April Month In Review

April is always one of the best months in sports simply for what's going on. Baseball season is beginning, the NBA and NHL playoffs are just getting going, March Madness rolls over into April; for those of you in college towns, spring football holds their first practices and of course the NFL Draft.

With that said, a lot has gone in CuseAdelphia during the month of April. Six CuseAdelphia teams are in action and winning. Now this post comes in May, the day of the 76ers elimination from the playoffs, but the Sixers reached the playoffs for the first time in several years.

The 76ers, the Flyers, and Syracuse Lacrosse are all having tremendous bounce back years after terrible 2007s for those teams.

The 76ers completed only a five game turnaround, but their late season surge through March and April put them in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The youthful bunch of players created some lasting memories with Andre Iguodala's thunderous slams down the lane and Thaddeus Young's emergence.

The Sixers under new GM Ed Stefanski reached the playoffs looking to pull off an absolute shocker by taking down the two seeded Detroit Pistons. Things looked good early for the 76ers after Game One. A frenetic comeback in the Motor City meant Philly would head into Game Two with a 1-0 lead.

Game Two ugly. Sixers lose badly.

Game Three. Things are much different. Mo Cheeks' crew figures out what they did in the second half of Game One and blow the Pistons out of the gym.

Then things got ugly. Really ugly again. For the next three games it would be terribly ugly.

The Pistons outscored the Sixers by 19 points in the second half of their Game Four win. Game Five was domination all game; Pistons by 17.

Game Six was the worst of all. The 76ers season was officially declared dead at 8:12 PM EST. A 10-0 lead for the Pistons was essentially as close as Philly would get the rest of the game, Pistons win by 23.

Syracuse Lacrosse has also made a very solid turnaround. After a 5-8 season in 2007, the Orange rebounded in 2008 in impressive fashion. SU finished April undefeated, beating their opponents on average 14-6.

The Orange have dominated behind the likes of Tewaaraton Trophy nominees Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks. Leveille has a team leading 61 points while Brooks has anchored the midfield all year. In goal, John Galloway has played increasingly well as the year has gone on.

The 'Cuse capped off the perfect April with an absolute handling of recent pain in the UMASS 16-3. The Orange scored the first nine goals of the game and scored more goals in each quarter than UMASS had the entire game.

Philadelphia's team in orange- the Flyers - also completed the best turnaround in the NHL this year. The Fly Guys were last, dead last in the entire NHL in 2007, but managed to reach the playoffs as the sixth seed in the East.

Being the sixth seed is one of the best seeds you can be in the playoffs. Often the third division winner is always barely worthy of the playoffs, and this year was pretty much no different. The Capitals needed a long winning streak at the end of the year to reach the playoffs, but that streak ended at the hands of the Flyers.

Seven games, several blown leads, one Alexander Ovechkin explosion, and one Daniel Briere goal scoring binge later the Flyers were moving onto the next round.

Now throw in four more games, three of which are Philly wins, lots of angry Canadians, some more blown leads, no Briere scoring binge, but rather one by R.J. Umberger and you get a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.

One CuseAdelphia team already has won a title. The Syracuse women's Lax team took home a Big East Championship in South Bend in dominating fashion. A 22-7 blow out followed by a 12-6 victory over rival Georegtown and the women have an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Basically every scoring record you think of, Tewaaraton trophy nominee Katie Rowan broke it.

Two CuseAdelphia teams used April to get off to extremely solid starts.

The Phillies finished out April 15-13. Now that doesn't seem too impressive, but when you look at their past four Aprils, it's rather impressive. 11-14 in 2007, 10-14 in 2006, 10-14 in 2005, 10-11 in 2004. You get the picture.

The Phillies did it in probably the most improbably way: great pitching from both the starters and bullpen. The entire staff has posted a combined ERA of 3.79, the lowest its been in years.

The relievers have been much better; the Phillies' pen ranks first in the National League in ERA. J.C. Romero, Brad Lidge, Chad Durbin, Rudy Seanez, and Tom Gordon (minus the first week) have been lights out.

Cole Hamels is throwing his name in the hat for Cy Young during the early season with his 2.70 ERA and 36 strike outs in April.

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell have provided MVP moments throughout the entire month as the two are near the top of practically every offensive category. Utley ends the month with a major league leading 11 home runs.

The team that plays across the parking lot, the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL has been blistering hot. Two QB's Tony Graziani and Matt D'Orazio have combined for astronomical numbers in leading the Soul to an undefeated record through April.

Bon Jovi's team finished off the month with a 57-28 romping over the previously undefeated Dallas Desperados. Philly held Dallas scoreless in the first quarter, a monumental task in of itself.

The other football team in Philadelphia just completed the 2008 NFL draft with some disputed success. The Eagles set themselves up for a monster 2009 draft with the acquisition of the Panthers 2009 first round pick. The Iggles also got another second round pick in the same deal when trading away their first round pick to Carolina.

Now the Eagles only got one player that will have an immediate impact this year with DeSean Jackson, but it's still a major accomplishment to get one of the most explosive players in the draft half way through the second round.

The Birds also grabbed DT Trevor Laws who's a workhorse on the defensive line.

The later round picks weren't anything special, but the Eagles overall had a solid draft.

No matter how good all of CuseAdelphia's teams did, there's going to be a few bad notes that cannot go unmentioned.

