Stanley Cup: Special Teams Report

Flyers special teams have been the deal-maker or deal-breaker. In game 1 the Flyers went 1 for 4 on the powerplay. Those missed oppurtunities came back to hurt the Flyers in the end, when they lossed 6-5.

Chicago didn't see any powerplays, however against the Sharks their PP was only 3/14. The Flyers PK vs Montreal was 21/22. The advantage here goes to the Flyers, the Habs Powerplay wasn't working on all cylinders with Andrei Markov out of the lineup. But the Flyers PK was solid and didn't let the Habs PowerPlay change the momentum.

Blocking shots will be huge for the Flyers in this series, Chicago has a lot of power from their points and the shot blocking of Betts, Powe and Laperriere will be key.

Flyers Powerplay has been hit or miss as of late. They have been bad over the past few seasons versus an agressive PK, that's Chicago. Throughout the Habs series the Flyers were a sad 4/24. They were 4/9 in the first 2 games. 0/15 in the final 3 games. Missed oppurtunities is not a phrase you want commonly used when talking about your team's PP.

The PP goal by Hartnell on Saturday was the first PPG for the Flyers in the last 4 games. However the next 3 unsucessful powerplays, one in which Dave Bolland got a shorty, hurt the Flyers down the stretch.

Flyers PK Lines:

Betts Powe Pronger Timonen

Richards Giroux Carle Coburn

*Lappy will slowly be worked into PK as the 5th offenseman

Flyers PP lines:

Gagne Richards Leino Pronger Timonen

Hartnell Briere Giroux Coburn Carle

Stanley Cup Game 2 Notes

Game 1 proved to be in Chicago's favor with an 11 goal shootout. Michael Leighton was pulled for Boucher and Chicago's goaltender Niemi was solid, not letting a single shot in the entire third period, after letting 5 up in the first 2. The Flyers adknowledged that when you score 5 goals that should be enough to win a game, however no one blamed Leighton, they took the blame on their defensive play.

Laviolette said that they'll look over the tape and be ready on Monday. Their defensive zone coverage look a bit off and there was no pressure in the neutral zone. Trust Lavvy when he's says it'll be fixed.

-News-

It came out yesterday that Dan Carcillo will be in the lineup, for who was unknown. But now word is that Jame VanRiemsdyk will not dress tonight for game 2. In game 1 JVR logged 9:15 and was a -2 with no shots. Lately he has shown that while he has great scoring potential he struggles defensively.
Dan Carcillo will undoubtly come out fired up after missing games 4 and 5 of last series as well as game 1 of the Finals. Carcillo came into the playoffs but after his Overtime game winner he went scoreless through the Bruins series and Habs series.

As i questioned in an earlier blog (One and Done: Number 77) after Game 1 Ryan Parent will be out tonight for Oskars Bartulis. Ryan was a -1 in 1 shift over the length of 41 seconds. Bartulis will only look to log around 5:00 minutes of ice as the 6th defenseman, but his 6'2" size and speed is coveted against a quick Chicago offense.

-Notes-

Chicago:
Andrew Ladd be out again after Kopecky's performance in Game 1 picking up the Game Winner. Quenneville said nothing will change even though Ladd skated today.

+Who's Hot?
Brouwer 2g 1a +2 in 13:44
Bolland 1g 1a +3 in 17:22 and 4 shots
-Who's Cold?
Toews, Kane and Big Bluff were each a -3 vs Pronger and Carle.

Philadelphia:
Carcillo and Bartulis in, JVR and Parent out. Lavvy has been known to switch up the lineup after losses.
Leighton will start Game 2 after being pulled Game 1 letting in 5 Goals in 35 minutes on 20 shots.

+Who's Hot?
Briere 1g 3a 6shots +2 in 18:15
Hartnell 1g 2a 3shots +2 in 17:08
-Who's Cold?
Gagne 2shots -3 in 16:52, many bad turnovers in defensive zone.

