many of them were great scoring chances. But ultimately special teams won the game for the Flyers. They went 3 for 5 on the man-advantage and were a perfect 5 for 5 on the penalty kill. After the game, Jaromir Jagr spoke about the Flyers special teams play saying, "That's why we won the game. We didn't play extremely well. We just scored at the right time. Plus our penalty kill was huge, killing a 2 man-advantage for almost a minute and a half."

In fact the Flyers first 3 goals all came on the PowerPlay. The first PowerPlay goal came in the 1st period when Claude Giroux won the faceoff to Kimmo Timonen, who took a shot from the point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net. The Flyers finally had a lead in the 1st period.

Briere celebrates his one of his goals

Tomas Plekanec erased that lead in the 2nd period when he took off on a breakaway, on one of the many Flyers defensive breakdowns; he made a triple deke and beat Bryzgalov. The Flyers gave up several breakaways and odd-man rushes, but Bryzgalov made save after save, bailing the Flyers out throughout this game.

The Flyers broke the tie on the PowerPlay when Danny Briere, who only had 1 goal (an empty netter) in his previous 29 games, scored his first of 2 goals, both of which came in the 2nd period, on a deflection off Matt Carle's shot. The Flyers had their lead restored and they never looked back.

Briere's next tally, and the Flyers 3rd PowerPlay goal, came about 10 minutes later still in the 2nd period. Ilya Bryzgalov made a long outlet pass to Jaromir Jagr at the far blue line. Jagr hit Briere in stride and Danny hit the top shelf over Canadien's goalie Peter Budaj's shoulder giving the Flyers a 3-1 lead.

Talbot gives jersey away on fan appreciation night

The 3rd period is when the penalty killing unit stepped up. The Flyers found themselves 2 men down for about a minute and a half and everyone did their job. Nick Grossmann made a huge shot-block, Sean Couturier and Max Talbot did a great job of getting into the shooting lanes and Bryzgalov continued to make the big saves. And thus they emerged from the penalties unscathed.

The Flyers tacked on 1 more goal in the closing minutes of the 3rd period on a hard working shift by Matt Read. He was rewarded when Sean Couturier made a great backdoor pass and found Read wide open, who deposited it past Budaj.

On fan appreciation night, the Flyers pleased their fans with not only a win but a playoff birth.

Game Notes:

• In the last 11 games, the Flyers have only scored 4 PowerPlay goals. Tonight they had 3.
• The Flyers PowerPlay scored 3 goals in a single game for the 4th time this season. And it was against the number 1 penalty killing team in the league. Montreal's penalty kill is a league best 89.4%.
• The Flyers were a perfect 5 for 5 in the penalty kill. They have only surrendered 1 PowerPlay goal against in their last 7 games (19-20).
• Bryzgalov got an assist today. It was his 2nd of the season and 7th career point.
• The Flyers win the season series against Montreal 3-1.

Watch Full Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers get back into action on Monday when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning.

(photos courtesy of ESPN NHL and @NHLFlyers, video courtesy of CSNPhilly, highlights courtesy of NHL.com)

Flyers Can Clinch Playoff Birth vs Habs

The Philadelphia Flyers (43-23-8) will host the Montreal Canadiens (29-33-13) tonight at 7:00 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers can clinch a playoff birth tonight when they face the Montreal Canadiens for the 4th and final time this season. The Flyers just need 2 points in order to clinch; however they can also gain a spot in the playoffs with 1 point tonight and a Buffalo Sabres loss. Only the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins have clinched in the East so far.

The Flyers currently lead the Canadiens in the season series 2-1; Montreal won the first game and then the Flyers won the following two. On top of winning two in a row versus the Canadiens, the Flyers have also won 5 of their last 6 matches against Montreal. The last time they met was on December 15, and Andrej Meszaros scored the game winning goal in the 3rd period helping the Flyers to a 4-3 victory.

The Flyers are coming off a solid 2-1 shootout win against the Capitals on Thursday. Philadelphia tied the game up at 1 in the 2nd period and then emerged victorious in the shootout, for only the 4th time this season. The Flyers have won 2 of their last 3, and 4 of their last 6 games. Philadelphia is 9-1-1 in Ilya Bryzgalov's last 11 starts.
 
The Canadiens have struggled all season. They remain at the bottom of the Eastern conference with only 71 points. Even though they are coming off a solid 5-1 win over the Senators, it was their first win in their 4 games. Montreal has lost 4 of their last 6, and 11 of their last 15 games. Their win against Ottawa was last night, so Montreal will be playing on back to back nights, while the Flyers had off yesterday.

