Briere’s Historic Night Helps Pound Leafs 6-2

PHILADELPHIA- The Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight may be off, but it was a ’thrilla in Phila’ last night at the Wachovia Center.

Danny Briere netted two goals, one of which was his 500th career National Hockey League point helping the Philadelphia Flyers rout the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2.

It was a night of Danny’s in South Philly, as Danny Syvret scored his second career NHL goal and the city’s new rock star Dan Carcillo netted a goal and dropped the gloves once also.

The are 5-1-1 in their last seven contests and they finally did something they haven’t done since Dec. 8. Win on home-ice.

“We didn’t play very good hockey in front of our fans just before Christmas,” said Briere. “We got our chance to regroup and get our confidence back on the road. Tonight, the way we played and the way the crowd cheered us on in the second and third period, this is a good sign.”

The Flyers special teams put this game away. The Leafs came into the game with the league’s worst penalty kill and the Flyers scored three goals in six opportunities.

“When our power play is clicking like it was [last] night, it makes them pay,” said Chris Pronger, who added three assists in the game. His first three-point game as a Flyer.

The scoring started early when Briere knocked in a rebound on the power-play at 4:11 in the first on the Flyers first shot on Jonas Gustavsson. Syvret, who scored his first carer goal at the Winter Classic took a wicked slapshot just in front of the blue line with just 21 seconds left in the first.

“It’s something we know is critical for our team,” Briere said. “Our power play started the year on fire and in the last month, it’s been OK. Lately, it seems it’s picking up again. It’s critical. So much of the games are played on special teams.

Carcillo added his fourth of the season on without a doubt his most skilled play since joining the Flyers last year at 10:13 of the second. Carcillo stopped dead on his tracks forcing Leafs’ defensemen Luke Schenn to stumble giving Carcillo all the room to beat Gustavsson low.

“I actually did that before in L.A. in my rookie year,” Carcillo remembered. “Sort of like déjà vu. “I saw Schenn going down and I just made a move to beat him and put it in.”

Coach Peter Laviolette recognizes what Carcillo brings to his club and the ingredients he brings is an important factor to the team.

“He’s been really effective and he’s stayed out of the box,” Laviolette. “He’s been in control of his game. He’s got skill, he can play physical, he’s the type of guy who wears it on his sleeve.”

After Carcillo scored his pretty highlight goal, he made his towards the Toronto bench and made the high-five gesture towards the entire bench. In his own right, Carcillo is a rock star in this town and the crowd eats it up.

Captain Mike Richards got the scoring started in the last frame with his 18th goal on the power-play goal just 82 seconds in. Richards’ goal made it 4-0.

At 4:54 of the third, Briere scored his second goal of the game recording his 500th career point. Briere added that while the accomplishment is great, the matter at hand is to continue putting wins together.

“Those are achievements that right now don’t mean much. I mean, it’s pretty cool, it’s pretty exciting,” Briere said. “But I’m sure that after the end of my career, looking back, it’s something I’m going to enjoy and cherish even more and I’ll certainly remember that goal for a long time.”

“Too bad they scored right away. It kind of killed the buzz. But for a few seconds, it was kind of cool,” said a smiling Briere regarding Nikolai Kulemin’s goal just seconds after Briere’s memorable goal.

Rookie James van Riemsdyk scored his first goal in 10 games on the man-advantage to finish off the Flyers scoring brigade to make it 6-2. Alexei Ponikarovsky scored early in the second and final goal for the Leafs early in the third.

Overall, the Flyers came out a little sluggish in the first but then got the party jumping. Coach Laviollete was most impressed with the way his team skated throughout the entire night.

“I liked our skating. I thought we were real sluggish in the first three minutes getting back into things,” Laviolette stated. We took some rest yesterday, staying off the ice, but I thought our skating was good.

“On the forecheck we seemed to be pouncing on pucks all over the place. I thought we came back hard and put pressure on the puck behind and allowed our defense to stand up.”

Goaltender Michael Leighton put up another stellar performance on his sixth consecutive start. Leighton stopped 30 of the Leafs 32 shots to help improve to a record of 5-0-1 with a 2.03 goals-against average and .932 save percentage since being claimed off waivers Dec. 5.