-Projected Flyers Lines-

Offense:
Carter Richards Carcillo
Hartnell Briere Leino
Gagne Giroux Asham
Powe Betts Laperriere

Defensive:
Timonen Coburn
Carle Pronger
Krajicek Bartulis

Goalies:
Leighton
Boucher

Game 2 Monday on NBC at 8:00 live from Chicago

Homecoming: Michael Leighton, of the Kanye West Variety

Michael Leighton played 35 minutes in Chicago Saturday night. He went 15 of 20. Coming in with a league leading 1.45 GAA, this is not Leighton. His angles were a little off and he never got settled in. However hardly any of the goals were his fault.

Goal 1, Brouwer: Top of the slot one timer set up by board play low to high, Parent lost his stick and Jvr never broke up the play.

But as you can see, 4 guys in the slot and 1 guy on the boards for the Flyers. This is a lose puck side attack. The Flyers played this all Game 1. Chicago is too quick and pass to sharply to not play a variation of man on man.

Sharp's goal came off of a turnover during a Flyers line change. Bolland's came off of a breakaway shorthanded, the only goal i credit to Leighton. Beat him 5-hole.

Goal 4, Versteeg: A play behind the net that saw 4 Flyers around the crease all poking at the puck. Versteeg put in his own rebound. Flyers defense can not let him stand there for the second chance, especially with 4 guys down low.

Goal 5, Brouwer 2nd: Once again 4 Flyers below the dots, in the slot, however the puck gets through. Just like Brouwer's 1st goal Flyers seemed to be playing a zone and Brouwer sneaked in the slot.

Goal 6, Kopecky GWG: The play was saved by the Hawks at the blueline and Versteeg was down low to accept the dump in. But see the circled player, that's Kimmo Timonen. Kopecky is his man and he's caught out of position. Bouch did play Kopecky badly but Carter was the man defending him.

However i believe Leighton will be back for Game 2, and so will the Flyers tight,"one and done", defense. He's your number 1 and he's been your best player until now. Just a kink in the armor, just one bad game.

Leighton said after the game: "Just one of those games, almost like every shot they scored. Good players, they get paid a lot to score goals."

I don't believe Leighton took this as anything more than a bad game. He will be back for Game 2, Monday in Chcago at 800pm est. on NBC.

One and Done: Number 77

Have You Seen this Man?

Ryan Parent saw 1 shift in Saturday night's Game 1 of Lord Stanley's Cup finals. He finshed a -1 with :41 seconds of ice. He dropped his stick and was render defenseless, mix that with the poor play of JVR at the point and Hawks Troy Brouwer netted his 1st of the game.
His play this season has not been what the Flyers thought they were "stealing" from Nashville in the trade that saw Peter Forsberg heading south.
This season Parent played 48 games and was a sad -14, top that off with the fact that he's a defensive defenseman and only scored a goal and talllied 2 assists. However this post season Ryan was headed in a bit of a turn around turning a -14 to a -2, and added a goal against Boston. But lately his poor decision making and lack off strength on board battle have him looking out of place.

No word if the 1 shift means he may not be back for game 2 but if he's not the Flyers have guys ready to take his place. Oskars Bartulis, the 6'2" defender, has been the odd man out of the top 6 since Game 2 vs. the Devils, he was a -1 in 2 games. However his size and speed may be what the Flyers need out of a low minute man.
Danny Syvret is also an option, he's an offensive defenseman most famous for scoring in the 2010 Winter Classic. He put up 2 goals and 2 assists in 21 games with the Flyers this season. And was an offensive force at the blueline for the A'dack Phantoms of the AHL this season.
Seeing as Parent's ice time totals over the last 3 games are 3 mins, 2 mins, 41 seconds. Why not just dress an extra offenseman, maybe Dan Carcillo? Great guy to have in the lineup, his impact has been and if given the oppurtunity will be much greater than Ryan Parent's.

If the Flyers feel that sitting their 6th defenseman in a Defensive system that sees their top 4 guys go 20+ every game, then Dan Carcillo would be a great addition offensively and some who's expandable, if he gets in a fight.

Keep you updated if a move is what the Flyers choose or if they go with the same lineup.

