6 Games Left; Carcillo Will Only Play Four of Them

The 6th seeded Flyers have six games on their regular season schedule. Three home games, three away games. That’s all that separates us and the Stanley Cup playoffs. A final game at the Islanders, a home finale against Montreal, Red Wings in town on Sunday on NBC, finale at Toronto, and a home and home finishing in Philadelphia against the Rangers. That’s a couple tough games right there. After looking like a great team on Sunday against the Devils (winning 5-1), the Flyers will be without Dan Carcillo who has been drawing many penalties lately and has been helping out with key scoring chances in the offensive zone. Dan Carcillo has been suspended two games by the NHL for an infraction that occurred during Sunday’s Devils game with Clarkson. The video was found by a commenter on The 700 Level (Chris) and can be seen here.

The call for a suspension in itself is questionable. Clarkson and Carbomb were throwing punches and Carcillo’s stick was in there, and seemed to get pushed up when Clarkson was shoving him. Still a penalty, but not necessarily a suspend-able offense when you have Matt Cooke skating around and knocking peoples’ heads off. It’s unfortunate that he has to sit against the Islanders and Montreal this week, because he looked really good on Sunday with Richie and Giroux. Looks like Cote will definitely be playing another game, and if JVR can’t come back yet, we will have to call up a Phantom (Laliberte?). Shows how inconsistent the NHL is, especially to the Flyers as of late. Gagne was denied another goal at Pittsburgh this weekend in their loss; a play that changed the game.

I’m not going to complain about all that though, they need to move on from it. The game on Sunday was a great start, but they need to follow-up that effort and sweep the Islanders on Thursday. They should use the days off to get better, healthy, and focused for the stretch of six games ahead. The first round of the playoffs isn’t going to come easy, the best they can do is work hard towards it and hope they get a more favorable match-up then the top-seed.

 

Early Golf Season?

The Flyers have been on a downward path the past week or so. With key injuries to goaltender Michael Leighton and top-scorer Jeff Carter, this team’s path to the playoffs will be anything but easy. Currently sitting in 7th place, they are barely hanging onto a playoff spot with Boston breathing down their necks and Atlanta not too far. The most recent games have shown the Flyers are still having trouble scoring on a consistent basis even though they boast a pretty good set of forwards over their 4 lines. Brian Boucher has been having trouble in some games as well, usually giving up a goal before settling down. The lines have been juggled and guys like Claude Giroux, James VanRiemsdyk, and Danny Briere need to step it up. With Carter’s injury Laviolette can now play Asham and Leino without having to decide which player to sit. Briere is moving back to center which may or may not have an impact on tonight’s game. He will be centering Leino and Gagne, so I’m hoping that line finds some room to skate. They need a team effort tonight to beat Minnesota, because this weekend is full of Atlantic division rivalry with games against the Pens and the Devils. There are nine games left in the Flyers regular season, they better not be the last of their season.

I wasn’t able to watch the last two games but I got a chance to watch the highlights and although I was pleased at the barrage of shots they put in against the Thrashers on Sunday, I got the feeling that they were disenchanted with winning against Ottawa on Tuesday. I saw the hit on Gagne and although I am baffled about some of the calls (that hit included), they need to move on and win some hockey games because complaining isn’t going to improve their playoff position.

Tim Panaccio is reporting that Jeff Carter will undergo surgery… Not sure what’s going on there. They’re saying the time of recovery will be the same if he gets surgery, so why even get surgery?

 

Last Piece of the Thrashers

If the Flyers want to make up for their 3 losses to the Thrashers this season, now would be the time to do it. With their position in 5th place being anything but a lock at this point, they need to put some wins together. I missed the first half of last night’s game but from what I’ve heard I can piece together a picture in my mind from previous losses. They came out flat and Boucher didn’t settle down fast enough. If this team wants to win they better come out a little more confident and a little more desperate. We cannot be complacent with hanging on to 5th place because then we will lose it. Play hard to move up in the standings and it will do a few things for you:
1. You keep distance from those below you.
2. There’s still a shot at grabbing home-ice.
3. You tune-up your game and get the ball rolling going into the first round of the play-offs.

I don’t know what else to say. This team needs to pick it up or we won’t go anywhere in the playoffs. We have a big week ahead of us but they have to take care of business tonight first.

