Tim Thomas Spanks Flyers - No Comeback This Year

The Boston Bruins head home with a 2-0 series lead after a wild 3-2 win in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers last night. The difference in the game was goaltending as Tim Thomas stole the show making 50 saves, many of them were great, game-saving chances.  People will point to the Bruins collapse of last season against the Flyers and say that the series is never over until it’s over. This year will be different!

The tide has turned from last year to this year. It was the Bruins that had injury problems last year. Now, it is the Flyers. David Krejci has been on fire in the first two games with 3 goals and 2 assists. After being knocked out of the playoffs by a Mike Richards hit last year, Krejci has come back with a vengeance to take down the Flyers. Philadelphia could not handle Krejci’s line with Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic at home when they had the ability to matchup against them. Going home to Boston will make that matchup much more difficult.

The loss of Chris Pronger cannot be understated. Pronger missed last night’s game, presumably due to the hand injury that cost him the first five game of round one. Pronger is a stabilizer, a physical force, an agitator, and a leader.  His playoff success cannot be disputed. Since the post lockout NHL, Pronger has been to the Stanley Cup Final three time (06,07, 10), winning in 2007 with Anaheim.

Jeff Carter seems to be a forgotten name. Carter left game 4 in the first round series against Buffalo with a knee injury. Pronger has been the focus but losing a 36 goal scorer has taken away a big threat and neutralized the Flyers biggest asset in having 3 lines that can score at any time. The difference between Dan Carcillo playing on a line vs. Jeff Carter cannot be dismissed. This once again shows the fault of GM Paul Holmgren. He is willing to a pay a forward like Carter $5.5 milllion, yet not have any stable goaltending. Forwards get hurt in the playoffs, goalies rarely do. If the other team gets better goaltending than you every round, it is incredibly difficult to win the Stanley Cup.

Tim Thomas has Philadelphia’s number as he ran his record to 8-0 in Philadelphia. He stopped 46 consecutive shots and gave his team the performance needed to win on the road. The Flyers do not have the goaltending to beat Thomas, in Boston two times on the road in order to win the series. Thomas was hurt last year and the Bruins melted down with a young Tuuka Rask in goal. Look for the Bruins to sweep the series. Cast aside the collapse of last year. The Bruins are on a roll, and with the way Thomas is playing, they will roll right into the Stanley Cup Final.

- Mark Chyz

Send questions or comments to me on twitter @Chyz1.

Richards Scores the Game-Winning Goal that Wasn't

For all intents and purposes, the "would've, could've" game works well in this situation, in which Philadelphia Flyers forward Mike Richards put the puck in the net just after time had expired in overtime against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. If there had been just a few milliseconds more on the clock, the Flyers would have won. It's that simple. It's not as if San Jose goalie Anterro Niittymaki or any one of his teammates saw time expire and just stopped playing. He tried to make the save and just failed to do so.

However, it's not as if the Flyers or their fans can turn anyone into a scapegoat for this latest defeat, which saw them succumb 5-4 in a shootout, with Logan Couture getting the winner.

There was no money being exchanged between Sharks head-coach Tood McLellan and the referees. There was no phantom timekeeper that purposely put the scoreboard out of sync with the offical game clock. There was no Montreal Canadiens defenseman that was talking smack out of turn, distracted Richards, and prevented him from shooting the puck one second sooner. There was just the Flyers getting legally bested by the Sharks. But Flyers fans can take solace in the fact that their team most certainly deserved a better fate. They deserved to win, plain and simple.

Of course, that's not really taking into account the fact that they gave up three-straight goals and a 4-1 lead to get to that point, where a last-second goal would have had a direct impact on the outcome of the game, but, still, in the spirit of how the game was meant to be played, the Flyers won. Only they didn't. Confused? Well, it's like when you read the winning lottery numbers in the morning, seeing that your numbers actually won, and for a split-second that overwhelming dislike you've been carrying around for everything in the universe, God included for never, ever giving you a break the length of your tired, long, miserable existence, dissipates suddenly and you actually feel a smile forming on your face... until you realize you didn't buy a ticket this week because you were hungry and went for the beef jerky at the convenience store instead.