Game 2 Monday 8:00pm est, on NBC

Chicago Philadelphia Series Preview and Game 1 Notes

Stanley Cup Finals Series Preview! It's the "Last Second" Philadelphia Flyers vs. the "Young Guns" Chicago Blackhawks. 2nd place in the west faces off against 7th place in the east, Overall 3 vs 18.

It's been an up and down season for the Flyers. Heading into the regular season the Flyers were picked by many to be the team representing the Eastern Conference in the final battle for the Stanley Cup. Chicago was also the favorite in the west, led by young guns Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, along with one of the leagues best Defensive pairing's in Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. The Flyers are lead by a group of players ranging from young to old. Simon Gagne ,a Flyers draft pick back in the Lindros days, is playing some of the best hockey of his career, while it's the youngsters from the '04 draft Jeff Carter and captain Mike Richards that have led the Flyers offense production all season.

-Lineups-

Chicago (12-4-0):

Offense:

Kane Toews Byfuglien

Hossa Sharp Eager

Kopecky Bolland Versteeg

Burrish Madden Browder

Defense:

Keith Seabrook

Hjalmarson Cambell

Hendry Sopel

Goaltending:

Niemi Huet

Philadelphia (12-5-0):

Offense:

Gagne Richards Carter

Hartnell Briere Leino

Asham Giroux Jvr

Powe Betts Laperriere

Defense:

Pronger Carle

Timonen Coburn

Krajicek Parent

Goaltending:

Leighton Boucher

-Notes-

Hawks:

Tomas Kopecky is in for Andrew Ladd (Shoulder) suffered injury Game 4 vs. Sharks

Toews 26 points, 7 goals 19 assists. Byfuglien leads team with 8 goals

Niemi is 12-4-0 SV% .921 GAA 2.33

Coming off of a sweep vs. Sharks, Streak 5 wins

Coach Joel Quenneville's 1st cup appearence as Head Coach, Won cup in '96 as Assistant Coach with Avs

Flyers:

Boucher (Knee) will backup Leighton on Saturday, he was hurt Game 5 vs Boston. Carcillo is a healthy scratch once again.

Richards 21 points, 6 goals 15 assists. Briere leads team with 9 goals.

Leighton is 6-1-0 SV% .948 GAA 1.45.

Coming off of a 5 game series vs. Habs, Streak 2 wins

Coach Peter Laviolette has played in 1 Stanley Cup final, winning with Carolina in '06.

Final Words: "Just relax. Go out and play the game." - Lavvy

Stanley Cup Full of Quotes

Here are some quotes to pump you up before tonight's 8pm est. start of the finally for Lord Stanley's Cup. Go Flyers!

-BlackHawks-

Marian Hossa, on 3rd team in 3rd staight cup Final: "Great team, great chance, we're ready."

Patrick Kane, on Chicago fans' expectations: "Everyone expected us to get the this thing and to win this thing."

Joel Quienville on Stanley Cup nerves, Thursday: "First game of the season and first game of the playoffs, butterflies are there; and i expect them tomorrow."

Stan Bowman on Micheal Leighton: "The players have to recognize he's on a hot streak." going on to say, "No different than any other goalie, if he can't see the puck he can't stop it."

Both Toews and Coach Q said that last years' loss to Detroit is still being used today within team.

-Flyers-

Ed Snider on Flyers run: "The sky's the limit, they don't know how to quit, it's incredible."

Leighton on underdog status: "We have been underdogs in every series, supposedly."

Gagne on chances of bringing home the Cup: "We have the team to do that."

Briere looking back on Boston series: "After that, why not go all the way."

Pronger on his 1st Flyers season: "Been a wild ride, but no suprise, everytime a challenge has confronted us we've faced it head on."

Patrick Kane vs JVR: Beard Growing

The only sure thing about the NHL Playoffs: The Beards! It's been a traditional set in the blood of all hockey players, right when the weather gets nicer and spring's in full bloom, the beards start growing. Over the years the beard has become anonymous with champions, and the fans may be the leading force. However right now i'm gonna discuss a battle that first took wage in the spring of 2007.