In the same NFL draft, no members of the Orange heard their names called for the first time since 1975. Taj Smith, Jameel McClain, DoWayne Davis, and several others eventually found a home, but it wasn't for NFL draft level money.

Orange fans also learned they might hear the name of one of the fabulous freshmen from the 2007-2008 seasons. Donte' Greene declared he's making himself eligible for the 2008 NBA draft, but he left some hope for Orange fans when he didn't sign an agent.

Greene's team also found themselves sitting at home from the NCAA Tournament and NIT Tournament finals which both took place in April.

Finally on a sad note, we remember John Marzano who was found dead in South Philly home. The cause of his death hasn't been revealed yet.

Danny Briere Line: Welcome to the Canadiens Series

For the first time since Game Two, the Danny Briere, Vinny Prospal, and Mike Knuble line found the back of the net.

Briere's goal couldn't have come at a better time.

With the clock ticking away in the third period in a tie game and all the momentum on Montreal's side, Briere showed why he's worth 52 million dollars. His power play goal gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead and the goal was his eighth of the playoffs, but only second of the series.

The Canadiens couldn't find the back of the cage for the first 52 minutes of the game, but once Tomas Plekanec scored, it took only 37 seconds for another Hab to tickle the twine. Saku Koivu redeemed himself for a previous penalty that led to a Flyers goal by beating Marty Biron to tie the game at two.

The Flyers crawled out to a two nothing lead as it took the R.J. Umberger seven minutes into the second period to score the first goal of the game and his sixth goal of the playoffs. Umberger hadn't scored goals in back to back games all year, but now he's done it in the playoffs.

In the third period, Scottie Hartnell notched the Flyers second goal after he followed the rebound of a Prospal shot that went out in front of net. Hartnell slapped into the right side of the net and the Flyers had their patented 2-0 lead.

Of course as we all know, no two goal lead is safe for the Flyers. They had already blown four two nil leads, losing three of those games. As mentioned above, a few minutes later Montreal had the game tied at two and Philadelphia scrambling to retake control.

More on the game later.

Flyers Try to Take Both Home Games Tonight

Philadelphia looks for a repeat of the Capitals series by winning both home games to take a 3-1 series lead.

Of course that will allow the Flyers to subsequently blow the next two games, put Flyers fans on the edge of their seats only to pull off a Game Seven shocker.

But let's hope it doesn't get to that point.

The 700 Level says Mike Knuble has been cleared to play, but also raises the question: where does he play and where do the Flyers move R.J. Umberger to? Umberger has been too good to knock him down to the fourth line so Knuble can move back with his linemates Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter. It will be interesting to see what Coach John Stevens does with the lines.

The Flyers' attack no matter what way its shaped must go after Carey Price. They shook his confidence in Game Three so what better way to see what he's made of than aggressively going after him.

The Flyers have kind of laid back in the first three games and let the Canaidens come at them. It's led to a ridiculous shot advantage for the Habs, but it's something that hasn't hurt the Flyers because of the stellar play of Marty Biron.

This is Price's first year in the NHL, and Price has played a lot down the stretch. His struggling could just be a matter of some fatigue. Unfortunately Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau doesn't really have the option of benching him to give a rest until either Game Five or Game Six. Those games are back to back so I wouldn't be surprised if the Habs play Jaroslav Halak in one game and Price in the other.

The Flyers also need to stay off the penalty kill. Legitimate penalties here and there most fans can live with. But Derian Hatcher putting the Flyers down a man for five minutes that's 100% unacceptable. Dumb penalties will cost the Flyers a game just like in the first round it was almost guaranteed Alexander Ovechkin was going to single handily win a game for the Capitals.

Side Note: I didn't realize how much Canada as a whole hates the Flyers.

The Pension Plan Puppets Blog which is a Maple Leafs Blog linked to my game story yesterday and the comments in response were so anti-Flyers. Here's a taste:

Chemmy wrote, "What sort of Leafs fans root for Philly over Montreal?"

The response he got from a writer for PPP wrote, "

We all should. You can't put aside over 80 years of rivalry and hatred just because the Flyers have recently been a pain in the ass. The greater evil is the Habs getting past Philly. After this round, we can cheer against Philly again. Although, realistically, we're all cheering on the meteor."

Chemmy later wrote, "The thing is, Montreal already has 24 cups. If they win another one who cares? If Philly wins the cup this year we'll all have to hear about how they went from 30th to 1st in one season, and not about how they're cheapshot goons who injured a lot of players (Patrice Bergeron anyone?). Sorry, I don't want Montreal to win the cup, but their team isn't hockey cancer like Philly.

The poster by the name of Leosc named his comment Flyers=Satan and said this, " I don't even allow Philadelphia cream cheese in this house. Phillies, hate them. 76ers, hate them. F**king Flyers, hate them to the nth power. Philadelphia and Philadelphians show their crack, even on a bell. Philadelphia Flyers have been a bunch of goons all their life, it doesn't matter who they were before they don that stinking sweater. They won the cup twice by injuring the opposition. Because of them the NHL had to impose the anti-bench clearing rule. Bobby what's-his-name is the worse one. Once the other teams stood up to them, they disappeared from the playoffs. Now its time for the Habs to take them out."

There's even more comments to read here.