Who to look out for:
Max Pacioretty has been one of the few positives Montreal will get out of this season. Pacioretty has set career highs in goals (30), assists (28) and points (58) and leads his team in goals and points. Pacioretty has played very well against the Flyers this season scoring 2 goals and 5 points in 3 games. 

Wayne Simmonds, who has already set career highs in goals (22) and points (42) this season, hasn't scored a goal in his last 15 games. However, he scored the game winning shootout goal Tuesday night against Washington. The Flyers can only hope that will get him out of his slump. Last time the Flyers faced Montreal, Simmonds scored his 9th goal of the season.

Who's in goal:
Ilya Bryzgalov (31-14-7, 2.45 GAA) will make his 7th straight start in net against Peter Budaj (3-6-3, 2.81 GAA) tonight, because starting goalie Carey Price will be given the night off due to the back games.

Drop the Puck:
The Philadelphia Flyers host the Montreal Canadiens tonight at 7:00 PM.

Flyers Top Capitals in Shootout as Bryzgalov Stands Tall Again

Bryzgalov celebrates the win

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals tonight in a shootout 2-1, when Wayne Simmonds scored the winner in the 4th round.

Both goalies, Ilya Bryzgalov and Braden Holtby, played well only allowing 1 goal apiece but it was Bryzgalov who came up stronger in the shootout making 3 saves on 4 attempts.

5 of the previous 7 games versus the Capitals have been decided by 1 goal. Tonight was the 6th time in the last 8 games, and 5 of those have been decided past regulation.

The two things the Flyers wanted to prevent was falling behind early and keeping Alex Ovechkin off the board.
Unfortunately for the Flyers they failed at both, right out of the gates. Ovechkin scored for the Capitals on the first shot of the game, only 26 seconds in. Bryzgalov tried to poke-check the puck away from danger but it landed right on Ovechkin's stick and he buried it. The goal was Ovechkin's 23rd against the Flyers in 26 career games.

It was the 15th time in the last 20 games that the Flyers have given up the first goal.

Both teams played well following the early goal, trading chances, but the Flyers could not find the equalizer. The Capitals slightly outshot the Flyers 12-11 in the period.

Giroux scores the Flyers only goal

The equalizer would eventually be found by Claude Giroux. About 7 minutes into the 2nd period, the Capitals were pressuring and hit the post. Jaromir Jagr, then found the puck and made a perfect turn-around pass to Giroux, who was flying thought the neutral zone. Giroux blew right by the Capitals defenseman Dennis Wideman and went in all alone on Washington goalie Braden Holtby, who played in only his 3rd game of the season. Holtby attempted to poke-check Giroux, but Claude had his head up and made a nifty toe-drag past him and deposited it into the wide open cage, tying the game at 1. The Flyers escaped a potential 2 goal deficit and turned it into a tie hockey game.

Ilya Bryzgalov continued his strong play as he was perfect following the first shot of the game, stopping 30 straight shot. The Capitals had a great scoring chance late in the 2nd period when Marcus Johansson was a awarded a penalty after Matt Carle tripped him up on the breakaway. But Bryzgalov came up huge stopping Johansson using (the theme of the night) a poke-check, keeping the game knotted at 1.

Bryzgalov stops Johansson on the penalty shot

Both clubs played solid defensively in the 3rd period as there were only a combined 17 shots (9 for the Capitals and 8 for the Flyers). After neither team scored in the 3rd, the game went to overtime.

The Flyers dominated the overtime pressuring the Capitals and keeping the puck in Washington's zone for almost 4 out of the 5 minutes. However they couldn't get the go-ahead goal and a shootout was needed.

Coming into the shootout, the Flyers were 3 for 9, while the Capitals were 2 for 5.

Matt Read was first up as the Flyers chose to go first. Read decided to shoot five-hole and he scored.

Matt Hendricks went first for the Capitals and he faked the shot, Bryzgalov went down and he scored tying the shootout at 1.

Claude Giroux and Danny Briere went next, both trying to deke and both were stopped by Holtby.
Meanwhile Alex Ovechkin and Keith Aucoin were both stopped by Bryzgalov.

Simmonds scores the game winner

Wayne Simmonds was chosen in the 4th round and he decided to follow Read's strategy of shooting. And just like Read, Simmonds scored. It was his first shootout goal as a Flyer.

Troy Brouwer had to score for the Capitals to keep the game alive. But instead Bryzgalov made the save and the Flyers emerged victorious 2-1 in both the shootout and the game.