The 1st round pick in the 2007 draft had been awarded to the Chicago Blackhawks, suprisingly after the Philadelphia Flyers finished last in the league. But this gave Chicago a chance to snag up a top scorer of the OHL, in the London Knight's Patrick Kane. The Flyers had the 2nd overall pick and they took close to home prospect James Van Riemsdyk, Middleton New Jersey native.

Kane made the intial jump to the NHL directly after being drafted and was an immediate impact. This no doubt fired up the Flyers to get their gem, JVR, into the league ASAP. However Van Riemsdyk decided to hold on and spend two seasons at UNH.

Now three years later, these two meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, two players eager to prove their clear dominace. I could break down their stats all day, but i'm gonna get to the real point and compare these two's playoff beards.

-Patty K-

Chicago Blackhawks Right Wing, 1st Overall in '07.

Starting the playoffs all players are on the same page beard-wise so Patrick had a fair start:

Now we remember how Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo shaved and came out great against the Hawks, here was Patty K's beard response: Clearly no Dustin Byfuglien but getting there.. i guess.




Okay now in the Western Conference Finals, Patrick's gotta be sporting something, anything atleast make a Toews' chops attempt! And:

Here he is your 1st overall pick in '07 heading to the Stanley Cup Final. But more importantly look at that beard, it may be blonde but so is Justin Timberlake's.

-JVR-

Philadelphia Flyers' Left Winger, 2nd Overall in '07.

The 21 year old came into the final game of his rookie season with absolutely no idea he would be going to the Finals.

As the comeback came on in full swing it all came down to game 7 vs the Bruins, JVR stepped up but sadly his beard had not.

The Eastern Conference Finals, it's been a month but finally we have beard! It may only look like 5 o'clock shadow, even though it's 5 week shadow.

In the Game 5 win that sent the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals, everything in the Flyers offense was in full bloom. Except JVR's beard still had not. Hence the unadknowledgement from the vets.

The Winner of The Battle of the 21 year olds' somewhat Beards will be determined over these next two weeks during the Stanley Cup Finals. By who's Playoff Beard can step up and reign supreme. ...In other news Ville Leino now has 3 beards.

Articles on the way this week:
1.Patrick Kane vs JVR: Beard Growing.
2.Chicago Philly Statistical Breakdown.
3.Quotes Galore: Giving you an earful.

After Thoughts: Habs vs Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the 1st time in 13 years, with a 4 to 2 win Monday in Philly. Awaiting them will be the highly touted Chicago Blackhawks. This is an analysis of the Eastern Conference Finals that saw the 3rd Flyers opponent to go down.

Going into the series the Flyers knew that the Habs were a strong team straight through their lineup. But led by their star players, being Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Halak coming in with a .933 save percentage, also LA Kings draft pick Mike Cammalleri who came into the series the NHL's top scorer with 12 goals. The Flyers couldn't over focus on Cammalleri though because his linemates and former long time Devils Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta would be there to capitalize.

The Flyers came in with their guns blazing as well however. Coming off of a incredible comeback versus the Bruins in which the Flyers rallied back with 4 straight wins to become only the 3rd NHL team to comeback from down 3-0. Simon Gagne symbolized that by returning from a broken toe ,suffered in Round 1, in game 4 to score the game winner and to follow up with 3 goals in the next 3 games.

Cammalleri's scoring parade was put on hold until game 3 in Montreal where he finally found the back of the net. But that was all he'd find over the 5 game series as Micheal Leighton rose to the task. Leighton posted 3 shutouts in 5 games, games 1 2 and 4, and bumped his save percentage to .948 and GAA to 1.45 in 8 playoff games. Cammalleri finished the series with 1 goal and 1 assist, both coming in Game 3, and a -5.

Philadelphia's goal scoring continued even though going up against the NHL's hottest goaltender in Jaroslav Halak. As mentioned earlier Simon Gagne had 4 goals in his preivious 4 games, but he wasn't the only sharp-shooter for this Flyers team. Danny Briere was heating up and ready to prove critics who said he is invisible in the late rounds wrong, coming in with 7 goals and 15 points. So with their top guns firing and contributions coming from all ends the Flyers just rode the wave and stuck with what got them there. Mike Richards who was quiet in most of this series picked up a goal and 2 assists in game 5 to add to his team leading 21 points this postseason.