“He’s played well,” Laviolette said. “It should get recognized that he had to make some big saves tonight, really big saves. They were at the point, early, when the game was 0-0, 2-0 and 3-0. He came up with some big saves. Again, Michael Leighton has given us a chance to win a game.”

Tonight was a night of pure hockey excitment both on and off the ice. On the ice, the Flyers gave the orange and black faithful something to be happy about with both the scoring touch and by dropping the gloves.

Off the ice, the Flyers fans really gave it to the visiting Toronto fans. Quite a few fisticuffs were thrown down on the first level at the Wachovia Center. Great game for the home team, equally great atmosphere from the home crowd.

Hopefully, the Flyers can continue this play when they faceoff against the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins tonight from the Igloo.

Flyers Look to Rebound Against Leafs

In the past six game the Philadelphia Flyers are 4-1-1, its become relatively visible that coach Peter Laviolette’s system has taken shape and showing results.

The Flyers will enter the Wachovia Center tonight at 19-19-3 sitting 12th in the East and are four points out the eight spot held by Montreal. Which makes tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs (15-19-9) that much more. important.

Another added importance to this game is the Flyers need to improve on home-ice. They’ve been at most mediocre at the ‘Wach’ being 9-9-2, so tonight would be as a good a night as any to right the ship on the home end.

The Flyers play nine of their next 12 games at home, giving them an excellent chance to improve their standing in the East and their record at home. Only five of the next 12 games are against teams currently in the top eight in their conference.

However, consistency is what the Flyers preach about the most and what they continue to strive for.

“In the last six, seven games we’ve been playing strong, solid hockey, apart from the Ottawa game (Sunday’s 7-4 loss),” said forward Danny Briere. ”If we keep putting together good streaks of six, seven games in a row, we will put ourselves in good position.”

“We got nine out of 10 points the first five games and that’s the attitude we adopted. We took it one game at a time; we didn’t look too far ahead. You can’t look at the big picture. You can’t win 27, 28 games tomorrow. You win one game and move on to the next one.”

It starts tonight against the Leafs. Tonight is a game that good teams win. If the Flyers want to get back on the right track it begins by beating the sour Toronto team.

The Leafs are coming into tonight’s game missing three key components. Toronto lost three key players in their 5-2 loss to Calgary Saturday — Mike Komisarek, Wayne Primeau and Mikhail Grabovski.  Primeau is out until late January with a knee injury and Grabovski will miss up to six weeks with a broken wrist. 

Who’s Hot:

For the Flyers, Both Simon Gagne and captain Mike Richards have been the point producers as of late. Gagne, has seven points in his past six games (4G, 3A) while Richards also has seven out his last six contests (4G, 3A).

On the Toronto end……………………………..

Last 10: Leafs- 3-5-2, Flyers- 4-4-2

The Flyers lead the NHL with 17.1 penalty minutes per game. Toronto averages only 12.6 penalty minutes, tied for 13th. The Flyers are third in the NHL with 21 home power-play goals.

Injury: Flyers defensemen Ryan Parent will be out for another two weeks with back spasms. He has missed the past five games. According to NHL.com, the 22-year-old may take a cortisone shot to avoid season-ending back surgery. Goaltender Ray Emery could return from an abdominal surgery as early as this weekend. He was expected to miss up to six weeks.

Quotes: PhillyBurbs

Flyers Updates, Emery Set For Early Return

The Philadelphia Flyers realize how bad they’re hangover game against the Ottawa Senators was. It’s obvious, they know you can’t play 20 minutes of a hockey game and get away with a win.

It was a 7-4 drubbing from the Sens including four goals by one Alexei Kovalev.

That game is now in the rear-view mirror and the focus is on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“We sat down this morning and just kind of talked amongst ourselves about what did happen last night,” explained defenseman Braydon Coburn.  “None of us really played the way that we usually play [Sunday]. I think when you have a bad game like that, the [best] thing to do is just to forget about it and move on. That’s what we’re going to try and do.”

“There’s nobody happy with the way we played (Sunday),” said coach Peter Laviolette. “The previous five games, we’re okay with; the way we played and the style we played, and the discipline with which we played them with.”

