In Face of Adversity, Flyers Fall Without a Fight
NHLHS writer Dave Strehle takes a look at the Philadelphia Flyers’ matinee loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Even with the Pittsburgh Penguins recent poor stretch of play (2-3-3 in last eight), they are always a good measuring stick for which the Philadelphia Flyers can judge themselves against. And for a fifth time in their six meetings this season, the Flyers came up way short.
Philadelphia’s Johan Backlund got his first NHL start in place of the slumping Brian Boucher in hopes that something would jolt this team in time to gather enough points to make the postseason. Not that it’s all Boucher’s fault either, because he had received just 25 goals of offensive support in his last 15 starts. But since Michael Leighton went out with a high ankle sprain, Boucher has let in some soft goals at the worst possible times.
After being given a gift goal only a minute into the contest when Arron Asham’s cross ice bouncer somehow found it’s way through Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads and into the net, you could just see the game slowly being taken away by the reigning Stanley Cup champs. The early 1-0 lead would be about as good as it got for the Orange-and-Black.
Chris Kunitz tied the game in the final minute of the opening period, jamming home a rebound of a Jordan Leopold shot just as a James van Riemsdyk hooking penalty expired just a second earlier.
After one, the shots were 7-7 and the score was tied 1-1.
The second saw Pittsburgh turning up the pressure, but Backlund was up to the task. With van Riemsdyk off for goaltender interference after being checked into Fleury, Blair Betts actually had a good chance to put the Flyers back on top. He had a clear shorthanded breakaway and beat Fleury cleanly, only to see his shot bounce solidly off of the right goal post and stay out.
Moments later, Philadelphia did take the lead…briefly. Fleury was able to stop Ville Leino’s wrist shot from the slot, but the Flyers crashed the net. As Leino got close to the crease, he veered off to the side knowing he was getting close to the blue paint. Fleury came two feet out of his crease to cut down any angles the Philly shooters may have had, but Leino and Fleury came into contact with each other. As the puck continued to be loose in the paint, Simon Gagne was able to fight through a mass of humanity to poke home his 10th goal of March.
The call on the ice by Dan Marouelli was correct and ruled a good goal. At least temporarily, that is. After a conference between all of the on-ice officials, the ruling was unbelievably changed to no goal due to Leino’s “incidental contact” with Fleury. The consolation prize was that Leino wasn’t penalized. But the call definitely took any fight out of this team that seems to have a much more wounded confidence level than anything physical.
“I don’t know if you’re allowed to do that, look at the [scoreboard] replay and change your decision. I had no idea they were going to take the goal away.”
Gagne knows all too well about good goals being taken away in games in Pittsburgh. He had scored a shorthander against the Penguin’s Brent Johnson back on January 7th, but when the goal was being viewed by video replay, a Fox Sports crew member failed to send a view to the war room in Toronto that clearly showed the puck inches over the goal line.
In a league that frequently bemoans a general lack of offense and wonders aloud what measures can be taken to increase scoring, maybe allowing good goals to stand would be a good start.
Right on cue after the incorrectly disallowed goal in this nightmare of a Flyer’s season, Pascal Dupuis chipped home a rebound of a Sidney Crosby shot shortly after play resumed. Instead of a 2-1 Philadelphia lead, it was 2-1 Pittsburgh. And the outcome was never really in doubt the rest of the way. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said, “It seemed we started to lose our steam (after that goal).”
As has been the case throughout the 2009-10 year, when faced with adversity, the Flyers had no response.
Backlund acquitted himself very well in his first start, stopping 22 of 24 shots in the first two periods. But he had to leave after the middle frame with what is being called a “lower body injury”. There was no word as to if it is related to the groin injury that had shelved him in Adirondack with the Phantoms, or if it was from getting drilled by charging Penguin forward Craig Adams when he covered the puck late in the second. Backlund was blasted back into the net, but there was no penalty called on the play.
But Backlund was seen to be stretching quite often before and during the game, so the recurrence of the groin injury is a good bet. Back into the Philadelphia net came Boucher to start the third.
Early in the period, the Flyers had an excellent scoring chance in an attempt to tie the game. Along the left wing boards, Scott Hartnell made a beautiful pass in front to spring Claude Giroux in alone on Fleury. As Giroux skated in on the Pittsburgh net, Fleury dove forward in an attempt to poke-check the puck off of Giroux’ stick. Fleury ended up throwing the stick at Giroux’ skates, and Giroux stumbled over the stick as he went to make a move to the backhand. Curiously and infuriating to the Philly bench, there was again no call.
Shortly after that sequence, play went into the Flyer’s end of the ice. Matt Cooke skated with the puck behind the Philadelphia net and was grabbed Flyer defenseman Ryan Parent’s stick and feel to the ice in an attempt to draw another Philadelphia penalty. The officials didn’t buy it, so Cooke ripped the stick away from Parent. The stick laid in the corner as play continued, and Parent was helpless to defend against a pass from Ruslan Fedotenko across the crease to an awaiting Cooke, who tapped it in for a 3-1 Pittsburgh lead.
Fedetenko, who had scored just one goal in his last 11 games, capped off the scoring at the 14:31 mark with a power play goal.
As word came from Boston that the Bruins had beaten the Calgary Flames, 5-0, the magnitude of the Flyers fifth straight loss (0-4-1) was being felt even more. They are now tied with the Bruins for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 80 points, but Boston has a game-in-hand on Philadelphia. Add in the fact that the Atlanta Thrashers (four points behind) and New York Rangers (five points back) are in action tonight, the Thrashers in Carolina to take on the Hurricanes and the Rangers in Toronto to take on the East’s last-place Maple Leafs.
So with just two weeks left in the regular season, the Orange-and-Black look like they have no intent on taking control their own destiny. If you win, you’re in, but they appear to be content to roll the dice and allow other teams the opportunity to choke and let Philly back into the postseason. And that isn’t very likely to happen.
There will be injuries and there will be bad calls against you, but the bottom line is that as a team you have to fight through it all and make things happen to get the win. And that has not only been missing the past couple of weeks, but over the course of the entire season.
Flying Notes: Philadelphia could not capitalize with Flyer-killers Sergei Gonchar (illness) and Evgeni Malkin (foot) absence from the lineup…Crosby ended up the afternoon with three assists…defenseman Matt Carle (foot) missed his second straight game, keeping Lukas Krajicek in the lineup in his place…the goal-starved Flyers are sorely missing Jeff Carter’s offensive presence. Philly scored just four goals in the three losses this week since Carter went down with the fractured foot…the power play continues to suffer, going 0-4 today. The futility with the man-advantage is now at 0-20 over the course of their last six games…Mike Richards was again a non-factor in the game today. The captain has just two goals and two assists in the team’s last 10 contests.
David Strehle
NHLHS Flyers Correspondent / NHL Writer
dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @PhilaDAVEia