The Flyers are now being called the team of "Destiny", but they won't let this get to their heads. Laviolette said after Monday's Eastern Conference Finals win "we'll be prepared, we'll be ready." You have to expect they will be, with the Flyers it seems to be whatever Lavvy says goes. Flyers defensemen Kimo Timonen said today "His demading level is higher" (than former coach John Stevens) "and we needed that." The combination of Pronger and Richards was starting to look like a match made in hell, but now with their differences settled this team has two different style of leaders and the Flyers are playing at the top of their game.

Round 3 Short Series Update

Flyers up 3-1 After another shut out by Micheal Leighton in Game 3.

-Leighton is now 5-1. GAA of 1.37. Save Percentage of .951, in 7 playoffs games since taking over for Boucher. Micheal's gone 174 of 183. 4 SO.
-Pronger leads team in Ice time per Game. He has 14 points in 16 games and is a +1 while going up against the opposing teams' top lines night after night.
-Gagne's point streak of 7 games ended today. 7 goals and 3 assists in 12 games this playoffs.

Teams Stats
Goals:
Briere 9 Giroux 8 Gagne 7
Assists:
Richards 13 Pronger 10 Carle & Briere 9

Mid-season acquisition Ville Leino now has 4 goals and 8 assists.

Flyers just got Carter, their second scorer in the Regular season, and Laperierre, who is a born leader, back for Game 4's 3-0 win in Montreal.

Flyers have had Sucess when crashing Halak. Look for it to continue Game 5+. Defensively all they have to do is be "one and done"and not let Montreal get second chances on Leighton.

Game 5 monday @ 7 in Philly.

Montreal vs Philly Series Preview

Montreal came back down 3-1 vs. the defending champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and won the best of 7 series. What's better than that? The Flyers came from 3-0 down to become only the 4th team in the 3 professional sports who follow the best of 7 format.

-Teams Analysis-

Montreal is led by a big group of small players. One of which is the NHL playoff leader in goals, Mike Cammalleri. Remember last year when Calgary thought "Jay Bouwmeester can carry us into the playoffs, but we'll have to sacrifice a little depth on offense." The sacrfice came in the form of Mike Cammaleri who was quickly grabbed up by the Habs that summer. He now has a league leading 12 goals, along with 6 assists is 3rd in the leagues with 18 points. He's a smallish forward who will always have to be accounted for with his speed and shot. I see a guy like Timonen out there matching up with him.
Hal Gill and PK Subban have been the talk of the town in Montreal. Gill has done in impressive job star shooting, first Ovechkin then his former teammate Sidney Crosby. We will see if he has trouble as the Flyers do not possess a top dog and instead have many useful weapons. PK has gone from prospect to stardom over the past few weeks. His calmness and smart puckhandling skills have gotten him to the tops ice time on the Habs and have landed Quaterbacking the Powerplay.
Not enough can be said for the way Jaroslav Halak has played this postseason. He was exiled of the starting job against Washington in the 1st round but got it back and has played spectacular with it. Posting a .933 save percentage and a 2.42 goals against. He had a shutout the last time these two teams met, he will have to be just as good to carry this team further.