Plus The 700 Level also had this story from a Philly.com writer asking if the Flyers are playing Canada's team.

And of course we cannot forget the Pig Man for desecrating Philadelphia's Rocky Statue.

This is absolute war. Send out the war kittens!


This post just lost all credibility because of that but frankly I don't care.

Flyers Escape with 3-2 Victory

The Flyers have kept fans on their seat by blowing several leads in the playoffs, and tonight almost wouldn't be any different.

Philadelphia's ability to squander leads during the last portion of the regular season and the playoffs almost cost the Flyers a chance at the playoffs and the first round series against the Capitals, but did cost Philly Game One against Montreal.

The Flyers scored the first goal, then got another short handed and before they could even begin to lose the lead R.J. Umberger scored a third before the second intermission.

The Flyers practically buried Montreal before they could blink.

A scoreless first period filled with hard hits and multiple wasted chances by the Habs to take an early advantage and take the boisterous Flyers crowd out of the game.

It was obvious that Montreal's inability to score put the pressure on Habs's goalie Carey Price to stand on his head and keep Montreal in the game.

The key time to this game was after the first Flyer goal. How was Price going to respond?

He didn't respond well. Price gave up a soft goal and then a rebound on another shot that led to a third Flyers goal.

At that point, the game was far from over. Derian Hatcher took another dumb penalty giving Montreal a five minute power play. Hatcher's penalty was a five minute boarding major in retaliation for a hit on R.J. Umberger. The Canadiens score twice on the major penalty making it a one goal game with ten minutes left to play.

The first three quarters of the final period belonged to the Canadiens. The Habs controlled the first 15 minutes notching 16 of the first 18 shots on goal in the period. The Flyers made it easy on the new Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak who replaced Price in the third period.

The first two periods were pretty clean, a few penalties and only a little extra curricular action after the whistle.

The third period - much different. After almost every whistle there was some kind of extra pushing and shoving. The Canadiens tried to push the Flyers around as long as the refs would tolerate it and it worked.

Another penalty against the Flyers with six minutes left put the pressure on the Flyers penalty kill once again. A Canadien goal could have been an absolute series changer, but Philly was able to kill off the Lasse Kukkonen interference penalty.

Instead, the Flyers killed it off and killed off the rest of the Canadien's charge.

The Flyers survived probably the most one sided period of the series and took a 2-1 series lead.

Notes:

• Who didn't enjoy the graphic for too many men on the ice at the end of the game when the technical crew froze the shot at the wrong time so that there would only be five Habs on the ice. Smooth Versus. Real Smooth.
• Mike Richards took a shot at Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak during the Kukkonen penalty. That was about the worst time to hit Halak in the head. The last thing the Flyers need is to have to kill off another penalty with under four minutes left.
• The Flyers won another game with no contributions from the Briere line. This is like the Capitals series except its the other way around, Ovechkin wasn't scoring in that series.

Flyers Head Home Looking to Gain Control

For the second straight series, the Flyers head home with the series tied at one. The Flyers hold home ice advantage for the rest of the series since the series is now a best of five and the Flyers have three home games left.

The Flyers have jumped out to 2-0 leads four times in playoffs thus far, including the first two games of this series, but are only .500 in those games.

The Flyers have had difficult holding leads as teams begin to get overly aggressive and put the pressure on Marty Biron. He's not been up to the task in several of the playoff games this year and has let the lead slip away.

Saturday night was much different. Montreal dominated the game, out shooting Philadelphia 36-23. Biron stopped all but two of those shots and withstood a first period flurry to keep Montreal off the board.

The Flyers have been able to send this series back to Philadelphia tied at one despite getting almost no contributions from the top line. In Game One, the Briere line was a non-factor; in Game Two, Briere did score a second period goal to make it 3-1.

What the Flyers need to today tonight to win:

• Stay back and let Montreal come at you. The Flyers have typically been keeping an extra man back off the rush to prevent Montreal's speed and depth from beating the Flyers. It's worked very well so far despite the shot differential between the two teams.
• Avoid the stupid penalties. The Hab's top ranked power play has been fairly silent so far due to the lack of chances they've had.
• The Briere line needs to score at least once and set up power play opportunities through getting extra pressure on Montreal. The Flyers need more than two power plays in a game in order to control the game.

Canadiens Comeback to Take Game One

I've mentioned several times during the playoffs, the Flyers have been playing incredibly unpredictable. As soon as you think Philadelphia is going to close out a game, the team blows it. When the odds are against them, the Flyers set themselves up to win again...

...but then that's what makes sports great.

Tonight of course was no different. The Flyers were playing the top seed Montreal, the game was the Flyers' third game in four days, and the game was in Montreal.

But it didn't appear to matter.

The Flyers stayed back in all game and started their rushes from their own zone. It neutralized the Canadiens rush and speed throughout the Habs' top three lines. Montreal won the face-off battle by a lot 41-27. This should have stalled the Flyers offense.

But it didn't.

The Flyers out shot Montreal and drew more legitimate power plays (see below for details). The Flyers got goals from two unlikely sources: R.J. Umberger and Jim Dowd in the first period.

But the lead didn't last.

Montreal came storming back in the second period. The Habs controlled the pace, out shooting the Flyers 13-9 and out scoring them 2-0. Andrei Kostitsyn scored his fourth playoff goal and with less than four minutes left in period, Alexei Kovalev scored short handed.