Flyers Updates:

Goaltender Ray Emery is looking to return much sooner than is expected return date. Emery had abdominal surgery on Dec. 9 and was originally slated to miss 6 weeks.

“Ray looks like his explosiveness is back,” said General Manager Paul Holmgren. ““He’s getting close. I think it would be a stretch to say he’d be ready for the next game (at home Wednesday vs. Toronto), but he’s getting close.

“He’s healed quicker than any of us anticipated. Because of the position he plays we thought it would be 6 weeks with the injury, but he’s coming along very nicely.”

The question now becomes, who goes? According to Holmgren they might carry all three goalies for the time being.

“There isn’t any reason why we can’t carry three goalies for a while, just to see how things go,” he said.

If Emery does indeed return early, it would only happen because Emery himself believes he is ready to return and help the team.

“I want to make sure that when I come back it’s going to be for good, and it’s the right time,” he said. “I don’t want to play three or four games and then find out that I kind of jumped the gun.

“It’s a combination of [getting back] as quickly as you can, but making sure that you’re ready.”

Back’in Out:

Defensemen Ryan Parent has been out of the lineup since he was a late scratch December 26th. Since then, the status of Parent has been up in the air at best.

Parent hasn’t skated since this past Saturday and didn’t make the trip to Ottawa on Sun. The club continued to say that Parent was still suffering from a lower-body injury and was still day-to-day.

A report came out in the Philadelphia Daily News that the 22-year-old was suffering from a herniated disc in his back which is a more serious injury than what the team had been disclosing.

When asked if the report was correct, Holmgren emphatically stated ‘NO’. He stood by his original words of ‘day-to-day’ and surgery was not an option. Parent is scheduled to meet with another doctor today.

Winter Classic Memory Returns:

Tomorrow when the Flyers host the Leafs they will be wearing their Winter Classic retro white jerseys. Should be a cool scene to see the Flyers in white at the Wachovia Center.

Quotes: CSNPhilly and Philadelphia Flyers

Gagne’s Hat-Trick Helps Destroy Rangers

When coach Peter Laviolette told the media and his team that he doesn’t want anyone thinking about the Winter Classic to only focus on the Rangers, he meant it.

The team themselves, got it. The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the New York Rangers last night by blanking them 6-0.

There wasn’t one point of the game where someone could say the Rangers were better. Not a chance. The Flyers played last night the way everyone expects them to every game.

Simon Gagne compiled his second of three career hat-tricks last night and added a helper, and the Flyers stretched their winning streak to four games as they can now prepare for the Winter Classic.

“We knew before the Winter Classic that this game was almost more important,” Gagne said. “For us to come here and beat them 6-0 after they beat us in our building, that’s a good feeling.”
Things began looking good early for the Flyers when Blair Betts knocked a rebound past Henrik Lundqvist 54 seconds into the game. From then on, the game was controlled by Philadelphia.

The Flyers were locked in after Betts’ tally. Danny Briere scored at the 11:51 mark on a beautiful deke that had Lundqvist completely off-balance to make it 2-0. Less than two minutes later Claude Giroux grabbed a nice pass from captain Mike Richards and roped it past Lundqvist to make it 3-0 at the end of one.

“We remember what happened a couple of weeks ago,” Briere said. “These guys played well in our building, and we owed it to them. That’s the mentality we came into this game with. We don’t want to stop. We just want to keep it going.”

Surprisingly, Lundqvist was pulled and did not return for the second period.

On the other end, Michael Leighton continued his stellar shut-down play recording his fourth career shutout stopping all 22 shots that were thrown his way. At this point, its really hard to not start Leighton tomorrow for the Winter Classic, he has almost been the main catalyst for the Flyers recent turnaround. Scoring helps to.

“It feels good,” Leighton said. “Obviously the shutout was just a bonus, but we played a great game tonight, and that’s what counts.”

“I haven’t gotten this opportunity in the NHL in a long time…Right now, I’m feeling pretty good, and the team’s playing well in front of me, added Leighton. ”If we keep winning games things are going to keep going well for us.”

