Dec 28 2008
Flyers and Sixers struggle at beginning of road trips
Neither the Flyers nor the Sixers got off to stellar starts on their long road trips. The Flyers were absolutely embarrassed on back-to-back nights, while the Sixers completely imploded in the fourth quarter in Denver.
Let’s start with the Flyers, who were straight up outworked in Chicago and in Columbus. On Friday night in Chicago, the Flyers got down early and never recovered. Martin Biron made his first start back after missing five games and it was not pretty. Andrew Ladd put the Blackhawks up 1-0 a little over a minute into the first period and former Flyer Patrick Sharp lit the lamp 82 seconds later to make it 2-0 Chicago. About five minutes later, Mike Richards found the net and sliced Philly’s deficit in half, but it was all down hill from there.
The second period was dominated by the Blackhawks as the Flyers only mustered one shot on goal, and it didn’t come until very late in the period. The one shot, which was fired by Arron Asham, tied a franchise low for a period. Luckily, Biron stood on his head in the second and Chicago didn’t increase their lead. However, things fell apart in the third period, as Brian Campbell and Kris Versteeg each scored 5-on-3 power play goals and Dave Bolland also found the net in the first 5:07 of the period. The Flyers once again couldn’t get anything going in the third period as the Blackhawks rolled to a 5-1 win.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, the Flyers not only lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first time in franchise history (i.e. 8 games) on Saturday night, but were also shutout for the first time in 76 games, including the playoffs. The Flyers found themselves in an early hole when Jan Hejda scored a little over three minutes into the first period. Andrew Murray increased Columbus’s lead with a power play goal late in the first and just like that, it was 2-0 Blue Jackets. It wasn’t the fact that the Flyers were losing that was disturbing, but it was that they were badly out-shot by a team was shutout in their previous two games.
Columbus pushed its lead to 3-0 on Manny Malhotra’s goal in the second period, while the Flyers’ offensive woes continued. Philly put up 11 shots in the second, but couldn’t find the net. Although neither team scored in the third, the Blue Jackets were in total control as they cruised to a 3-0 win. Steve Mason was outstanding in net for Columbus, making 20 saves and lowering his NHL-best GAA to 1.87.
Travel may have had some effect on the Flyers’ performance in the past two games as they were delayed landing in Chicago and missed the morning skate before losing to the Blackhawks. Then, fog prevented the Flyers’ plane from taking off and the team didn’t arrive in Columbus until mid-afternoon Saturday. Oh yeah, defensemen Matt Carle and Kimmo Timonen also missed the Columbus game with injuries, while Scott Hartnell played with a broken big toe. I guess when things go wrong for the Flyers, they really go wrong. Hopefully, the Flyers will be ready to go on Tuesday night in Vancouver.
Let’s Go Flyers!
Now, onto the Sixers, who led by as many as 17 points midway through the third, but wound up losing 105-101 to the Nuggets. That is unacceptable and totally disgusting. Oh, Carmelo Anthony didn’t play either. How can they dominate the game for three quarters and then just fall apart? It makes no sense. In fact, they lost when Kenyon Martin took a bounce pass from Chauncey Billups at the top of the key, drove to the hoop, and dunked hard over over Samuel Dalembert. Andre Iguodala paced the Sixers with 24 points, while Andre Miller added 19 points and 8 assists. Off the bench, Louis Williams poured in 16 points and Marreese Speights contributed 12 points. J.R. Smith led the way for Denver with 27 points, while Billups had 26 points to go with his 10 dimes. Nene had 13 points, 12 boards, and 3 blocks.
The Sixers return to action tomorrow night when they visit the Utah Jazz. Should be another loss.
Go Sixers.