With the win, the Flyers keep pace with the Penguins and the Rangers, who both both won their last game. They are 4 points behind the 4th seeded Penguins and 5 points behind the 1st place Rangers.

Game notes:

• Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves on 31 shots and was a perfect 30 for 30 after the first shot on goal.
• Tonight's win was the Flyers 3rd win in a row against Washington. In those last 3 games the Flyers haven't allowed more than 1 goal against.
• Bryzgalov is now 9-1-1 in his last 10 starts.
• There were only 3 total PowerPlays in tonight's game, only 1 went to the Flyers. Neither team scored on the man-advantage. 
• Strangely enough, this day last year (March 22nd 2011) the Flyers faced the Capitals and the game went to a shootout. However the Flyers lost that game, 5-4.
• The Flyers win the season series against the Capitals 3-1.

Watch Full Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers get back into action on Saturday when they face the Montreal Canadiens.

(photos courtesy of ESPN NHL, video courtesy of CSNPhilly, highlights courtesy of NHL.com)

Flyers and Caps to Close Out Season Series

The Philadelphia Flyers (42-23-8) will host the Washington Capitals (37-30-6) tonight at 7:00 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals will meet for the 4th and final time this season. The Flyers currently lead the series 2-1 and have won 2 in a row against the Capitals and 4 of the last 6 games. 5 of the last 7 games between the Flyers and the Capitals have been decided by 1 goal. During their 2 game winning streak against the Capitals, the Flyers have only allowed 1 goal on 66 shots.

The Flyers have currently lost 2 of their last 3 games and have fallen down by 2 goals in each of those games. They were able to comeback and defeat Pittsburgh, while they were also able to comeback versus Boston, but they couldn't complete it and lost in the shootout. They failed to make a comeback against Florida on Tuesday, which resulted in a 2-1 loss. In the last 46 games, the Flyers have only led twice after the first 10 minutes of the game.

The Capitals have also lost 2 of their last 3 games. They currently find themselves hanging onto the 8th and final seed in the Eastern Conference by only 2 points over the Buffalo Sabres. However, they are also only 5 points behind Florida for the division lead and they face the Panthers in the 2nd to last game of the season. The Capitals PowerPlay has been terrific lately: they went 3 for 4 against Detroit on Monday and are 4 for 8 over the last 3 games.

Who to look out for:
Alex Ovechkin had a slow start to the season, but has been on fire lately. Ovechkin has 5 goals in his last 4 games and 17 points over his last 20 games. He leads his team in goals (32) and points (56). Ovechkin also plays very well against the Flyers: in 25 games, he has 22 goals and 37 points.

Flyers defenseman Matt Carle has played very steady for the Flyers averaging over 25 minutes of ice-time over the last 4 games. Carle leads all Flyers in average ice-time this season with 23:04 minutes, while also leading all Flyers defensemen in shots with 122. Carle has played very well against the Capitals throughout his career. He has 3 points in 3 games versus the Capitals this season and 13 points in 16 career games against Washington (the 2nd most points he's scored against any team; he has 16 points against Pittsburgh).

Who's in Goal:
Ilya Bryzgalov (30-14-7, 2.48 GAA) will make his 6th straight start in net for the Flyers. It is uncertain as of right now who will get the start for the Capitals because they have started 3 different goalies in their last 3 games: Tomas Vokoun, Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby. Michal Neuvirth (11-12-4, 2.85 GAA) will most likely get the nod as Vokoun is day to day with a groin injury, and Holtby was called up as a back-up.

Drop the Puck:
The Philadelphia Flyers will host the Washington Capitals tonight at 7:00 PM.

Streaking Panthers Defeat Flyers, Avoid Sweep

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Florida Panthers 2-1 tonight, despite outplaying them the entire game.

Weiss beats Bryzgalov

Philadelphia heavily outshot Florida 36-13 but Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen was virtually unbeatable stopping all but 1.

Florida got on the board first, courtesy of Stephen Weiss. The Flyers defense allowed Weiss too much space coning into their defensive zone and he took advantage. Weiss skated between the circles untouched and beat Ilya Bryzgalov on the Panthers 3rd shot of the game.

Once they had the lead they never looked back.

The Flyers outshot Florida 11-4 in the 1st period, but went 0-4 on the PowerPlay, including a brief 2 man advantage. Their failure to score on multiple Powerplays gave Florida momentum, which carried over into the 2nd period.

In the first 6 minutes of the 2nd, Florida used their momentum and outshot the Flyers 4-1 and then cashed in on their PowerPlay. Florida's PowerPlay, which has been lights out over the last 4 games (5 for 11) was successful while the Flyers' wasn't. Sean Bergenheim took advantage of a fortuitous bounce off the back boards right in front of Ilya Bryzgalov. Bergenheim pounced on it and beat Bryzgalov giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. It was the third straight game the Flyers found themselves down by 2.