It's a moral victory. And how sweet are those? Am I right?

Obviously, the need for timekeeping is there, and there's little point in ridiculously making an argument that the goal should have counted. It will just be interesting to see how the regular season plays out and if Philadelphia ends up needing one extra point to clinch the Atlantic division in April, and falls just short. Of course, there's hardly any reason to worry in that regard. The way the hated Pittsburgh Penguins are playing, the Flyers will never find themselves in that situation. Feel better, now? I thought so. But, hey, Flyers fans, just remember: if they do, when the Penguins are bulldozing their way through the competition thanks to the higher seed en route to the Stanley Cup Final, it should be you in their place.

Subban Takes His Cockiness on the Road as Habs Face Flyers in Anticipated Rematch

Tonight’s game has been erroneously billed as Richards vs. Subban 2, when really it should be considered just another game between two teams... of course another game that could quickly degenerate into a brawl at the drop of the hat.

Mike Richards and P.K. Subban do represent the faces of their teams in this latest clash of two teams that don’t like each other. But, when all is said and done, they are just two players whose words just add a little context to what should be a heated game overall.

“You can’t just come in here as a rookie and play like that,” he said after the 3-0 loss in which he and Subban got into it verbally on several occasions. “It’s not the way to get respect from other players around the league. Hopefully someone on their team addresses it, because, I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but something might happen to him if he continues to be that cocky.”

Or, in video form, as was interpreted by most people in Montreal:

Subban responded to those comments the following day, oddly enough saying that he respects Mike Richards as a player, but essentially confirming what most knew all along: that he wasn’t going to change his game just because an opposing player says he should. Maybe if a person and not just a player he respected asked him to, he would.

Due to the time span between last week’s game on Tuesday and Monday’s rematch, this whole storyline has been hyped up to the point that one might mistake it for Rocky vs. Drago, without the actual fighting (well, at least not between Subban and Richards; could you really see that happening?). But because Richards kind of, sort of uttered a threat in the aforementioned interview, everyone will be on especially high alert tonight, meaning if something does happen to Subban, Richards will have some explaining to do.

Then the whole “respect” debate should be revisited, but until then one mustn’t forget that there will be an actual game being played tonight, one with relatively large implications, with both teams a hair’s length out of first place in the Eastern conference. As it stands now, the Flyers have played one more game than the Habs, with a record of 13-6-2. The Habs are 13-6-1.

While the story for the Habs has been goalie Carey Price’s stellar play, it’s also been team defense as a whole with Montreal not yet allowing more than three goals in any one game and a 1.95 goals-allowed average overall. The Flyers have conversely scored the most goals in the league, with 75. Clearly defense beat out offense last week, even without defenseman Andrei Markov out for the Habs. But it remains to be seen how long the Habs can hold off a very deep Flyers team that boasts three, maybe even four solid lines.

"That's pornstar Gina Lynn, P.K. Guess who's feeling cocky right now?"

With adjustments presumably made on the part of the Flyers to make sure they don’t get shut out again, one has to believe they have the advantage tonight, even if Montreal has won seven of the last eight regular-season games played in Philadelphia. History doesn’t mean a whole lot, unless we’re talking about the recent history... and all the most recent history between the two teams should just make Philly angrier.

The game starts at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

P.K. Subban Needs an Attitude Check like Mike Richards Needs a Reality One

"Cocky? Me??? Man, Richards needs to know his place and get ready for Primetime just like everyone else."

Does anyone else get the sense that the Philadelphia Flyers are just an oversized bunch of sore losers, especially after the Montreal Canadiens shut them out on Tuesday night?

Exhibit A: Scott Hartnell accusing Maxim Lapierre of choking him in a scrum, little over a year after he himself was accused of bitting Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang under similar circumstances (see tail-end of vid). We’re not saying it didn’t happen, but choose your battles. Especially since trying to get Lapierre to admit something like that happened would be like pulling teeth, but let’s not give him any ideas for the next scrum, with the teams renewing their hostilities next Monday.

