Flyers heed Laviolette's Message

A night after Flyers' head coach Peter Laviolette watch his team lose their 4th in their last 5 games, the Flyers responded with a win against Buffalo. After Monday's 2-1 defeat which saw the Flyers lose to yet another back-up goalie, Lavi chewed out his team, saying among other things they played mindless hockey. On tuesday the Flyers fell behind early, but were able to battle back and win 6-3 at home.

The Flyers game up an early goal, as they have often lately, to Tomas Vanek. However the Flyers leading scorer Danny Briere tallied his 6th of the season to tie it before the end of the 1st. The Flyers then scored 4 straight goals on one of the NHL top goaltenders in Ryan Miller. The Sabs battled back with 2 goals late in the 3rd but the game was iced away with Andreas Nodl's empty netter.

Flyers goals were scored by Briere, Zherdev, Powe, Giroux, Carter, and Nodl. Carter also tallied 2 assists, finishing with 3 points on the night. After fighting for his spot in training camp, Darroll Powe now has 2 goals this season, he finished with 9 goals in 63 games last season.

Andreas Nodl has played in 3 games this season and got his 1st goal last night, almost had a 2nd. Nodl is an excellent player in both ends and can play with any line on this Flyers teams. After his performance Tuesday it will interesting how Lavi decides to utilize the 23 year old. Nodl subbed for Dan Carcillo in all of his starts this season.

Sergei Bobrovsky got the start in net and bumped his record to 3-2-0. He saved 32 of 35 shots fired his way, giving up only 1 even strength goal. On the Powerplay Bobrovsky saved 1 of the 3 shots he saw.

Here are last night's highlights via NHLVideo

2010-2011 Stats

REGULAR SEASON - 82 GAMES

Goals
Carter - 36
Briere - 34
Giroux - 25
Hartnell - 24
Richards - 23
Versteeg - 21
van Riemsdyk - 21
Leino - 19

Assists
Giroux - 51
Richards - 42
Carle - 38

Points
Giroux - 76
Briere - 68
Carter - 66
Richards - 66

Wins
Bobrovsky - 28 (28-13-8)
Boucher - 18 (18-10-4)

GAA
Boucher - 2.42
Bobrovsky - 2.59

Save %
Boucher - .916
Bobrovsky - .915

* last updated April 10th

POST SEASON - 11 GAMES

Goals
Briere - 7
van Riemsdyk - 7

Assists
Giroux - 11
Richards - 6

Points
Giroux - 12
Briere - 9
Meszaros - 7
Richards - 7

Wins
Boucher - 4
Bobrovsky - 0

GAA
Boucher - 3.13
Bobrovsky - 3.23

Save %
Boucher - .904

Flyers face off against the Same "Old" Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres of the past decade have been known as a franchise who lives off of drafting and low paid players. Even though they live and die by their small name players, the Sabres have had a great deal of success in recent years.

Of those who have come through Buffalo on small pay that caught a huge payday else where, the Flyers leading scorer Danny Briere. Briere played for seasons with the Sabres after being acquired from the Yotes in a trade where Buffalo gave up Chris Gratton.

Now-a-days Buffalo thrive through their Olympic star goaltender, Ryan Miller. Miller was originally drafted by the Sabres in the 5th round of the 1999 entry draft. The Hobey Baker winner is currently playing in his 6th season with the team, he has never had a GAA of more than 2.75 in his career.

The Sabres constist of a good group of veterans and young guns. 36 year old, Craig Rivet, leads the Sabres on the back end and also where the captain's C. While Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera are two of the brightest young defensemen in the league.

Their offense is led by Tomas Vanek, who was part of some off-ice fighting a few summers ago. Vanek was a restricted free agent, meaning the Sabs had the right to match an offer that was made on the winger, Edmonton started a bidding war that ended up with the Sabres paying the young Austrian over $7 million.

Rob Niedermayer was signed as a free agent to bolster the Sabs 4th line. Nathan Gerbe the small (5'6"), former Boston College captain, is a firecracker that is always giving 100% percent.

On the Flyers side
Sergei Bobrvsky will make the start in net, he is 2-2-0 with a GAA of 2.78.
Ville Leino scored the Flyers lone goal last night versus the Blue Jackets.
The Flyers have lost the last 4 of their past 5 games.

game is on at 7:30 on VS and CSN PHI. Live from Philadelphia.

One and Done for Mathieu Garon, Flyers lose 2-1

Blue Jackets goaltender Mathieu Garon improved his record to 2-0-0 after beating the Flyers tonight in Columbus. Kyle Wilson and Derek Brassard each scored as Garon stopped 28 of the 29 shots he saw in the win. The Flyers record falls to 3-4-1, after losing thier 4th in the last 5 games.

Ville Leino scored the only Flyers goal, on a tap in from infront. That was his 2nd of the season. The Flyers Powerplay was 0/2, while Columbus's was 1/5.

Brian Boucher saw his second straight start in net, however this one was very different from his start on Saturday. Boucher was spectacular stopping 23 of 25. The Flyers offense was the difference, they scored 5 goals on Saturday versus the Leafs, but tonight could only fight out 1 versus Garon.

Another cold night for Richards and Carter. These two have been around the net this season but only have a combined 3 goals. Carter's 2 goals came against the Avs in the Flyers home opener and Richards goal came versus the Leafs this past Saturday.

