Jan 28 2009
Flyers fall flat in Florida
For about a week or so, the Flyers kept talking about how important it was for them to get off to a good start to the second half of the season. Last year, the Flyers struggled mightily after the break, which included a February stretch of ten consecutive defeats, and wound up making the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. This year, things were supposed to be different. Unfortunately, it looks like there could be another second half swoon in store for the Flyers. Philly outplayed Florida for much of the night, but that wound up being negated by several penalties, including a controversial call against Kimmo Timonen that resulted in Mike Richards’ potential game-tying goal being disallowed. As a result, an inferior Florida Panthers team scored a 3-2 win and the Flyers slipped farther behind both the Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Devils and the second-place New York Rangers.
Philly struck first in the opening period when Simon Gagne netted his 20th goal of the season, but Florida’s Bryan McCabe provided the equalizer less than four minutes later to tie the game at 1-1 after one. The Panthers took the lead in the second when rookie Michael Frolik notched his 10th goal and David Booth’s power play goal roughly four minutes later gave Florida a commanding 3-1 lead heading into the final frame. Philly cut their deficit in half early in the third period when Claude Giroux lit the lamp for the first time in his NHL career and swung the momentum in the Flyers’ favor. Shortly thereafter, Richards’s goal was disallowed on a very sketchy interference call on Timonen. The Finnish defenseman backed into Keith Ballard, who should receive an Oscar nomination for his dive, just as Randy Jones was setting up Richards for a one-timer. The result was no goal and two minutes in the sin bin for Kimmo. The Flyers had numerous chances throughout the third, including a power play for the final 1:23 of the game, but they could never score the tying goal as Florida held on for a 3-2 victory.
Martin Biron was average in net, making 24 saves. His counterpart Tomas Vokoun turned away 33 of Philly’s 35 shots. Well, it really should have only been 32 saves. The refs should get credit for one of those stops since they’re the only people who could have prevented Richards’s one-timer from rattling the cage.
Another disheartening fact about the Flyers is their terrible penalty differential. While the Flyers have had 174 power play opportunities this year, they have been shorthanded a league-leading 238 times for a differential of 64. Against Florida, the Fly Guys had three power plays, but were shorthanded five times. Something has got to change if the Flyers want to be serious Stanley Cup contenders. Committing tons of penalties is not going to help Philly get another parade down Broad Street.
The Flyers will hopefully pick up their first points of the second half on Friday when they travel to Tampa Bay. The Lightning have won two of the previous three regular season meetings, including a 4-1 win in Tampa on January 15th. With any luck, the Flyers will be able to earn a split in their season series against the Lightning, which is still kind of pathetic since Tampa is far from a playoff-caliber team.
Let’s Go Flyers!