From the second period on, Gagne was in an Empire Sate of mind and it was his show.

New Ranger goalie Chad Johnson, not Ocho Cinco, was just settling in between the pipes until Gagne roofed one by him just 23 seconds into the second. Gagne, stole the puck from Brandon Dubinsky along the right-side boards and story goes from there.

“Obviously, coming out for that second period being up 3-0, we wanted to destroy quick and make sure we stayed aggressive and on the offense, and we got a goal coming out of that first shift, and that was a boost for us… and we just kind of kept up from there,” said Gagne.

Gagne scored his second goal at 14:41 on the power-play by a perfect feed from Briere. He completed his hat-trick at 11:30 in the third after Giroux made an amazing cross-ice pass to Gagne’s stick where he tapped it pass Johnson.

“Sure, when you score three goals, it’s helping the confidence as a player,” Gagne said. “But it’s only my sixth game back from the surgery…It’s hard, those guys got maybe one step quicker than I do on the ice – they’ve been playing for three months and I was sitting for two months.

Gagne has seven points (4G, 3A) in six games since returning from abdominal surgery. He has shown how much his presence means to this lineup game in and game out.

Laviolette was happy with his teams overall performance last night, and can now set his sights on the excitement that’s ahead for tomorrow’s Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

“I think the players know exactly where we are and how important the game was tonight, and they did a good job of being accountable to the game,” said coach Laviolette.

It looks as if the forecaster up in Boston have shockingly changed their prediction on tomorrow’s weather situation for the game. A mix of rain/snow seem to be the new weather pattern their calling for.

Weather.com is reporting a 70% chance of snow fall tomorrow morning that will diminish to small snow showers throughout the afternoon. Temperatures should reach a high of 38 degrees.

Richards also added two assists last night and has registered six points in his last four games (3G, 3A)…Briere has five points in his last three games and has scored a goal in three straight.

Quotes: CSNPhilly

Richards, Pronger Olympic Bound For Canada

Today it was announced that both Chris Pronger and captain Mike Richards will represent Team Canada this February at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. For Richards, it will be his first Olympic appearance whereas Pronger will be playing his fourth.

It has been talked about for the past few weeks that Richards was close to being on the bubble due to the Flyers performance the past month. However, director of player personal Steve Yzerman clearly saw what Richards brought to the table regardless of how his team was performing.

The same can be said for Canada’s alternate captain, Pronger. The native of Dryden, Ontario, will be playing Olympic hockey for Canada for the fourth time (1998, 2002, 2006). To the 34-year-old, this never gets old.

“It’s never old,” Pronger said. “It’s always an honor to represent your country and have an opportunity to win a gold medal.”

“I’m very excited about the team,” said Pronger. “It’s got a good mix of veterans and youth, and some guys have been around and played on teams, whether it be on 2006 or 2002, and certainly experience is going to be an important factor I think in the tournament.”

As for the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, Richards will be appearing in his first Winter Olympic Games for Team Canada. A native of Kenora, Ontario, has had international success for Canada before. The 24-year-old was captain of Team Canada at the 2005 World Junior Championships. Canada won the gold medal.

He was a member of Team Canada which captured the silver medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships and the gold medal at the 2002 under-18 Eight Nations Cup.

“It probably won’t hit me ‘til I get there,” said Richards who was a bit surprised at the news of his selection. “This afternoon was a little bit crazy. …I think I got a text message or a call from pretty much everybody in my phone book, and probably a dozen people who I didn’t.”

“It’s exciting to get the opportunity. I had shivers this morning when I found out,” he said.

unfortunately, someone had to be left off the roster. Both Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne will not be participating in the Winter Games. Carter was said to be on bubble, probably didn’t make the team due to his production drop from last year. Not much of a surprise on that selection.

Same with Gagne, who just netted a hat-trick for the Flyers against the Rangers. Gagne, missed a lot of hockey this season most likely will be added if someone gets hurt.

Quotes: CSNPhily

Flyers Thinking Rangers First, Winter Classic After

VOORHEES, NJ- Of course all the thoughts headed into this week was the 2010 Bridgestone Winter Classic. To the media the Flyers and Bruins opponents before New Years day have become almost after thoughts.

