Philadelphia Flyers at Florida Panthers Afterthoughts 1/24/12

Image Courtesy of AP
Bobrovsky stops one of three Panthers' shootout attempts

It was the Flyers second straight shootout and their fourth of the year. They were 0-3 prior, and the Flyers shootout history since it was implemented in 2005 was not much better. So, all things considered, confidence was not too high when the overtime period ended at Florida and the game was still tied at 2.

Two days after Ilya Bryzgalov gave up six goals against Boston while letting both of the Bruins’ shootout attempts get through, Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made sure the Flyers went on the all-star break with a victory, stopping all three shootout attempts. Claude Giroux scored on Philly’s second shot and the Flyers left Florida with a 3-2 victory against the Panthers.

The Panthers got on board quickly, just 2:49 into the first period, as Mikael Samuelsson scored on the Power Play after a very unnecessary charging penalty by Tom Sestito, further reminding everyone that he’s not on the Phantoms only because of the multitude of injuries to Briere, Jagr and JVR.  

Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek followed with two goals to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead going into the second. Tomas Fleischmann scored with 4:20 remaining in the second period to tie the game at two. That was the last goal until Giroux’s game-winner in the shootout.

After stopping 11 of 13 shots in the first period, Panthers backup goalie Scott Clemmensen didn’t make any more mistakes, not letting the Flyers’ next 24 shots get in net. He stopped 35 of 37 on the night. Clemmensen is 6-2-5 while starter Jose Theodore is 14-9-5, not much better. Just like the Flyers, it seems like Florida might have a goalie controversy on their hands.

Bobrovsky had no room for error and he showed up when it mattered… something Bryzgalov has failed to do. After being upset with the media following Saturday’s victory against the Devils, Bryzgalov followed with an abysmal effort at home against the Bruins, a game that could have easily been won. The team bailed out Bryz and he answered by giving up more and more goals.

After going down 3-1, the Flyers went up 4-3 with a hat trick from Hartnell in the second period. Not even six minutes of gametime later, the Bruins were back up 5-4. No team should expect this from their starting goalie and the sad truth is that Flyers fans have gotten used to Bryzgalov’s not-so-great goaltending. Fans expect a bad game from him and it’s s surprise when he shows up.

Before the loss, he had two one-goal games against the Devils and Wild. No one got excited because he’s done this before. The wins were against average teams. Enter the B’s? A top team in the East? No chance. The Rangers? There’s a reason Bob was in net during the Winter Classic. Bryzgalov gave up four goals on 24 shots in their pre-Classic Matchup a week prior.

I’ve tried to be optimistic when it comes to Bryz, but it’s hard to be now, especially when Bobrovsky has consistently played better whenever he’s been out there. He stopped 23 of 25 shots tonight and did not let up once in the shootout. The team is now going on the All Star Break, and. if they want to win, or even complete for the Stanley Cup in June, a drastic change may need to be made, even if that change could cost the team $51 million dollars…