Clemmensen making 1 of his 35 saves

After Florida's second goal, which turned into the eventual game winner, the Flyers threw everything they had at Florida outshot them 24-6.

However, they were only able to get one goal past Clemmensen and it was a fluky one. Eric Wellwood centered the puck from behind the net, attempting to find Briere, but instead it redirected off a Panthers defenseman's skate into the goal. The Flyers cut the lead in half and could smell another comeback. But it never happened.

The Flyers threw shot after shot and chance after chance only to be denied over and over again. They outshot Florida 12-3 in the 3rd, but could never get that elusive 2nd and tying goal.

Florida's win tonight was their 5th straight victory, while the Flyers have now lost 2 of their last 3. They fell 4 points behind Pittsburgh and 5 points behind the Rangers.

Game Notes:

• The Flyers allowed only 13 shots against, which is a season low. It is also the fewest shots against at homes since 2003.
• Claude Giroux (4), Brayden Schenn (4) and Eric Wellwood (5) combined for the same amount of shots that the entire Panthers team took.
• Giroux played 24:10 minutes, had 4 shots, 6 hits and won 17 of 20 faceoffs (85%).
• Flyers PowerPlay went 0-4 while Florida's went 1-2.
• The Flyers have outshot their opponents by 20 or more 6 times this season. They are 3-3 in those 6 games. 
• Despite the loss, the Flyers still win the season series against the Panthers 3-1.

Watch Full Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers get back into action Thursday when they face the Washington Capitals.

Flyers Look For Season Sweep vs Panthers

The Philadelphia Flyers (42-22-8) host the Florida Panthers (35-23-13) tonight at 7:00 PM.

The Philadelphia Flyers and Florida Panthers will face off against each other for the 4th and final time this season. The Flyers lead the series 3-0 and will try to sweep the Panthers for the first time since the 2005-06 season. Philadelphia has won 5 straight against Florida including a big 5-0 win the last time they met a few weeks ago. Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves and it was the first his his 3 straight shutouts in route to setting the Flyers franchise shutout streak of 249:43 minutes.

The Flyers are coming off a huge victory over their cross-state and arch-rival Penguins 3-2, when they came back from 2 goals down in the 3rd period, and then scored with less than a second left in overtime. It was the Flyers 3rd win in their last 4 games and 8th in their last 10.

The Florida Panthers have played very well lately. They have won 4 straight and 8 of their last 12 games. The Panthers are currently 1st in the Southeast division, 3 points ahead of the Capitals, with 2 games in hand. After they face the Flyers, the Panthers' next 6 games are all against teams with losing records.

Special Teams:
The Flyers penalty has played excellent over the last 4 games, while the Panthers PowerPlay has been sharp. The Flyers have not allowed a PowerPlay goal against in the last 4 games (11 for 11). The Panthers have scored PowerPlay goals in 3 straight games and have scored 4 goals in their last 9 attempts.

Injury Updates:
The Flyers will get back 3 injured players tonight. Pavel Kubina, who missed the last 7 games with an upper body, will make his return tonight and he will be paired up with Andreas Lilja. Lilja missed 1 game after being hit in the throat with the puck on Saturday. He said it was the scariest injury he has ever had, because he couldn't breathe for a couple of seconds.
Max Talbot will also return after missing 1 game. Talbot fell awkwardly after a fight on Saturday and was forced to miss Sunday's game, but will be ready for tonight's.
The Flyers also received some bad news. Andrej Meszaros, will undergo back surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for 6-8 weeks. GM Paul Holmgren said, "Andrej Meszaros will undergo surgery to remove a small disc fragment in his lower back on Wednesday, March 21. Surgery will be performed by Dr. Alex Vaccaro at Thomas Jefferson Hospital. Andrej will be out 6-8 weeks."


Who to lookout for:
Tomas Fleischmann has been the best Panther this season. He leads his team in goals (22) and points (52) on the season. Fleischmann has 3 points in his last 2 games, and 2 points in 3 games versus the Flyers this year.

Danny Briere, despite only scoring 1 goal in his last 27 games, has played well of late. He has 4 points in his last 4 games and has great numbers against the Panthers. He has 3 points in 2 games versus Florida this season and 15 goals and 31 points in 30 career games against the Panthers.