Laviolette spole after the game saying, "there's no energy" (unneeded quotations). This has been the storyline for this team so far. Aside from the season opener and the Leafs game, the Flyers have looked uninspired. It's time for someone to step up and put some life into this group.

This was the first and only meeting for the Flyers and Blue Jackets this season, meaning the Flyers lost the season series.

Tomorrow the Flyers head home to play Buffalo. Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start in net after sitting out the past two. The Flyers finished the preseason with 2 games versus the Sabres, they won one 3-1 and lost one 9-3.
Game is at 7:30 coverage can be seen on Versus.

Flyers Blue Jackets in-game Headlines

Brian Boucher gets his second straight start for the Flyers after beating the Leafs on saturday. Boucher's record this season is 1-1-1. He is opposed by Mathieu Garon, the former Edmonton Oiler. Garon's record is 1-0-0.

Flyers go with the same lines as Saturday's win:
Zherdev-Carter-Jvr, Powe-Richards-Giroux, Leino-Briere-Hartnell, Carcillo-Betts-Shelley.
Pronger-Carle, Timonen-Coburn, Meszaros-O'Donnell.
Boucher-Bobrovsky.

Old Faces
Former Flyers center, RJ Umberger, was signed 2 years ago by CBJ as a free agent. right after a spring where Umberger toar apart the Montreal Canadiens in the ECSF.

Jody Shelley was drafted by the Blue Jackets, (CSN Spoiler Alert) made his NHL debut with them in 2001. Nik Zherdev was a former 1st round pick of Columbus, but his inconstitant play ran him out of town.

Stats
Danny Briere enters the game as the Flyers leading goal scorer. He's had 5 goals in 7 games this season on a total of 28 shots. He has had a goal in all but 2 games this season.

RJ Umberger leads the Blue Jackets in goals with 4 in 7 games, he is also tied for the points lead with 5. 2 of his 4 goals have been shorthanded.

game is currently on CSN Philly. 4 minutes left in the 1st, 1-0 CBJ.

Flyers cut the Losing Streak, Hartnell cuts the Hair

Hartnell cut his "3-year" locks

The Flyers made the Philadelphia fans happy on a day where their Phillies lost a heartbreaker to end their season. The flyers tallied 5 goals on 40 shots to beat the Leafs and JS Giguere. Flyers goals were scored by Richards, Leino, Betts, Hartnell, and Briere. Everything just clicked, as it has seem to do versus the Leafs in recent years.

As expected, Brian Boucher got the start in net. He played well, killing the Leafs many comeback attemps, ending up with 12 saves on 14 shots. These Flyers looked on all game, shown in the Leafs shot totals (by periods) 4-7-3. Phil Kessel and offseason signing, Clarke MacArthur each scored their 6th goals of the season.

Briere's goal was his 5th of the season, he leads the Flyers through 7 games. Leino and Richards each tallied their 1st of the season. Betts and Hartnell each got their second goals of the season. This 5 goal performance was their highest goal total of the season, and came after scoring only 5 goals in their past 3 games.

Dan Carcillo had an awesome scrap with Toronto's Mike Brown late in the first. Carcillo was playing in his 5th game this season after being benched in place of Andreas Nodl. He settled in on the 4th line aside Blair Betts and Jody Shelley.



Coach Peter Laviolette shook-up the lines before this game and it paid heavy dividens. The lines end up as follows: Jvr-Carter-Zherdev, Leino-Briere-Hartnell, Giroux-Richards-Powe, Shelley-Betts-Carcillo. THe lines shifted a few times however, some times showing the B.L. (Before Leino) Briere-Carter-Hartnell line. Richards also had a nice assist where he set up Scotty Hartnell for a goal. After a win like this, there is plenty of optimism in whatever lines Lavvy puts together.

Hockey Night in Philadelphia

tonight the Flyers will be playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. Other than the fact that the Leafs have given the Flyers problems in the past there are more reasons to fear theese Leafs. The Leafs current sit atop the Northeast Division, grabbing 9 of a possible 12 points in their first 6 games.

The Leafs made a bevy of trades last year and are starting to turn the corner and becoming a eastern conference powerhouse. Last year the Leafs traded for their now captain, Dion Phaneuf, they also got their netminder , JS Giguere from the Ducks mid-season. The youth is where the Leafs thrive however, the youthful skill of Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel, Nik Kulemin, and Mikael Grabovski.

Their defensive corps are umongst the league's best. There is formentioned Dion Phaneuf, along with veteran Tomas Kaberle and youngster Luke Schenn. They also picked up Brett Lebda this offseason to bolster their back end. Giggy and The Monster share the reps in net, with Giguere as the starter.

The Flyers are currently on the longest skid of the season, having dropped their last 3 games. A lot has been questioned lately, from their young goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, to their captain Mike Richards. Bottom line they're just getting outplayed from start to finish.

Another blow came yesterday in practice when Ville Leino and Chris Pronger collided, going knee-on-knee. Leino will be a game-time decision tonight. If he does not play Dan Carcillo will play in his place.

It seems reasonable to think that after 2 straight losses with Bobrovsky in net that the Flyers will turn to veteran Brian Boucher. Brian Boucher is 0-1-1 this season playing against St.Louis and Tampa Bay.

Game starts tonight at 7pm live on CSN Philly.