In the case of Philadelphia, the Rangers have the utmost priority. Focus has to 100 percent remain on New York tomorrow at the Garden.

The Flyers are only two points back from tying the Rangers for third place in the Atlantic as we reach the midway point of the season. So yes, these two points mean more than the Winter Classic right now.

“We’re playing the Rangers right now. They are in our division, right next to us in the standings. The only thing that matters is we have to win that game.”

Laviolette elaborated heavily on the fact that he doesn’t want any of his players thinking about the Winter Classic. Games like tomorrow are too important to just think past them. The Flyers are in no position to get excited now for the Classic, it should be eat, sleep, and breathe Rangers hockey tonight into tomorrow.

“I don’t want anyone thinking about Winter Classic,” said Laviolette, a Massachusetts native.

“We need to win [against the Rangers], end of story. We need two points and at the end, we can deal with Boston, [Players] are smart enough looking up to know how important that game is tomorrow,” said Laviolette.

“When the sun comes up the next day, we’ll deal with [the Winter Classic],” added Laviolette smiling.

Around the locker room today, you could definitely get the feeling that the players are without a doubt focusing solely on the Rangers and earning another two points.

“I’m not in the mood for the Winter Classic yet because I am still focused on the Rangers,” winger Danny Briere said. “I think once that game is played, we get into it, and with Boston already being there and already taking it all in, maybe they are already in that mode. But we have a big game before that to concentrate on.

“Yes we have to enjoy [Winter Classic]. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. You have to take a little bit of time and enjoy what is going on, but at the same time, it’s not a party where we can let ourselves go and forget about everything. We still have a big game to play. Those are two important points for us.”

The players peek everyday and see their spot in the standings and realize they have to play near .700 hockey for the rest of the season to even register enough points to be in contention for a playoff spot in the East.

“When you are losing, it’s tough. Tough to come to the rink with a smile and act happy and act like everything’s going OK,” said defensemen Chris Pronger. ”At the end of the day, this is not life and death. It’s a game. Its pretty important to a lot of us … we have to realize fun translates into working hard and winning hockey games.”

The next important question has caused questioning is the goaltending situation as we get closer to the Classic. Michael Leighton has been soundly efficient and a key part in the Flyers current three-game winning streak. Leighton will also get the start yet again tomorrow night against the Rangers.

“Right now, Michael Leighton deserves to start,” said Laviolette. ”He has won three games in a row, and he’s done it on the road, looked going doing it, and deserves to go back in the net.”

Brian Boucher who has been sidelined with a lacerated right finger, says he is ready to go and doesn’t see a reason why he couldn’t play Friday at Fenway Park.

“I don’t see why not,” Boucher said. “The good news about this injury is I can get on the ice and move around stuff… I feel good as far as conditioning. It is matter of getting more comfortable with the finger.”

Boucher had the injured finger numbed for practice so he couldn’t feel the vibration of the stick. Its going to be a tough decision for coach Laviolette come Friday morning on who to start or the Classic. However, one has to think that if Leighton puts on another solid performance tomorrow against the Rangers and the Flyers win that he’ll be between the pipes in Boston.

Notes:

Tomorrow at noon, captain Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Simon Gagne will find out if they had what it took to make Steve Yzerman’s Team Canada for the Olympics in February. Congrats to defensemen Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (Norway) and Oskars Bartulis (Latvia) as they will partake in the 2010 games in Vancouver.

Briere, Carter Propel Flyers Past Islanders 2-1

The Philadelphia Flyers overcame a lot of adversity today before they even took the ice against the New York Islanders. Due to bad weather conditions the Flyers didn’t arrive to New York from Carolina until 3:30 a.m. this morning. The hockey game was set for 5 p.m just 13 and a half hours later.

With little rest and a lot to play for the Flyers came out and played arguably their best game under coach Peter Laviolette. Philadelphia beat the Islanders this afternoon 2-1 to notch their third straight win.

Goaltender Michael Leighton shined in his third consecutive start stopped 28 shots en route to his third straight win. Something Leighton has never accomplished in his career.