But the Flyers came back.

The third period belonged to the Flyers. A shot advantage of 13-9 led to the Flyers controlling most of the period. Joffrey Lupul scored just 19 seconds into the period on a power play that carried over from the end of the second period.

But it didn't matter.

A penalty on Mike Richards with just over a minute left gave Montreal a six on four when the Habs pulled their goalie. Fast forward to 29 seconds left and the puck is in the net thanks to Alexei Kovalev. The Habs had all the momentum going into the overtime period.

And this mattered.

First shift in overtime, Tom Kostopoulos scored for Montreal and it was over. Two goals in the last 1:17 meant Montreal escapes with a 1-0 series lead.

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The Flyers did several things very well. Philadelphia limited the amount of penalties they took big time. Dumb penalty after dumb penalty against Washington allowed the Caps to stay in several games they should have been out of early.

That just wasn't the case tonight. The Canadiens' only power play for the majority of the game came early in the second period.

The Flyers also managed to stay in this game without any contributions from Philly's top players. Daniel Briere in his return home to Quebec, Scott Hartnell, and Vinny Prospal didn't notch a single point.
__________________________________________

The Flyers had this game stolen from them. I didn't get to watch, only was able to listen to the radio coverage. I did get to see the highlights which showed the wrong calls.

The second Montreal goal cannot be a goal in any way. There's no justifying it. How could Kovalev scored? His stick came down on the top of the goal after he hit the puck. That is a TEXT BOOK high stick. I don't understand how that can possibly be anything different. You clearly see his stick come down after he hits the puck, it's not like it went upwards after he hit the puck and then down onto the goal. That shouldn't have been a goal.

The Mike Richards penalty that gave Montreal a power play with under a minute left was not a penalty. It was ruled kneeling. His knee never makes contact with the Canadiens' player. That was a clean hit. Philadelphia has legitimate gripes in this game.

Time to Get to Know the Canadiens

The Eastern Conference Semifinals begin tonight as the Flyers travel to Montreal (say it in a fake French accent...it's a good time).

It's a tough turn around for the Flyers since they played back to back nights on Monday and Tuesday. It's a little surprising that the NHL is making them play three games in four nights, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and play.

The Habs dominated the Flyers during the regular season. They outscored Philly 15-6 and won all four games. That reason alone makes me want to pick against the Flyers, but the series will be closer.

The Flyers are playing much better and after watching Montreal struggle a little bit against Boston, I do think they are beatable. The Flyguys should be able to take a few games, but if Philadelphia is going to win this series its going to be in at least six games, probably the full seven.

Montreal is just too strong across the board. They are fast and they can score. The Habs are widely considered one of the fastest teams in the NHL with three lines that can score. They are very reminiscent of the Buffalo and Ottawa teams the first two years after the lockout.

The Canadiens were second in the league in scoring at 3.09 per game. Defensively, the Habs were middle of the pack at surrendered 2.59 goals a game.

Carey Price has stepped up in goal after the Habs traded away the last goalie the Flyers faced. Montreal shipped off Cristobal Huet in late February for a second round pick in the 2009 draft.

This series will feature the two best powerplays from the regular season. The Canadiens cashed in on almost a quarter of their man up opportunities while the Flyers score on just over a fifth of their powerplays.

Penalties could be the major turning point of every game in this series. The team that can control the puck usually draws penalties. Which ever team can do this, will be able to turn games around with their powerplay.

Montreal doesn't kill penalties well; they are in the bottom of half of the league at 82%. The Flyers are just over a percent better at 83%, but that's good for 10th in the league.

Overall, Montreal is going to try to wear the Flyers down with their depth. The Flyers defensively don't have three lines that can match up well against the Canadiens. Philadelphia will probably come out Game One a little slow due to playing three games in four days.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Canadiens 4 Flyers 2. Philadelphia just doesn't have the talent to match up well in this series. That's going to be evident in the very first game. Montreal rolls to a Game One victory.

The Flyers Need to Win to Save the City of Montreal

The Sport Hump ran this story about rioting in Montreal after the Canadiens won Game Seven of their first round playoff series. At least 16 cars were torched and fans broke into numerous businesses.

I saw the video on I think SportsCenter and it looked like it got really bad into Montreal.

Because of this, I call on the Flyers and serve the Canadian people by beating Montreal in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

You will save the city of Montreal and its suburbs by knocking the Habs out. You saw what happened after the first round of the playoffs. I cannot imagine what the city would look like if a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was enstore for the Habs.

I'm thinking something like this:

Current Canadiens Patrice Brisebois, Steve Begin, Mathieu Carle, Mathieu Dandenault, Yann Danis, Maxim Lapierre, and Guillaume Latendresse are from the Province of Quebec. Save your homeland! Take a dive (like throw the game, not flop when a Flyer touches you)! Give the series to the Flyers. Do you want your homeland looking like war zone?


And now I call on current Flyers Marty Biron, Daniel Briere, and Simon Gagne too save your homeland by going on the greatest quest ever and defeat the Canadiens. Gagne lace them up, be like Willis Reed. Hobble out onto the ice dizzy and get the first shot on goal. You will fire up your teammates to save the Province of Quebec.