Who's in goal:
Ilya Bryzgalov has started 15 of the Flyers last 16 games, including back to back games on Saturday and Sunday, and will continue the workload tonight. Bryzgalov (30-13-7, 2.49 GAA) will make his 5th straight start in net against Scott Clemmensen (11-6-5, 2.83 GAA) tonight.

Drop the Puck:
The Philadelphia Flyers will host the Florida Panthers tonight at 7:00 PM.

Flyers Halt Streaking Pens in OT, with Hartnell's Late Game Heroics

Flyers celebrate their comeback

The Philadelphia Flyers won in dramatic fashion over the Pittsburgh Penguins this afternoon 3-2 in overtime.

The Flyers made a furious comeback in the 3rd period down 2 goals down to tie it up and force overtime.

And in overtime with just 0.9 seconds left Scottie Hartnell scored the game winner ending Pittsburgh's 11 game winning streak.

Afternoon games have not been kind to the Flyers this season. They are 3-8-2 coming into today's game in games starting on or before 3PM. The trend appeared to continue right out of the gates. Pittsburgh started the game off strongly while the Flyers slept through the first 2 periods.

The Penguins heavily outshot the Flyers in the 1st, 17-8, and got on the board off a double deflection. Craig Adams tipped Kris Letang's shot, which then bounced off the leg of Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning past Ilya Bryzgalov.

Flyer fans showing their love for Malkin

Pittsburgh continued their domination over the Flyers in the 2nd period. Philadelphia failed to take any even strength shots on goal and only 2 PowerPlay shots. The Penguins heavily outshot the Flyers once again 10-2. Evgeni Malkin gave the Penguins a 2 goal lead late in the 2nd with under a minute to go. Malkin got around Claude Giroux and then skated right through the crease untouched (as Kimmo Timonen vacated the area for some reason) and put it past Bryzgalov.

They were being out shot 27-10 and outscored 2-0 in the first 2 stanzas. The Flyers needed to wake up. 

The Flyers started the period on the PowerPlay and needed something to turn the momentum around. And with only 31 seconds into the period, Timonen provided that momentum when he scored off a wrist shot through traffic from the point. The Flyers were on the board; the lead was cut in half; and the Flyers were awake.

Philadelphia finally started putting pressure on Pittsburgh and were generating good scoring chances. Scott Hartnell took advantage of one of those chances when Wayne Simmonds stripped Evgeni Malkin of the puck and fed it to Giroux, who found Hartnell alone beside the net. Hartnell threaded the needle from a tight angle and roofed it over Pittsburgh goalie Marc Andre Fleury's shoulder knotting the game at 2.

Hartnell following the game winner

Despite the fact that Pittsburgh was outshooting the Flyers 31-14 at the time, it was a tie game.

The Flyers went on to outshoot the Penguins 10-7 after the goal and 14-11 for the period. Bryzgalov was perfect in the 3rd period allowing the Flyers to make a legitimate comeback.

Regulation had ended and overtime was needed.

Back and forth hockey took place in the extra session and time was winding down. Danny Briere carried the puck through the neutral zone with 5 seconds left on the clock. He crossed the blue line and slammed on the breaks. In this situation most players would have opted to shoot, due to the lack of time; however, Briere took the extra second to find a wide open Scott Hartnell (all Penguins were watching Briere because of the clock), who beat Fleury, scoring the game winning goal for the Flyers with less than a second (0.9) to go in overtime.

Hartnell scores the game winner with 0.9 seconds

The win snapped Pittsburgh's 11 game winning streak and pulls the Flyers within 2 points of them for 4th place in the East and gets them within 3 points of the Rangers for 1st.

Game Notes:

• Ilya Bryzgalov played very well today stopping 38 of 40 shots faced.
• The Flyers have been outscored 21-6 in 1st periods of games starting on or earlier than 3PM.
• Pittsburgh outshot the Flyers 27-10 after the first 2 periods, then the Flyers outshot the Penguins 17-13 in the 3rd period and overtime. Total game shots were 40-27 for Pittsburgh.
• Sidney Crosby had 0 points and was a -1 in 17 minutes in his return to Philadelphia.
• Nick Grossmann and Braydon Coburn played well together today. Grossmann was +1 with 3 blocked shots and 5 hits in 21 minutes, while Coburn was +1 with 4 blocked shots and 2 hits in 26 minutes.
• The Flyers will play the Penguins 2 more times in their final 10 games. 
• Flyers lead the season series 3-1 against the Penguins.

Watch Full Game Highlights:   HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers get back into action on Tuesday when they face the Florida Panthers.

(photos courtesy of ESPN NHL, video courtesy of NBC Sports, Highlights courtesy of NHL.com)