“Of the three (straight) wins, I thought tonight was our best,” Laviolette said. “Offensively we had an identity and defensively we were pretty tight.”

Danny Briere and Jeff Carter led the way again on the offensive side of the puck each netting a goal, and each scoring in consecutive games. Carter hasn’t had back-to-back goal game performance since the first two games of the season.

The Flyers seem to have gained some of their early season swagger back as smiles have appearing on the players’ faces during games. Some of that regained enthusiasm can be credited to coach Laviolette.

Briere started things off fast with a wrister that flew over Marty Biron’s right shoulder at the 1:51 mark of the first period.

“The one big thing Lavvy said, and even Homer [general manager Paul Holmgren] said is to relax and play,” Carter said. “We started a streak in there and slumping. Guys grip their sticks, come in and it’s not much fun to come to the rink.

“We’ve really tried to come in with a smile on our face and work hard. Just have some fun, go out and play and it’s starting to turn around.”

Controversy struck in the third period when Danny Briere seemed to have scored his second goal of the game; however, the goal was stolen from him after the refs reviewed the goal and allegedly found a distinct kicking motion.

To Briere’s credit, there was no way he purposely kicked that puck past Martin Biron. He shot the puck, skated towards the post, and the puck just happened to bounce off his skate. Blown call, simply put.

Briere had no clue the puck even came close to him.

“I was laughing because I thought for sure there was no kicking,” Briere said. “I had no clue the puck even touched my skate.”

“It looked to me that Danny was going to the net, and I don’t think he even knew where the puck was,” Laviolette said. “If anything, he was dragging his foot to stop. I didn’t see a distinct kicking motion.”

That was a tough pill to swallow due to the implications of the goal being taken away. This was a ‘must’ win game in terms of the standings and the Flyers need for points. Secondly the goal would’ve put them up 3-1 at a pivotal point in the third period. Instead, the Flyers have to bear down and fight their way to a win.

“Confidence is a key factor,” Briere said. “You’re not as bad as you think when you can’t find the goals to win and you’re not as good as you think when you get on a winning streak. You’ve got to find that even keel, and it’s a tough thing to do.

“We have to realize there is still lots of work to be done.”

The final minute of the third period was some of the best hockey the Flyers have played all season. Especially on the defensive side of the puck. They played with desperation and the want to win the hockey game.

The Flyers who are now 18-18-2 have not lost to the Islanders February 2008. That’s the longest active win-streak against one team in the National Hockey League. The Flyers will now have a much-needed two days off before they square off with the Rangers on Wednesday.

Where points are starting to become more and more important the Flyers have to bear down and continue to push forward. The Winter Classic is just a few days away and it would be nice to come out of that historic day with a five-game winning streak.

“Sometimes you get messed up with your schedule,” Laviolette said. “You don’t think about it too much and your body doesn’t get a chance to seize up. You don’t have to loosen up quite so much. You just come to the rink and play. We played pretty freely.”

Quotes: Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers Top Hurricanes In Shootout

The storylines were there. The return of Peter Laviolette to Carolina, the coach who brought a Stanley Cup to Raleigh NC in 2006 who is now trying to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to the promise land.

Michael Leighton, the netminder who started the season with the promising Hurricanes squad. Only to be waived after the team fell to the bottom of the NHL standings and then picked up by Philadelphia.

The Flyers were looking for their second straight win, a win that they desperately needed to push their confidence to the next level and to gain points in the ever clustered Easter Conference.

unfortunately for the Flyers, it wasn’t that easy to earn their second consecutive victory.

The Flyers beat the ‘Canes last night 4-3 in a shootout after blowing a 3-0 lead going into the third period. The Flyers allowed three goals within  7-minutes, 23 seconds. The win was the Flyers first win streak since mid-November.

“They’re points we desperately needed right now,” Flyers captain Mike Richards said. “As disappointing as it was to let the game slip away and have to do it in a shoot-out . . . we found a way to win the hockey game and get the two points. Obviously, there are things we have to correct, but it’s nice to see we were able to pull something out.”

Both Richards and Jeff Carter stepped up once again each netting a goal. Richards also added the shootout game-winner. Danny Briere also contributed a goal and a shootout ringer.