Briere: you turned down the Canadiens during the off-season to play for the Flyers. Show them it was your secret plan to come back to Montreal in the playoffs and save the city from itself by defeating Montreal in the playoffs.


Do not let a Canadiens victory destroy the land you love and call home.


Photo Credits: USA TODAY, History Channel

Thank You Joffrey

The Flyers live to play another day after defeating the Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Joffrey Lupul knocked home a rebound into essentially an empty net on a power play in overtime for the game winner. The goal was Lupul's first of the playoffs and it couldn't have come at a better time.

The Flyers were trying to avoid becoming the 21st team out of 225 to blow a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They avoided this fate well after let the Caps knot the series up at three.

The Flyers blew two straight chances to knock the Caps out of the playoffs, but very strong goal tending from Marty Biron kept the Flyers in the game. Biron recorded 39 saves in 41 chances including 16 saves in the third period alone.

Biron didn't have to be flashy, just good. He stopped everything that came at him including several point blank chances for Alexander Ovechkin in third period and overtime.

Biron made the saves, the second and third lines scored the goals. Unlikely names like Sami Kapanen, Joffrey Lupul, and Scottie Upshall came through with the goals. The usual names, Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, Vinny Prospal, and Jeff Carter couldn't find any part of the score sheet.

One of the most controversial goals in the entire playoffs gave the Flyers the lead in the second period 2-1. Sami Kapanen brought the puck into the Caps zone, twirled around on the right side of the net. Patrick Thoresen checked his man into goalie Cristobal Huet knocking all three players to the ice. Kapenen recognized the open net and flung a wrist shot at the empty net for the goal.

Alexander Ovechkin wouldn't be out done. He tied the game up at two later in the second period.

The third period feature the Caps really going after the Flyers. They outshot the Flyguys 16-5, but somehow couldn't get the puck by Biron.

The goal-less third period set up an up and down overtime as both teams got quality chances in the first several minutes. Tom Poti made a really stupid mistake and tripped up R.J. Umberger in a situation where Poti just didn't to commit a penalty to stop a play.

It lead to an aggressive powerplay as the Flyers started blasting away at Huet. It eventually lead to Kimmo Timonen shot. The rebound trickled off to the right of Huet, but he looked left thinking he deflected the rebound in that direction.

Lupul knocked the puck into an uncontested net and that was it. Game over. Flyers win.

Slapshots:

• Derian Hatcher committed a really stupid penalty in the first period that led to a Washington powerplay goal.
• Philadelphia blew another 5 on 3 powerplay opportunity that lasted the full two minutes. A four minute slash followed by another penalty led to two full minutes of five on three action for the Flyers.
• Cristobal Huet deserves a lot of credit for how well he played and how many great saves he made in this series.
• The Flyers will play the Canadians who also won their series in seven games.

Groundhog Day for the Flyers

I'm absolutely awful at Photoshop. Enjoy!

I alluded to the 2001 series a few days ago when the Flyers were up three games to one on the Devils but blew the series. Following game four, I said this, "The goal gave Philadelphia game four and a 3-1 advantage that's nearly impossible to overcome. Teams trailing 3-1 in a series are just 18 of 59 in game fives. It gets better for the Flyers; in 90 years of NHL playoffs, just 20 of 224 teams that fell behind 3-1 in a series went onto the next round. That's a winning percentage of 8.9%."

Washington at this point has all the momentum in the series and has home ice advantage for game seven. Plus the Flyers have to bounce back one day later from a really bad home loss (more on that in a minute). All the signs up towards Washington taking this game, but with how back and forth this series has been, I don't know if anyone can really predict what's going to happen.

The Flyers need to aggressively go after the Caps. Hit them until they can't skate. Get an early lead and don't let up. The Flyers have been great at blowing leads this year. Philly takes the lead and doesn't necessarily sit back, but lets the opposing team put the pressure on them. I don't know what school of hockey Coach John Stevens went to, but he's got to change his mentality when he's got a lead.

Tonight the Flyers have three keys: Contain Ovechkin, limit penalties, and fore check.

Onto last night now. I've been saying it all series. Alexander the Great makes every series almost a best of six series. He's going to single handily win the Caps a game. That game finally came last night. Tied at two, Ovechkin scored two goals to break the tie.

I didn't get to watch the game, Versus was carrying the Montreal-Boston game where I was. So I'm not going to comment on the game itself too much. I will say, after looking at the box score and the ridiculous number of shots, this game must have been really up and down. I don't think that plays into the Flyers' hands because of Ovechkin and really also Nicklas Backstrom's ability to score and create in the open ice.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Game seven will go to the Capitals. They are going to do the improbable and comeback from 3-1. The Flyers too many opportunities to take this series in the first six games and it's going to comeback to haunt them. I think a late three period goal will decide this game.

Don't Get Eliminated MXC Style!!!!!!!

The Washington Capitals will try to follow the advice of the Spike TV show Most Extreme Elimination Challenge and not get eliminated tonight.

That's going to be a tough task since the game will be in Philadelphia in front of the rowdy Flyer crowd. Washington struggled in the first two games in Philly against the strong Flyer fore check.

The Flyers fore check has kept the puck off Alexander Oveckin's stick; he's scored just one goal all series. I've been saying since after game three, A.O. is going to explode, it's only a matter of time. I still think the Flyers are really playing a best of six series since Ovechkin should in a seven game series single handily win one game.

