Thursday, March 3, 2011
Posted: 9:35 p.m.Updated: 11:26 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
No matter how you cut it, the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team fighting for its playoff lives and playing back-to-back, shouldnt rob the Flyers of two points in the final period.
Yet, the Leafs did Thursday night, handing the Flyers their third regulation loss in six games, 3-2, at Wells Fargo Center.
Torontos sense of urgency was greater while the Flyers did everything they could to hurt themselves with 10 penaltiesthree by Andrej Meszaros.
Its not the way we are built to play, Chris Pronger said. We are built to get better with every period and take over in the third period and dominate like we have in the past. Lately, it seems like that has been our Achilles heel.
NHL
When you do something over and over again, maybe its not uncharacteristic. Maybe weve got to do something to get rid of some bad habits.
Yes, the Flyers were missing three players with the flu, but they let this one slip away because of penalties and mistakes.
Its difficult when youre taxing the same guys on the penalty kill, said head coach Peter Laviolette. They get worn down. Theres guys on the bench who sit for extended periods of time.
We turn the puck over, its in the back of our net. Theres things we can tighten up, for sure.
The gap between the Flyers and everyone else is starting to shrink, too. The charging Boston Bruins are just three points behind the Flyers in the overall Eastern Conference standings with 83 points.
Everyone left on the Flyers schedule is below them in the standings. Yet, the Leafs had more jam as Laviolette often says, when it counted.
I was shocked that we had this much energy, said Leafs coach Ron Wilson.
Not as shocked as the Flyers.
Its probably good for us because we need to match their desperation and intensity and we havent done that yet and until we do were going to end up on the wrong end of the score like we did tonight, Pronger said.
Kris Versteeg wanted a big game against his former teammates, and he did with two goals. AlasDarryl Boyces goal at 15:30 of the third period won it. He walked off the back boards, into the slot and banged one through Sergei Bobrovskys five-hole to give the Flyers their third loss in six games.
It came from the nearest corner under my right pad and it went in, BOB said. I didnt expect it to go into the far corner.
It was the first time since Dec. 20 (Florida) and Dec. 28 (at Vancouver) that the Flyers have lost two in a row, as well.
Its huge games for them and they ramped up their intensity, Versteeg said of the Leafs. Sometimes its tough to ramp up ours, but weve got to find ways. I thought we played hard tonight, but its tough not to get the two points.
Team captain Mike Richards had it right.
Theyre fighting hard to get into the playoffs, he said. Weve got to fight even harder to get into the playoffs and hit the ground running when we get there.
Boyce would agree.
Yeah, all these games are desperate right now and were looking for points everywhere we can, he said. Games like this back-to-back nights, theres still two points and we still have to get them.
During practice this week, the Flyers were roaring up and down the ice in unison, looking very sharp.
Not so in the opening period where their breakout was mostly breakdown, and causing them enough problems they were taking penalties trying to keep the quicker Leafs at bay on the forecheck.
Versteeg scored against his former club at 5:49, one-timing a crisp pass from Richards past goalie James Reimer for first goal of the game.
Richie has such great patience, Versteeg said. He kind of waited their defense out and found me through a hole. Over the last six games, weve had a lot of chances. Tonight, a couple went in. Maybe we could have used a little more. Just keep working at it and try to get better.
Too often at home this season, the Flyers have wasted momentum scoring a goal and then coughing one up right after the ensuing faceoff.
With PA announcer Lou Nolan giving out the details on the Versteeg goal, Scott Hartnell turned the puck over in his own end and Clarke MacArthur ripped one which Nikolai Kulemin tipped high past Bobrovsky just 21 seconds later to make it 1-1.
Bobrovsky had a strong period with several nice saves during a couple of Maple Leaf power plays, including a kick save on Kulemin near periods end when a tired penalty kill unit was on the ice six consecutive minutes.
We shot ourselves in the foot with the mistakes that we made and the penalties we took,
Pronger said. I think they had seven power plays. In the first period they had four alone. That kind of gave them some momentum.
In the second period I dont think we had one and they had a couple. We cant shoot ourselves in the foot right off the bat with penalties and allow a team that, as you said, have played the night before. It let them off the hook and allowed them to gain some momentum and control some play.
Versteeg broke the tie at 7:03 of the middler period, taking another Richards pass and scoring his third goal as a Flyer. The 2-1 lead should have held up.
Disaster struck in the final 18 seconds as the Flyers got a bench minor for too many men on the ice during a power play. Richards said he should have gone off the ice and didnt.
At four-on-four, with a faceoff in the Flyers zone, Richards, who had played such a perfect game to that point, tried to muscle a faceoff past Mikhail Grabovski to get an odd-man rush going. It backfired with the puck going into the slot.
Bobrovsky made a save on Kulemin and the rebound went directly to Dion Phaneuf, who merely had to poke it past BOB for a goal with 11 seconds left.
Instead of the Flyers going into the third ahead, 2-1, it was tied.
They came hard, Richards said. They have a good team, a gritty team that finishes their checks. Jump on loose pucks, good sticks, and defense. They get the puck up to them and block a lot of shots.
I dont think we took them lightly, but I thought we couldve played better longer, couldve stayed out of the penalty box. It was good to see the penalty killing do so well, but tough to see that we have to give them that many opportunities and see penalty killing that much.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net