 

Flyers Face a HUGE Challenge

I’m sorry for the lack of updates, I just finished my spring break and classes are starting to push for the final stretch of the semester; much like the NHL season for the playoffs. We saw the Flyers win in stellar dramatic fashion on Saturday against the Hawks, and then come out flat against the Rangers. They battled back against the Predators to lose in a shootout (surprise, surprise) and then find out they lost Michael Leighton… and now they’re in 7th place. Michael Leighton suffered a severe sprained ankle in Nashville on Tuesday night, and is expected to miss 8-10 weeks which is AWESOME for us Flyers fans. Our two No. 1 goalies going down in the same year and at the worst times. Brian Boucher is going to have to light some retro 2000 playoffs fire and hope he can help this downtrodden Flyers team get themselves in good position for the playoffs. People have been speculating that Robert Esche might return to the Flyers, but he would not be eligible for the playoffs at this point if he were to be picked up. Jeremy Duchesne will dress as Boosh’s backup since Backlund is still a bit sore from a lower body injury. It’s going to be a bump road to the playoffs and to the Cup with Leighton being out.

We have the Stars tonight and then to Atlanta on Saturday for a home-and-home which resumes on Sunday in Philly. All we need to do is win tonight and hope the Senators lose and we move past them in the standings and we still would have a game in hand over them. They better be ready to score some goals and help out our goalie who hasn’t looked great since the beginning of the season…

New Forward

Flyers signed a new forward, Ben Holstrom that will start at the beginning of next season. Not too sure about this signing and I’m not sure where he will play.

 

Last Game of Homestand; Some Line-Up Changes

We all know what happened on Thursday night. Poor back-checking, a lack of coverage, and a lack of fighting for the puck and protecting Michael Leighton ended up in a 5-1 loss for the Flyers. All of the goals he allowed were not his fault, as he was usually beaten on loose pucks around him after he made the initial save and sometimes the second. A couple of those goals were tic-tac-toe passing plays where the Bruins were free wheeling and moving the puck around at will. In light of that poor effort, Scott Hartnell was one of the players who did not see a lot of play time in the 3rd period. Could this be a message from Lavvy?

 

Is Simon Gagne Back?

One of the main concerns regarding the Flyers this year and last is their great play for small stretches and then being bit by the inconsistency bug throughout the season. A victim of that this year has been long-time Flyer Simon Gagne who was once known for his defensive play as well as his knack for scoring and helping other teammates score. He was plagued by groin injuries this year and had only 8 goals going into the Olympic break. Since then, he’s scored 4 goals and seems to have been playing very well since he scored that OT winner in Jersey. I’ve hinted at this before, but he continues to create scoring chances and shows more confidence with the puck. He’s solving his problems the way he used to; by shooting the puck. Last night he scored the game winner on the powerplay by just getting the puck to the net towards a crashing Mike Richards but it went in anyways. Those kinds of goals can help build on the confidence a player has, and that’s what we will need from him towards the end of the year. You see guys like Claude Giroux last night who got an important game-tying goal with a nifty backhand, and guys like Mike Richards who continues to play like a man on a mission. If these players can be the difference makers for the next month, we’re going to be a team to be reckoned with in the playoffs. The defense needs to continue to be solid and good things will follow.

The Flyers wrap up their homestand against the Bruins tomorrow night and the Blackhawks on Saturday. These are two tough opponents who won’t be as easy to come back from like the Islanders were last night after being up two goals. The Flyers are currently 5 points out of 4th and 5th place (New Jersey and Ottawa respectively). They have potential to battle for a home-ice position come playoff time. We face those two teams one more time each at the end of this month, so those match-ups could potentially be even bigger than just a last-minute grab for 2 points.

 

Flyers Look for Redemption During Homestand

I didn’t get to watch the game on Friday night because I was out of market in Reading and apparently the place I was staying gets Comcast SportsNet but not The Comcast Network. Figures. You can find a recap for that game on the Flyers official website or perhaps another Flyers blog we linked to on here. We got a point out of it in overtime and we start a 4-game homestand tonight with the Maple Leafs. Richards and Gagne scored on Friday night, which leads me to believe they both are really trying to step it up for this end of season push to the playoffs.

Bartulis has been cleared to return to play, yet I don’t know if they’re going to put him in the line-up just yet. I expect them to wait till at least the next game, depending on how Ryan Parent is doing. Ville Leino will be in the line-up again since Powe is still nursing a bruised foot. From what I read, Leino played on a line with Carter and Briere and they looked really good. I hope they do that again so I can check it out tonight. Hartnell played with Giroux and JVR, while Asham moved to play with Lappy and Betts. I think I like these changes, as Giroux and JVR now have a veteran gritty player on their team in Hartnell who has a little more speed than a guy like Asham who seems to be able to fit in no matter what line he plays on. I’d like to see Briere and Giroux play together if these lines don’t work, but we will see.