“The important thing is the end result,” Laviolette said. “And we need those end results – one, to move up in the standings, and two, just for some confidence to build to try to start putting some things together.”

The end result wasn’t looking sunny after Briere’s third period goal that made it 3-0 with just 11 minutes remaining in the game. That was the last bit of success the Flyers achieved until the shootout.

Just about 30 seconds after Briere’s goal, Jussi Jokinen backhanded one-off Kimmo Timonen’s skate and trickled past Leighton. That made it 3-1. With just over four minutes to play in the game Brandon Sutter scored on the power-play. Just 49 seconds later Eric Staal  sent a crisp pass to Jokinen and he put it by Leighton again to tie it up at 3-3.

“I think there was just a little bit of complacency – not executing some plays, turning some pucks over, and maybe even sitting back a little bit,” Richards said.

Although the ceiling didn’t seem to cave in on the Flyers. They kept their heads up and buckled down, especially on defense.

The Flyers killed an important overtime penalty that started at the end of regulation that led to the shootout and the eventual Flyers victory.

“After we killed the penalty in overtime, we created a few chances and found a way to get it done in the shoot-out,” Briere said. “We haven’t been very good in shoot-outs the last couple of years, so this was definitely a good win, especially after giving up a 3-0 lead.”

The Flyers will visit the New York Islanders tonight in Long Island. The Islanders are coming off a big win last night against the Rangers. The Flyers will look to continue to improve and notch a third straight win.

Quotes: Philly.com

Richards, Betts Give Holiday Beating to Bolts 5-2

The Philadelphia Flyers desperately wanted a win heading into the Christmas break. They got it by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 last night.

Captain Mike Richards and unlikely scoring threat Blair Betts each netted two goals to help push the Flyers past Tampa Bay to stop their four-game losing streak. It didn’t look to promising when after the Flyers notched a 2-0 lead going into the second period when the Bolts struck back with two of their own.

However the Flyers buckled down and used grit and skill to fight back to get their fourth win in 18 games.

Michael Leighton who backed up Brian Boucher got his first start last night because of Boucher’s injured finger, stopped 31 shots in a solid game.

“Leights did a great job, in that he gave us a chance to win,” Laviolette said. “He was big in the net for me, he was in position and in control. He’s such a big guy, he blocked a lot of area.”

The players preached that they wanted to go into Christmas vacation with a big win to build on. A win that can build team character and confidence. Although it looked rough in the second period, the Flyers added grit to their game to push through.

“We wanted to go into Christmas with a win under our belt, and feeling a little better about ourselves,” Chris Pronger said. “And it was a step in the right direction. It wasn’t a giant step, with the lackluster second period. But a win nonetheless, and we’ll take it.”

Betts’ second goal proved to be the game winner at 10:01 in the third off a Oskars Bartulis snapshot. Richards’ second goal came later in the third with just under three minutes to go in the game when he roofed a shot over Mike Smith’s right shoulder. Simon Gagne would add an empty net goal to finish off the Lightning.

“It’s a minor step,” Laviolette said of the win. “But it’s a step, and we need that, and it’s really important. The guys worked for it tonight, especially in the third period.”

Coach Laviolette held a team meeting prior to last nights game telling the team to stop playing so tight and to start having fun playing the game of hockey. His team responded quite well.

“When you keep losing games, it’s hard to make jokes and have fun on the ice,” Gagne said before the game.

Richards played a game that he is certainly capable of playing night-in-night-out. He led by example and on the score sheet. The captain was everywhere he had to be.

“I thought Mike Richards played a terrific hockey game, really terrific on both ends of the ice,” said Laviolette.

The second period proved to be one that looked relative to the Flyers play of the past month. They gave up two goals and were outshot 14-4. They rebounded with three goals in the third to earn the win.

“It feels good to finally get a win, but we need to put four or five wins together here to get back above .500 and get a little more confidence,” Betts said.

The Flyers have to be careful about how they treat this win. They beat the Bruins last week then followed that with a few horrible games. Build on the key points of last nights win and then focus on what went wrong in the second. This team can build on this win and hopefully put together a streak of four or five wins in a row.