As for the Flyers, goal scoring is anonymous, their goals come from any of those powerful top 3 lines. In their miraculous comeback last series their cold hands got hot. Hartnell scored in game 5 and again in game 7 after not scoring for 22 games. JVR has been subject of much controversy and has been as on and off as it gets, however he scored that 1st goal of Friday's game 7 and turned the switch on. Simon Gagne symbolized the comeback of the Flyers. After breaking his toe in the Devils series Gagne came back early for Game 4 vs the Bruins, where he scored the overtime goal. Next game in a 4-0 beating in boston he tallied 2 goals. and then in the Finally with 7 minutes left in the third he stepped up and sent the Flyers into the next round.
On Defense shot blocking has become top priority with a sudden shake up losing Brian Boucher. Pronger while being a great leader off the ice has set the example for the other dmen on the ice. Pronger and Kimo Timonen have been instrumental in blocking shots these past two series. The play of Matt Carle has most people wondering "all we had to do was get rid of Steve Downie?" While Downie, a 1st round pick of the FLyers in 04 had a great season playing next to Steve Stamkos, Matt carle is playing some of the best hockey of his career in this postseason, putting up 4 assists in the Flyers desperate game 4 effort.
Micheal Leighton was thrown into the fire when Brian Boucher got hurt game 5 in Boston. He battle back well though stopping 44 of his first 45 shots. Although he looked a little shaky in game 7 letting in 3 early ones, he bounced back and stopped every shot after that in a 4-3 victory. Before he went out with injury March 16th he was the best player for the Flyers day in and day out. Once he gets confortable he will return to that undoubtedly form, the question is how long will that process take?

-Teams Leader-
Montreal:
Cammalleri leads in goals (12) and points (18)

Philadelphia:
Richards leads in assits (7) and points (17) and is second on the team to Danny Briere(7) in goals(5)

-Matchups to watch-

Hal Gill vs ???, Gill has been put up against top guys all playoffs chances are he will do the same as Chara and matchup vs Richards. Although Danny Briere's line with Hartnell and Leino have been pilling up the big goals.

Flyers D vs Cammalleri, the Flyers in the first series weren't very good on plays along the boards. This will not be the cases with a small Canadiens offense. Play will be centered around getting pucks to the slot. Cammalleri will be the guy they want to have the puck, Flyers D will have to force him away form shooting oppurtunities. I expect when Pronger and Carle are out the to have Carle on him with Pronger covering the passers to him. A big fast guy like Coburn who blocks a good amount of shots could be a favorable matchup too against that 1st line of the Habs.

Game 1 Sunday at 7:00 pm at Philadelphia.

Game 7 Notes

You all know the story: Series tied 3-3. Winner will play Montreal Saturday night at home. If the Flyers win they'll be the 3rd team in NHL History to battle back and win a series after being down 3-0.

Game 7 @Boston 7:00

-Flyers Starters-
Gagne Richards Carcillo... Pronger Carle... Micheal Leighton
Hartnell Briere Leino... Timonen Krajicek
JVR Giroux Asham... Parent Coburn
Powe Betts Nodl

-Injury News-
Betts left the ice in the 2nd period of Game 6 Wednesday night holding his right forearm. Not much has been disclosed to the media about the injury. After sitting the whole 3rd period of the Flyers game 6 2-1 win, Betts will be in the lineup tonight after skating this morning.
Betts has been the Flyers top Penalty Killer and Faceoff-man throught this series. If he is unable to take draws or kill Penalties expect Powe to take Faceoffs and Nodl to fill his spot on the PK.

Word broke Thursday that Simon Gagne's foot/toe was acting up after game 6. Remember Gagne did miss 4 Games, 1st 3 this series, due to that broken toe. Word was that he had a minor limp today. He did not partcipate in this morning's optional skate.
My opinion: Once he puts on the Skate and the Adrenaline gets pumping he will forget the pain and play at his top level.

Jeff Carter(foot) and Ian Laperierre(head) still have yet to play a game in this series.

-Hot Topics-
Micheal Leighton has gone 44 of 45 these past two games and has anchored the Flyers to 2 straight wins. Many Flyers said that before he went down, with that groin injury, he was their best player every night.

Bruins on home ice could turn out as Penguins on home ice did, where the Fans started to turn on their team after watching them going down early. This place will be alive and jumping, the Flyers have to settle the crowd down early thus leveling the playing field.

for more info on your Flyers follow my tweets @CwillG

Game 6 notes

Going into Game Six Boston up 3-2. Do or die for Flyers.

Game @ 8 o'clock on CSNPhilly

-Starting Forwards-

Gagne Richards Nodl

Hartnell Briere Leino

JVR Giroux Asham

Powe Betts Carcillo

-Starting Defense-

Pronger Carle

Timonen Coburn

Parent Krajicek

-Starting Goalie-

Micheal Leighton

-Hot Topics-

Claude Giroux will play after only playing one shift after being hit from behind by Steve Begin in G5

Brian Boucher is out indefiantly with a knee sprain. Leighton makes his 1st playoff start in his career.