While Oveckin has struggled, Flyers star Daniel Briere has played some of his best hockey as a Flyer. He's got multiple points in three of the first five games and his nine points total lead are the most in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Briere is finally showing why he deserved the eight year-52 million dollar contract the Flyers gave him.

Briere and the rest of the Flyers will have to rebound from Game Five. Washington completely out played the Flyers for about the first 50 minutes of the game. Solid goal-tending from Marty Biron kept this game close and gave the Flyers a chance to tie in the last minute.

Washington controlled the flow of the game, forcing the Flyers into several stupid penalties. The puck stayed in the Flyers' defensive zone for essentially minutes on end. The Flyers went over 12 minutes during the end of the first period and start the second without a single shot on goal.

The biggest key to Game Six for the Flyers will be re-establishing the fore check. Philadelphia won games two through four by not allowing the Caps to move the puck up ice. If Philly can get back to that pressure, the Flyers will run away with this game again.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Flyers 5 Capitals 3. I'm going to get specific with this prediction; Flyers jump out to 2-0 lead in the first period, Capitals comeback, draw the game within 4-3 in the third period. The Flyers then add an empty net goal to seal the deal and eliminate the Caps.

Washington Pulverizes Philadelphia

The Caps extend the series to a game six with a 3-2 win in Washington.

The score says this game was close, but Washington absolutely dominated the first two periods of this game and part of the third.

The Flyers couldn't do anything offensively or defensively. As soon as the Flyers moved the puck down ice, Caps defenders quickly forced the Flyers into bad shots and no second opportunities.

The Caps didn't forecheck too well, but it didn't matter because Washington routinely beat the Flyers to all the loose pucks for the first two periods.

The added pressure forced the Flyers into many penalties and resulted in two power play goals for the Caps. Three penalities in the first period kept the puck in the Flyers zone the entire period.

Washington put significant pressure on Philadelphia during the period and picked up three more power plays with the last resulting in the Caps third goal.

During the last half of the first period and opening minutes of the second period, the Flyers didn't record a single shot on net. During this streak, Washington scored twice, burying the Flyers in a 2-0 hole. Up to that point, it looked like Philadelphia had no chance to come back.

The terrible ice surface in Washington also hurt both teams ability to get consistent scoring opportunities. The ice got worse as the game went on, making it tougher and tougher for the Flyers to comeback.

If this series goes to a game seven and heads back to Washington, whoever jumps out to the early lead will have an even bigger advantage.

Capitals Rookie Nicklas Backstrom has looked as impressive and been more of a gamechanger than Alex Ovechkin during this series. Backstrom has great awareness of where all his teammates are on the ice. He's a great passer and very nifty skater.

Slapshots: Vinny Prospal and Derian Hatcher scored their third and first goals respectively. The Flyers outshot the Caps 21-6 in the third period. Marty Biron went to the bench with one minute left and the Flyers got their best opportunities to score all game with the extra man on the ice. Game six is in Philadelphia Monday night.

Thank You Mike Knuble

Mike Knuble says his goal in double overtime was, "by far the biggest one"of his 11 year NHL career.

The goal gave Philadelphia game four (I have to brag here, I nailed the final score of 4-3 in my preview) and a 3-1 advantage that's nearly impossible to overcome.

Teams trailing 3-1 in a series are just 18 of 59 in game fives. It gets better for the Flyers; in 90 years of NHL playoffs, just 20 of 224 teams that fell behind 3-1 in a series went onto the next round. That's a winning percentage of 8.9%.

Of course the Flyers have experience recently losing a playoff series after holding a 3-1 lead. Remember 2000?

Flyers were up three games to one against the Devils. That didn't stop New Jersey in the least bit. The Flyers went on to collapse in epic fashion, losing three straight games. This series also featured the Scott Stevens hit on Eric Lindros that left number 88 with another concussion. That game would be the last Lindros would ever play for the Flyers.

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Thursday night's game proved the Flyers can win when they don't play their best game.

The powerplay was awful, the penalty kill gave up two goals in the first period, and the Flyers struggled to keep constant pressure on Cristobal Huet until the third period.

Despite this the Flyers made several great plays to essentially get looks at an empty net. The Flyers second goal came on a great look from Jaroslav Modry. He passed up a pretty open slap shot from the point to make a smooth pass towards the net across the ice to Jeff Carter who had an empty net to shoot at.

The Flyers' third goal to the game came on a goal similar to Washington's Alex Semin's goal earlier in the game. Both goals came as a result of a great pass through the crease to a wide open teammate with an empty net to shoot at.

Daniel Briere scored his fifth goal of the series this way with the pass coming from Mike Richards.

I didn't get to watch the overtime periods last night (had a friend's concert and sorority function to attend), but I went through the game log. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems the refs ate the whistles in the OT periods as there were no penalties called.

Since I didn't see the OT, maybe there weren't any actual penalties, but that's hard to believe. Players get desperate in overtime and tend to commit stupid penalties, many of which aren't called in OT.

Now I understand refs don't want to take over games in overtime, but sometimes calls do need to be made.

Enough digression, my early thoughts for game five are the Flyers aren't going to win this one. Alex Ovechkin is just too good and has been too much of a non-factor so far. He's going to break out eventually and I think game five will be that game. It's hard to believe that he can be shut down again and go five games with only one goal.