Quotes: CSNPhily/Flyers

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! THANKS FOR READING ‘FACEOFF WITH CHRIS’ WHEN YOU DO!

Flyers Look to Get Rolling in Tampa, Powe Returns

The Philadelphia Flyers will try once again to salvage some kind of victory before Christmas. They will try in Tampa tonight when they host the Lightning. This is the second of four meetings between these two teams where the Flyers put a stomping on the Bolts back on Nov. 2, 6-2. Captain Mike Richards and Jeff Carter each netted a pair of goals.

A win would really help both of these teams. Starting with the Flyers (15-18-2) who have been one of the biggest disappointments in the NHL so far this season because of the preseason expectations. The Lightning (13-14-9) have fallen to 11th in Eastern Conference whereas the plummeting Flyers are 14th. Obviously, in the Flyers case, two points would be the best gift anybody could hand them.

The Flyers captain has been quite outspoken lately during this free fall in the standings know how important this game is; however, they can’t treat it any differently than any other game.

“We’re approaching it as another game but it’s a game that, before the break with the couple days off, we obviously would like to win,” Philadelphia captain Richards said. “It’s a big game for us to try and get our team on track. Whenever you get the opportunity to get a win, it’s big for us. We’re kind of looking at it as a little bit bigger than normal.”

“(A win) is definitely something that we need at this point. It would be very nice if we can finish on a good note and go into the break with a win,” added Danny Briere. “Hopefully we can reenergize and refocus because those last two or three weeks have been extremely tough.”

Philadelphia are 2-7-1 in their last 10 and coach Peter Laviolette would love to get the wins rolling starting tonight in Tampa. In order for this Flyers team to be successful again, they must find a way to get the puck in the net more than once. They’ve been held to one goal or less in eight of their last 12 games.

“I look at our team and we’re having a hard time scoring goals right now,” Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said, “and I look at our roster and wonder why.”

It has become quite stunning how players such as Richards, Carter, Briere, Scott Hartnell, and Chris Pronger haven’t been able to consistently find the back of the net.

This Flyers team have been known to have a pretty impressive and effective special teams unit, except over the past month they’ve been one fo the worst in the league both on the man advantage and the penalty kill. This has to change fast because the Lightning have been putting up goals and have some hot players coming into tonight’s contest.

Ryan Malone has registered six point sin two game including four (2G, 2A) in Monday’s game against the Islanders. Second year sensation Steven Stamkos has four goals in as many games while Vincent Lecavalier has seven points in his last four (3G, 4A).

Returning tonight for the Flyers will be center Darroll Powe. The center has missed the past 16 games with a shoulder injury is looking forward to jumping back into things. Powe is also excited to finally get a chance to contribute to coach Laviolette’s aggressive system.

“(Laviolette) plays an aggressive style and system, and that fits my game nicely,” said Powe this morning. “I’m antsy to get out there and see how I fit in.”

“It will be good to get him back in there with his speed and his aggressive style,” said the coach. “It just gives us, I think, a real good balance and real good depth on the four lines.”

Powe has six goals in 19 games this season and will try to provide an added spark to this lineup. Powe is one of the fastest, if not, the fastest skater on the and it will be interesting to see how quick he fits back in.

“I still think we need to play the game faster than what we’re doing right now. You get guys like Betts and Powe back in, who can really skate, I think that strengthens the identity that you’re trying to create,” he said. “We’re not there yet. At times during games, we’ve shown it. There wasn’t a whole lot of it last game.

Goaltender Brian Boucher seems to be heeling quite quick. Boucher who suffered a lacerated finger Monday against Florida should return between the pipes on Dec. 26 when the Flyers face the Carolina Hurricanes. Michael Leighton will get the start tonight in Tampa.

Coach Laviolette is looking forward to trying to fix the issues that have haunted his team over the past month and he preaches work ethic and consistency. He wants the players to start having confidence and with confidence comes wins.

“We’ve got to let loose on the ice and I think sometimes you are carrying around everything else that goes with you and we have to drop all that, and play a better game that is more creative,” he said. “We just seem to be weighed down by what’s going on. We need to drop that.”

Quotes: Philadelphia Flyers