Nodl played on 1st line last game as a result of a injury suffered by Carcillo in G4. Carcillo could be on that 1st line tonight.

Gagne has 3 goals since coming back in g4 from a broken toe.

Spectulation that if Tuukka loses again tonight Tim Thomas could back stop the Bruins in Game 7

-CG

Round 2 updates

-Series Overview-
Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 lead anchored by good starts tight D and strong play in net by Tuukka Rask. But the Flyers managed to start back with 2 wins of thier own by playing a much more sound fundemental game.

-Headlines-
Flyers starting goalie and at many times their savior Brian Boucher was injured in the Game 5 win on Monday night. Sources say he injured both knees but it is the left one that is serevely sprained. This happened on a play where the puck came to the net mouth and Ryan Parent fell down on top of Bouch. He is suspected to be out up to a month.

Micheal Leighton made saw his first action since hurting that Groin March 16th in a game vs the Nashville Predators. He stopped all 14 shots fired his way in 35 minutes of ice time. Leighton will now take the path Boucher laid out for him and try to carry this team into the Conference Finals.

Claude Giroux was also injured in Game 5. He was put into the boards face first by Bruins forward Steve Begin. GM Paul Holmgren says he expects Giroux to play however his status remains questionable for game 5. Begin was not given any further punishment by the league for the hit.

Simon Gagne has made a great return with 3 goals in his last 2 game since returning Game 4. His goal in Game 4 was the OT winner and his 2 goals yesterday were timely as the Flyers blew past the Bruins 4-0 Monday night. There is no doubt that he will play a big role in upincoming Game 6 as he has anchored this Flyers offense the past two games.

-Breakouts-
Andreas Nodl has taken off this series turning into the Flyers hoped they'd get drafting him in the 2nd round of 06. The Austrian native found himself playing on the Flyers top line in Game 5 after Daniel Carcillo left game 4 with a leg injury. He' playing a solid physical game at both ends and shows no fear when matched up against big Zdeno Chara.

Scott Hartnell scored his 1st goal in his previous 21 games.. then got it taken away from him and given to Leino. But then scored his 1st goal! His play of late had many fans wondering why he was in the lineup and if he'd he back next year. However he played a very sound game on Monday picking up a goal on 4 shots and being +2. Scotty also played very well defensively, an area of his game he's struggled with throughout his slump.

Ville Leino is becoming a star with this team. He has a goal in each of his last two games and is playing with a much smarter head than he was in the first 3 games. He along with Briere and Hartnell seem to be really clicking and right when the Flyers need them to.

-Schedule-
Game 6 is Wednesday in Philadelphia @8:00
Game 7 (if necessisary) is Friday up in Boston @7:00

Remember to Follow my TWEETS for more up to the minute info on your Philadelphia Flyers!

IonLS: Game 1 Flyers Bruins

-Headlines-

Two Hot Goalies in Boston's Tuunka Rask and Philly's Brian Boucher going Head to Head.
Tuunka ended 4-36 with the W
Boucher getting the loss went 5-46

The Key Matchup of Pronger and Chara.
Chara finshed a +1 with 1 assists and over 33 minutes.
Pronger had a Goal and an Assist yet still finshed a -2, he logged over 31 minutes

The Return of Marc Savard.
Marc Savard played 15 minutes and picked up the Game Winner in overtime on a wrister over the glove of Bouch.

-Recap-

The Bruins came out with all the jump. The Flyers looked like a team that hadn't played in two weeks, go figure. After 1 it looked like this was gonna be a blow out in Boston's favor, but the score was only 2-0.

The Bruins still dominated play well into the second. But that all ended when Ryan Parent scored his second CAREER goal on a seeing eye slapshot from the point.
3 minutes later it was Miroslav Satan from about 10 feet out who scored a PPG.
The Flyers answered with a Pronger Slapshot that blew right by Rask. 3-2 Bruins at the end of the 2nd.