Exhibit B: Chris Pronger falling off the puck-stealing-addiction wagon, only to be caught by Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. I can only imagine what that would have looked like, two vertically challenged Habs running after a 6’6” giant like Chris Pronger in the Bell Centre hallways asking as politely as possible for the game puck back. Yes, I can only imagine, and yet I can’t stop laughing.

Exhibit C: Captain Mike Richards mouthing off to anyone who will listen, telling reporter Shaun Starr from the local Team 990 radio station in regard to P.K. Subban:

“He’s a guy that’s come in the league and hasn’t earned respect [just like me]. 

“It’s just frustrating [NOT losing 3-0 to a much smaller team, right after which I am making these seemingly out-of-frustration comments, but rather] to see a young guy like that come in here and... think that he’s better than a lot of people. 

“You have to earn respect in this league. It takes a lot [like running goalies and making it look like it was an accident, see above video; or knocking guys out like I did David Booth last season]. 

“You can’t just come in here as a rookie and play like that [you need three, four years under your belt, tops; then you can behave like an ass as much as you want].”

Please note that Richards didn’t actually say those things in parentheses. They were added in to illustrate a point. Indeed, a day after Richards was the subject of much praise on these pages for his penalty-killing efforts against the Ottawa Senators, I’m taking him to task for his hypocritical tirade last night. Richards may be a leader, but last night he was only showing his team and whoever else was watching how to be an idiot by example.

One example of many took place midway through the third period when he took a few extra shots at Andrei Kostitsyn, who promptly gave him one right back only to see Richards change before his eyes into an insane-asylum escapee in need of a good sedative. P.K. Subban stepped in to help out his teammate, and all of a sudden he’s a disrespectful pissant? Sorry, your highness. We didn’t realize that you were king of the universe and that the league charter specifically laid out that everyone is allowed to take garbage from you and not dish it back out.

Subban may be cocky, but you need some measure of arrogance to have a successful career. Just look in the mirror Mike; you’re a 25-year-old, talking like you’re 35, but acting like you’re 15. If that’s not cockiness, I don’t know what is. And, for the record, Subban is four years younger than you and clearly has way more class. He may be brash, but he’s not the one talking smack to the media about you behind your back.

"Yep, looking classy... to make up for my huge lack of class."

No one will ever confuse Subban for let’s say former Hab Saku Koivu, whose actual leadership skills (take note Mike) were equalled only by his sense of modesty. Subban’s got skills, and he isn’t afraid of letting people know it or of people thinking less of him for it, as this tweet today from local reporter Arpon Basu will surely prove:

“Asked Subban today if his spin-o-rama could be construed as cockiness. ‘Well, then Bobby Orr was the cockiest player in NHL history.’”

Somehow Subban is able to both make the greatest comeback ever AND seem like a delusional schizo for comparing himself to Orr! How does he do it? Who knows? Just one of his many skills, it looks like. He’s got charisma, and that’s why we love him.

The bottom line is Richards doesn’t have a leg to stand on if he’s going to complain about how Subban carries himself. He has more pressing things to worry about like how he’s going to go about getting in Carey Price’s kitchen next Monday, hopefully without having to run him.

Mike Richards: Philadelphia Flyer or Specially Trained Penalty-Killing Machine?

Probably lost in all the drama on Monday, hell, probably lost in all the other goals being scored against the Ottawa Senators (5-1 losers), Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards hit a notable career milestone by passing Rick MacLeish as the fifth-most-prolific shorthanded-goal scorer in Flyers history. Considering Richards is only 25 and he's scored 22, it's quite an accomplishment and makes it all the more likely he will eventually pass Bobby Clarke for the team record of 32. As for catching Wayne Gretzky, who has 73, Richards still has a ways to go.

Still, it's clear that Richards has discovered the three-pronged key to success when it comes to scoring shorties:

Trick #1: Have mad skills.

Trick #2: Lull your opponent into a false sense of security by having a teammate take a stupid penalty. It helps if you have a stupid teammate, like Daniel Carcillo, on your side for this one. Carcillo injured his knee, checking the boards last night, by the way.

Trick #3: Maneuver yourself in such a way to be drafted into the same division as the New York Islanders.

The rest is just luck.