I’ll have more on the game tonight or tomorrow.

 

Flyers Drop the Ball in Florida

Talk about a tale of two teams. The Flyers who played in Tampa were not the Flyers who came out on the ice last night in Sunrise. The final score was 6-4, but was not as close as it sounded. Even with two fights to open the game, they came out sloppy and sluggish in the opening stanza and fell behind 2-0 to a good goaltender who we were trying to score at the deadline (Vokoun). It is only fitting that Leighton was pulled after the Flyers fell behind 4-2 in the 2nd period after the huge rumors about the Flyers making a move on a goaltender. He was pretty solid in the opening period. The first goal was a fluke goal going in off of the torso of a Panther after a shot went wide, and that kind of spelled the night for the Flyers. He let in a couple weak goals after that, particularly in the 5-hole. At 6’3 and being a butterfly goalie, he cannot let things like that happen. He takes up the whole lower portion of the ice with his size and positioning, GET THE PADDLE DOWN.

 

Flyers Make No Moves

The Flyers did not exercise a trade before the 3 PM trade deadline today. This may come as disappointing to a lot of Flyers fans who were hearing many names thrown around the table during trade talks over the past couple days. Thomas Vokoun, Colby Armstrong, Corey Schneider, Martin Biron, Dwayne Roloson, and Dan Hamhuis were among the names that Flyers hopefuls were looking to see added to the roster. It’s hard to make a trade without many prospects you are willing to part with, and especially hard if you don’t have any draft picks to use. Other NHL teams aren’t stupid, they know the Flyers were buyers (rhyme!) and needed help at goaltending or defense. They were asking for Carter, JVR, or Giroux. Those 3 players the Flyers are not going to part with anytime soon, except I think the exception is Carter. He will probably be traded in the next couple seasons, I just have a feeling.

Apparently the Flyers were close to landing Hamhuis, but could not guarantee that they could re-sign him in the off-season since his contract expires are this, so they were forced to sit out. The Flyers however are coming off of a 7-2 win last night and hope to continue their Florida dominance and beat the Panthers like they did to the Lightning. They can’t expect the Panthers to be as undisciplined as the Lightning were last night, so hopefully they come out again with their skating legs and play since all of their jobs are safe at least until the end of the season. We’re 6 points behind Buffalo, and if we can win tonight, we play them on Friday in a game that could bring us that much closer to a home-ice playoff spot.

 

Vokoun and Hamhuis

The two top stories and possibly only options for the Flyers right now in this trade frenzy that is going to go on over the next 24 hours deal with Nashville Predators defenseman Dan Hamhuis and Florida Panthers goaltender Thomas Vokoun. I think the decision will ultimately come down to which is the cheaper option. Last year, the Panthers organization was breaking Holmgren’s back the whole time when they were asking an insanely high price for Jay Bouwmeester. This year, they might deal their goaltender Thomas Vokoun to the Flyers, but they need him to waive his NTC and will probably have to pay a price to get him. Dan Hamhuis from the Predators is a more likely option in my opinion, because they’d probably like to get their former prospect Ryan Parent back. Hamhuis is on the block since they received Grebeshkov in a trade. Who would you rather have?

Other trade items we hold along with Ryan Parent include the youngster Ville Leino who has yet to show up in the Flyers line-up. Oskars Bartulis is also a player who I can see being shipped off in a package deal. Besides that, the only other option I can see them giving up is Coburn or if they get Hartnell to waive his NTC and go back to Nashville. I doubt Mika Pyorala holds much trade value to most teams, but I could be wrong. The Kings are also a team who keeps showing up in the Flyers talks, yet it’s all speculation. Eklund is right a good amount of the time, but when you speculate everything; you have to be right some of the time.

Cote and Syvret cleared waivers, and Parent was activated today. No word on whether he will start, because apparently Bartulis has a minor injury.

There will be more information hopefully by tonight on these trade rumors. Vokoun is down to Chicago and us for now, and apparently Nashville turned down our offer for Hamhuis already since we did not offer enough. We don’t have that much to spare, so keep in mind that we may not make a trade this year. Flyers on VS tonight at 7:30 at Tampa. Krajicek will be paired with Timonen as usual against his former club. Should be a good game in their last meeting this season, let’s go for the season sweep.