The game will be Saturday at one in Washington.

Initial CuseAdelphia prediction: 4-3 Washington. Both teams can score, so expect lots of it again.

Flyers Look to Gain 3-1 Advantage Tonight

The Flyers have taken Alex Ovechkin out of the first three games of the series which has put the Flyguys in a position to take a 3-1 series lead.

The Flyers haven't really felt Ovechkin's presence yet. A.O.'s only contribution to the series, a game one goal, has left the Caps without a scoring threat the last two games.

The Caps have scored on three goals the last two games on a total of just 43 shots. The free shooting Ovechkin has been slowed to nine shots over the last two games despite averaging almost six per game.

Without Ovechkin controlling the game, the Caps lack the ability to get solid scoring opportunities from its second and third lines. The added pressure Ovechkin's line creates forces the defense into taking bad penalties to stop the onslaught.

The Flyers need to keep the constant fore check going to prevent Washington from getting out into open ice where Ovechkin is at his best. The Flyers also need to be careful though, fore checking, like a full court pressure in basketball, can lead to easy opportunities.

The Flyers continue to send an extra man forward to stop passes coming out of Washington's zone. One good outlet pass can spring Ovechkin on a breakaway. Eventually he'll show why he's scored 165 goals in just three seasons in the NHL.

Philadelphia has been rolling so far through this series on the offensive end, but something they do need to improve on is the powerplay.

The Flyers were near the top of league in the powerplay all season, but in this series, they are only two of 16. The second and third games could have been decided a lot earlier if the Flyers could have cashed in on more than just one of their 13 powerplay opportunities.

The aggressive fore check has kept the pressure on the Washington defense which has led to 13 powerplays the last two games. The Flyers need to make them pay for the Caps inability to move the puck.

This game will probably prove to be a little closer than the last two. Alex Ovechkin is too good and too much of a game changer for the Flyers to be able to absolute control the game for a third straight contest.

Tonight will probably be another high scoring affair, especially if the Flyers can continue to fore check like they have been.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Philadelphia 4, Washington 3.

Things are Looking Good for the Flyers

The Flyers absolutely took it to Washington tonight to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Below I recapped the first period and take that first period and basically multiple it by three and you get the game. I didn't get to watch the third period because I had to go to a meeting, but from looking at the play by play and stats it seems like it was a lot like the first two.

The Flyers forechecked and they forechecked and they forechecked Washington into oblivion. Smart, aggressive play won the Flyers this game. It led to the Flyguys outshooting the Caps 33-19. Several Flyers goals came from a direct result of the extra pressure they put on Washington. At times the Caps just couldn't get the puck out of their own zone.

Also playoff penalty shots are awesome. Kudos to Mike Richards for scoring on it. Nice to see he can score on a penalty shot but during the regular season none of these guys could ever score in a shootout.

Game four will be in Philadelphia Thursday night.

Here's a not high quality video of the Richard's penalty shot. You can see everything clear enough which is all that matters. Enjoy.



That's all I got to say on this one. Again check out my recap of the first period, and you can get a real gist of what went on in this game.

Also no link dump tonight. I've got an 8 AM tomorrow and I need sleep. I'll leave you with a link to Troy Nunes's link dump.

Flyers Forecheck=Awesome and 3-1 Lead

If the Flyers can forecheck like they did in the first period, they will be almost impossible to beat. The Flyguys forced frequent turnovers that led to constant pressure the entire period minus the four minutes they were on the penalty kill.

Washington has no answer to the Flyers pressure and if they don't fix something coming out of the intermission, the Flyers will absolutely blow them out of the water tonight.

Marty Biron set the first Flyers goal up beautifully with a nice stop and drop off to the Flyers defense. What I don't understand was why the announcers kept raving about Biron not holding onto the puck forcing a whistle. It was a common sense play 90% of the goaltenders out there would have made. Three Flyers were back in the zone with one Capital who was peeling away. The Caps forecheck has been non-existent in this game so there's no reason to hold onto the puck and force a faceoff in your own zone.

Overall there is nothing I think the Flyers really need to fix. The pressure was on Washington all period. The Caps only real chances came on their goal and two powerplays.

The crowd sounds like it's absolutely rocking and mostly in orange.

Daniel Briere scored the first goal, answered by Eric Fehr for Washington on a pass from Donald Brashear (since when was Brashear a solid offensive player?). Scotty Hartnell scored just over a minute later, followed by Sami Kapanen off a great pass from Jim Dowd 17 seconds after Hartnell. Four goals in 2:33 and on four shots. Now that's hockey.

LAST PLACE

- 30-17-5, 65 points, 1st in the Atlantic, 2 points up on both New Jersey and Pittsburgh

How about this? Just three points back of Ottawa now for the top spot in the conference. The Senators have been struggling (the Flyers gave them a nice pounding) and with the Flyers playing the way they are, 1st in the East is not out of the question by any means. Of course, 3rd place in the division is not out of the question either. I hope Stevens is emphasizing the importance of every game at this point to the team. February will be a critical month to set up for the final push. Capitals at home tomorrow, then a couple division games against the Rangers at home and the Penguins on the road. We need a good game tomorrow against Washington, because the next two will not be easy.