Going into the 3rd the Flyers knew they need a good start, something they didn't have in the first two periods.

But to start the 3rd the Bruins fired back with one their when David Krejci scored his 4th of the Playoffs alone in front courtesy of Briere. 4-2 Bruins

with the play now even the Flyers needed goals, so leave that to Captain and Team points leader Mike Richards to score his third of the Playoffs with 7 minutes remaining.

Then the impossible, Big Hard-nosed Daniel Briere split through the Bruins D and took a shot then buried the rebound. Scoring one of the Flyers greatest playoff goals and tying the Game.

The Flyers had all the momentum going into overtime and this looked like pay back for when the Bruins came from behind to beat the Flyers in the Winter Classic.

But the Flyers lack any sort of jump, the Bruins were all over them and Boucher was incredible. Perfect positioning and poise kept th Bruins out of the net.

However until comebacker Marc Savard scored from the circle. Blowing over the Glove of Bouch.

Game 1 ended 5-4 Bruins. They lead 1-0.

-Players to Watch-

Flyers : Scotty Hartnell!, Daniel Briere, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards.

Bruins : Marc Savard, Mark Recchi, Zdeno Chara, David Krecji

Next game Monday on Versus at 7pm live from Boston!

IonLS: Flyers Bruins Preview

Round 2 Game 1 from Boston home of the Bruins on NBC @1230.

-Storylines-

Flyers:
Can Brian Boucher stay as good as he was last series vs. the Devils. Posting a 1.59 GAA.
The losses of Gagne and Carter's scoring potential. Carter 2 goals in 4 games, Gagne 0 in 4.
How the Flyers PK will play after lossing two big PKers in Lappy and Gags.

Bruins:
The potential return of Boston's offensive leader, Marc Savard, after suffering a major concusion mid season.
Youngster Tuunka Rask, 23, played well and won a 6 games series vs. Buffalo.
Can Mark Recchi and Miroslav Satan keep up their scoring vs Flyers. each with 3 goals and 2 assists.

These teams don't like each other, expect this one to get Physical. Both teams are a lot alike they play similar with a lot of crashing and hard play around the net. Rask and Boucher both stole a few games for their teams in the 1st round, we'll see who can continue that in the 2nd round.

-Key Matchup-

Chara vs. Pronger:
Chara is known for being the smartest and most physical defenseman in the league and leads the Bruins in ice time in the Playoffs. The tough part for the Claude Julien will be when to put hime on the ice with the Flyers not having a dominant 1st line as the Sabres did.

Pronger is also highly regarded for his toughness and leadership. In the 1st round led the Flyers in Ice Time and tallied 2 goals and 3 assits in 5 games. At somepoints the FLyers would shift Pronger down and play hime in front of Brodeur, just as the Bruins can and have done with Chara.

-Regular Season-

Oct 22 - @Phi, 4-3 PHI (SO)
Dec 14 - @Bos, 3-1 PHI
Jan 1 - @Fenway, 2-1 BOS (OT)
Mar 11 - @PHI, 5-1 BOS

Tuunka is 1-0-1 vs the Flyers, allowing 4 goals. in the Win going 31-32, in the OTL going 18-22.

Boucher vs the Bruins this year is 1-0-0 with a No Decision. giving up 1 goal on 27 shots in the win.

-Stats Leaders-
Flyers: Richards 8 pts (2 goals 6 assists). Giroux 4 goals
Bruins: Recchi, Krechi, Satan 5 pts. Recchi. Satan 3 goals

-Projected Flyers Lines-

OFF:
Carcillo Richards Giroux
Hartnell Briere Leino
JVR Ross Asham
Nodl Betts Powe

DEF:
Pronger Carle
Krajicek Parent
Timonen Coburn

PP1:
Richards Giroux JVR
Pronger Timonen/Carle

PK:
Powe Betts Pronger Carle
Richards Giroux Timonen Coburn

-Key Injuries-
Flyers: Gagne, Carter, Lappy
Bruins: Savard

Game 1 Saturday on NBC @1230