Meszaros Does It Again

The Flyers did their best to throw two points away. They nearly succeeded. Andrej Meszaros had other ideas, as he scored the game winner with 17 seconds left in overtime to give the Flyers a 4-3 win at the Wells Fargo Center.

The dynamic duo of Claude Giroux and Jeff Carter were at it again tonight. Giroux had two brilliant assists, especially on JVR's goal while Carter contributed a goal and an assist. Giroux and Carter have been nothing short of spectacular since being paired together on a line. Considering their style of play, it is a perfect match. Giroux is the distributor, dangling all over the ice and finding the wide open man for a tap-in. Carter is the finisher, using his howitzer of a shot from any point on the ice (sometimes to many fans' aggrevation).

What is alarming from tonight's game is Chris Pronger's injury. X-rays were negative on his wrist after blocking a shot. This may force the Flyers' hand to go after a defenseman for insurance. With the waiving of Nikolay Zherdev (we'll get to that in a minute), the Flyers have about $3.7 million in cap room. That leaves Craig Rivet as the only legitimate option. Bryan McCabe of the Panthers and John-Michael Liles of the Avalanche would put the Flyers over the cap (their cap hits are $5.75 million and $4.2 million respectively) while Rivet's cap hit if claimed off re-entry waivers would only be $1.75 million. While the Sabres are a defensive team, Rivet has not been able to crack the lineup as a captain of that club. That speaks volumes so while it wouldn't hurt to pick up Rivet for his veteran prescence, he should not start over the current starting six defensemen.

In terms of Zherdev, fans seem to be split on the issue of his waiving. Quite frankly, Zherdev's toxic personality needed to be exiled from that locker room. His atrocious work ethic is not acceptable and while he is an offensive threat, he's a defensive liability and Laviolette would lose some respect in that locker room for holding a double standard. Players have to play both ends of the ice in Laviolette's system and if they don't, they sit, simple as that.

The Flyers are back in action Saturday in Ottawa, the puck drops at 7 p.m. (photo courtesy of phillysportscentral and google).

Bryzgalov Stands Tall as Flyers Fall

Peter Laviolette must feel he has tried everything. Mike Richards at the point, JVR at the point, Nikolay Zherdev (remember him) even got some power play time. Nothing seems to work. An 0-5 showing on the man advantage led to the Flyers doom in a 3-2 loss to the streaking and underrated Coyotes tonight.

Commenting from afar (Fairfax, Va.) it seems that the Flyers power play woes come from the fact that they are not generating enough shots. It is easier said than done. While the Flyers have tried being too fancy looking for the backdoor pass every time, it doesn't mean I want them to start firing through shooting lanes that don't exist. The effort is there, but the results are not. Having played in it, I know the umbrella system works and is effective. It does require patience to an extent, but lanes need to be created and screens set. Chris Pronger has said the Flyers haven't had enough traffic in front of the net lately. They need to find that hunger again to go to the net consistently.

The question is how far can the Flyers get in the playoffs with a nonexistant power play? It has been maddeningly inconsistent all year for a team that has a ton of firepower. Special teams become even more critical in the playoffs as penalities usually tend to lower, hence so do power play opportunities. This is a glaring weakness the Flyers need to start addressing on the ice rather than in their words.

I correctly yesterday that if the Flyers let the Coyotes hang around, they would force mistakes and cash them in . Well they certainly did that. A lot of people are going to point at the second goal. I haven't seen it yet and it sounds like Bob should have had it, but as I said, a 1-0 lead is not good enough against this team especially for a team that does not have a shutout through 60 games.

Now to give credit where credit is due, Ilya Bryzgalov was brilliant in net tonight for the Coyotes. He stopped 37 of 39 shots using his advantgous size to its utmost ability. While Sergei Bobrovsky gave up an atrocious second goal, he stopped 26 of 29 shots and stood on his head a majority of the overtime session.

The Flyers need to take advantage of their next three games against Eastern Conference bottom feeders (NY Islanders, Ottawa, and Toronto) especially with two of the three games being at home. With Oskars Bartulis being injured tonight, Sean O'Donnell maybe healed enough to come back Thursday, but I wouldn't be surprised if Danny Syvret is called up. The puck drops at 7 p.m. Thursday against the Islanders. Photo courtesy of prohockeynews/google.

Flyers to Face Upshall/Coyotes

Fresh off a four game road trip, the Flyers will play one of two straight home games tomorrow night against the visiting Phoenix Coyotes.

The Coyotes are not a rival of the Flyers in any way, shape, or form, but the return of Scottie Upshall since being traded by the Flyers to the Coyotes has gotten the attention of many fans and media members.

Upshall, 27, was very popular among his teammates (not always leading to the smartest decisions) and the fans. There is no question that he was a spark plug on the ice. He had speed, skill, and aggression. He will certainly receive a warm ovation from the faithful tomorrow night.

That being said, the Coyotes themselves are a very daunting task. They've won seven in a row and are now in third place in the west. The Coyotes don't have flashy players (Shane Doan back in the day). They grind it out, are well coached (Dave Tippett), and have one of the best goaltenders in the league (Ilya Bryzgalov).

The key against the Coyotes is to get ahead. If you let them hang around, they will force a mistake and make the Flyers pay for it. If Brian Boucher shows he is healthy after his injury yesterday, expect him to start. But don't be surprised if Bob does either, I haven't predicted a starting goalie correctly all year.

One other problem that needs to be addressed is the status of Nikolay Zherdev. Zherdev has been a healthy scratch for five straight games. The report floating around the Philadelphia media is he was supposed to play Friday against Carolina, yet the team could not find him. Instead Jody Shelley had to fill in ten minutes before game time. Clearly Zherdev has become frustrated and disenchanted. GM Paul Holmgren came out today and said he would be reluctant to deal Zherdev since he sees him as an insurance policy for the playoffs if someone were to get hurt.

I certainly understand where Holmgren is coming from, but the reality is the Flyers are done with Zherdev and will let him walk after the season. Why not try and acquire some picks back (or to trade away again)? The most disappointing aspect of this is that Zherdev has a ton of talent, but he only uses it when it's most convenient for him. This is the chance the Flyers took though when they signed him over the summer.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. tomorrow, look for changes in the defensive pairings with O'D out for the next one to two weeks. (Photo courtesy of Google Images)

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