That's what I wrote on February 5th. Now we are in the basement of the division and are 10th in the conference. Funny how the sports world works. I really have nothing more to say on the matter. I'm not NHL-savvy enough to break down exactly what's going wrong with the team and how we can turn it around. I can't offer any more insight than other people. All I'm going to say is I'm still hoping we will return to form in enough time to make a serious playoff push.

-ajd

And Still Losing...

Sure, I could rant about how the Flyers are shooting themselves in the foot as the season nears the home stretch. I could rant about how frustrated I am that Peter Forsberg isn't healthy enough to make a return. I could rant about how we can't beat any divisional opponents. I could rant about how this team was the worst team in hockey last year, got off to a completely unexpected start this year, only to see the incredible turnaround start to slowly fade into oblivion. I could rant about how ineffecitve Danny Briere has been over the last month. I could rant about Simon Gagne's injuries. I could rant about the suddenly unstable goalie situation.

But really, what's the point? All I (or anybody) can do at this point is keep on rooting for the Flyguys to snap out of this funk and return to their early season form. Plenty of time left in the season, so here's to hoping the team wakes up starting now.

-ajd

Still Losing

I was so caught up in the euphoria of Syracuse's win over Georgetown that I plum forgot that there was a Flyers game later in the day. Of course, once I checked ESPN.com last night, I realized that indeed there was one, and that we had lost yet again. Just terrific.

We lost to Montreal, 1-0. We failed on our power plays, including our 5-on-3 effort. We couldn't get the puck past ANOTHER backup goalie, this time Carey Price (?). We managed to play a good defensive game, and Antero Nittymaki played well, but it all went to waste. Nitty lost his concentration for a split second when Andrei Kostitsyn stunned him with a crazy goal. And that was it. It's all the Canadiens needed.

Now we've lost SIX in a row. We are officially in panic-mode, people. I don't want to hear the ol', 'oh there's plenty of time left in the season, there's no reason to panic yet' excuse. In case you're not paying attention, we are in the 6th spot in the East, but we are a meager 4 points ahead of the 12th team, the Islanders. In this new NHL where points are given out so generously because of overtime losses, a six game pointless streak for a team competing for a division title/playoff spot is inexplicable and potentially fatal. Let's face it, this team was awful last year. They weren't supposed to be this good this year. Maybe the magic is wearing off. But when you get off to the start like they did, you just expect that to be the norm for the whole season. Hopefully the Flyers will wake up tonight and split with the Canadiens. If they don't, it's possible that we'll be in the 8th spot after today.

- Nittymaki did what he had to do: .950 save%
- The once potent power play is sagging.
- Please get Forsberg a uniform.
- Should that goal for the Flyers have counted late in the 3rd? Maybe. But methinks the refs are not responsible for another loss.
- 30-23-5, 65 points, 3rd in Atlantic, 6 points behind New Jersey. 24 games left.

-ajd

Gosh darn it

I didn't want to come here today, to talk about a 3-game losing streak. Rather, I wanted to talk about how the Flyers had tied the Penguins for the Atlantic lead after a momentary lapse of quality games. Unfortunately, I'm not posting about that.

A 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh today means Philly is back in 3rd place alone in the division, which obviously isn't terrible because we're only 4 points back, but IS terrible because we've lost 3 in a row and we got beat by two division opponents. As I've said before, I'm OK with a little losing streak against non-division teams. But when you go on a skid against the rest of the Atlantic, it's bad and it annoys me. Especially when you get shut out AGAIN by the Rangers BACKUP and lose to a team you're competing with for the division title.

Losing to Washington at home didn't hurt too bad because that team is on a roll and looks like they may just win the lukewarm Southeast Division. But the Rangers game was very disheartening. I watched the game here in Syracuse, and once again our offense was very uninspiring against the Rangers D and Mr. Valiquette. Also, as "big momma" pointed out yesterday, our penalty kill seems to take days off when we play against a mediocre power play team. The Devils were godlike and the Rangers were also extremely effective against us. For as great as our power play is, the other end of the special teams likes to let us down at the worst times.

Today's performance against the Penguins wasn't bad, but a lame second period killed us in the end. Marty Biron didn't have his best performance, but I can't really make a judgment because I didn't see the game and I'm just interpreting what I'm reading from the AP report. But in a rhetorical sense, we can't keep losing these games to divisional opponents. Losing streaks are bound to happen over an 82-game season, but it really ticks me off to lose 5 of our last 6 against Atlantic teams. That kind of thing can't happen at this point of the season if you want to be either a division champion or taken seriously come playoff time.

- R.J. Umberger, 2 goals, very nice.
- 1/2 PK, eh.
- Daniel Briere is in a bit of a scoring funk.
- 30-20-5, 65 points, 3rd in Atlantic, 4 back of Pittsburgh, 1 back of New Jersey.

Interestingly, our fall to 6th in the conference means we would match up with the Capitals in the first round if the season were to end today. I've said all along if we don't win the division, our best bet is to finish 6th so we can go up against the Southeast champion, who probably won't be a great team. But we'll see.

Peter Forsberg is close to making a decision on his comeback. Any Flyers fan should be crossing their fingers and hoping he returns to the orange and black. If our last few games are any indication, especially the Rangers game, I don't think anybody would argue we could use the extra spark.

-ajd