Winnipeg Jets at Philadelphia Flyers Afterthoughts 1/31/12

Image courtesy of AP

The Flyers hoped to come out of the All Star Break the same way they entered: with a win. The Jets, who have beaten them in five straight games prior dating back to when they were still the Atlanta Thrashers, made sure that wouldn't happen, beating the Flyers 2-1 in a Shootout behind the goal-tending of Ondreg Pavelec, who saved 27 of 28 shots.
   
It was Philadelphia's third straight shootout and their second loss in that stretch. Bryzgalov was starting in net and fans were hoping this break would be enough to completely take the chip off his shoulder. But let's get it right... tonight's loss was not on him. He saved 23 shots in regulation plus overtime and stopped his first two shootout attempts. The Flyers couldn't score in the shootout. They couldn't score on Pavelec minus the first goal by Schenn, which he worked hard enough to get poking the puck in three or four times before it finally crossed the line. Pavelec was nearly perfect minus that opening goal.
   
The Jets and Flyers along with the viewers were probably expecting another shootout, seeing as how their first two games had 27 combined goals between the two teams. It was another close one, but this one was a battle of the netminders. Bryzgalov, who has been pretty bad in shootouts, made two good saves to start tonight's. But Couturier, Giroux and Jagr came up short and Bryz couldn't make the final stop.

It happens.

There are many times I would be upset when we lost a close game such as this, but Winnipeg, and moreso Pavelec, really played well tonight. They should have ended it in the OT Period when Bryan Little got the puck above the glove of Bryzgalov, but it clanked off the post. Count that as a mulligan, and the Flyers failed to take advantage.

One argument, though: What was with that shootout lineup? Especially Jagr... he's 5-of-22 in his career. It's his first game back from injury. Why not have someone else out there? Read? Hartnell? Was that really the best lineup they had? It wasn't, and I put a bit of blame on Coach Peter Laviolette for that one. I understand they wanted to get Jagr off on the right foot, but in a situation where the game is on the line, I think the order and the lineup itself should have been changed. If it were me, I would've went Couturier-Hartnell-Giroux. But what do I know? At least they got a point tonight...

The Flyers welcome Nashville to Philadelphia on Thursday night for their final meeting of the season. Nashville won the first a little over two weeks ago 4-2. It'll be tough to score on Pekka Rinne, but they'll have to put one or two in net and hope Bryz or Bob, whoever ends up playing, puts up a good game. If not, you can chalk up another loss and cue complaints of Flyers fans across Philadelphia... I really hope the Flyers don't let that happen.