Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Posted: 10:13 p.m.Updated: March 23, 12:03 a.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
The regular season is almost over and were confronted with a decades-old question the Flyers always seem to face: is the goaltending good enough to win?
Sergei Bobrovsky was nothing short of spectacular Saturday night in Dallas.
He was nothing short of hideous Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals, scorched for three goals on nine shots during a gut-wrenching 5-4 shootout loss at Wells Fargo Center.
His year has been very good so far, summarized coach Peter Laviolette. Tonight? Bob probably wishes he could have some of those back and another opportunity at em.
No matter how the Flyers view this, right now, the goaltending seems very unsettled with the playoffs approaching.
NHL
Weve all had tough games and he probably wishes he could have another crack at some of those, Laviolette said. He came off the Dallas game and he probably played one of his sharpest games in a while.
The silver lining? The Flyers finally reached deep down inside themselves and found the desire and the compete to come back on the Caps.
As such, they got a point in the Beast of the East showdown and still hold the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with 97 pointsone more than Washington.
Alexander Semin won it in the shootout against Brian Boucher.
From a team standpoint I think it was a good point, Boucher said. From my standpoint, Im disappointed. I didnt make any saves in the shootout and for that I feel like I couldve done more. Unfortunately, that didnt happen.
Goaltending aside, the Flyers dominated.
We put the puck down their zone, we cycled in, the amount of chances compared to what they had, most of it was ours, Danny Briere said. Overall, it was a solid effort from our team.
Theres going to be nights like that where you get some bad bounces.Our goalie got a couple bad bounces on him. But thats the game we need to playputting pressure on them.
Bobrovsky, who inspired so much confidence with a brilliant overall performance last outing, was pulled less than 90 seconds into the second period.
Were confident in both goaltenders, said Flyer captain Mike Richards. S--- happens. Its going to happen through the course of a season.
He played unbelievable for us in Dallas. He won us that hockey game. Couple bad bounces tonightHe wishes he could have a couple back. Tomorrow is a new day and we have confidence in him.
The game itself seemed to have a playoff feel about it, not to mention an oversold crowd.
Washington was without Alexander Ovechkin and the Flyers were without Chris Pronger. Still, it was a great hockey game.
That's why it is so much fun at the end of the season like this, Claude Giroux said. Guys knew this game was going to be intense. Any time you play a good team like Washington it is always going to be fun.
The Flyers were all over goalie Michal Neuvirth, especially in the last two periods. They trailed 3-2 and besides good scoring chances, also had momentum-turning hit like the one Andrej Meszaros threw on Jason Chimera along the boards.
Meszaros had a monster game with six hits and five blocked shots in 29 minutes of ice time.
We showed a lot of character and heart and we fought back, he said. We were the better team and deserved to win. Thats hockeyWe fired pucks and they didnt go in. That second period down 3-0, we played our hearts out.
Bobrovsky, incidentally, did not speak to reporters after the game.
Washington scored early and scored late to stun the Flyers with two goals in the first period.
Nick Backstrom converted a turnover by Braydon Coburn with a long shot between the circles that nicked off Bobrovskys left pad, then trickled inside the right post.
With less than three minutes left in the period, Chimera centered a puck into the crease from the back boards to Mike Knuble. Flyer defenseman Sean ODonnell checked Knuble directly into Bobrovsky, sending Knuble and an airborne puck into the net as the crowd booed.
In between both goals, the Flyers had a 3:16 power play with Semin in the box for a four-minute high-stick call. Neuvirth had two outstanding saves on Ville Leino and another on Kimmo Timonen.
A bad cross-checking penalty from Dan Carcillo carried over into the second period and that led to Bobrovskys ultimate dismissal at 1:22 when he gave up yet another poor goal off his body, this time from Dennis Wideman, making it 3-0.
Yet, the Flyers found that inner voice thats been missing for two months and made a game of it.
I really liked the effort we put in, Briere said. Even at 3-0, it would have been easy to just pack it in and say, the night is over. But we kept coming. It was fun to see the character. We learned that last year. We never quit.
The comeback began with an ugly goal at 8:05 of the second when Kris Versteegs intended pass across the slot to Andreas Nodl went off a skate for his fifth goal as a Flyer and 19th overall this season.
Giroux made it a one-goal affair with his 24th goal in the final minute of the period when he one-timed a perfect, hard diagonal pass from Nodl into the net. His line with Nodl and Jeff Carter was brilliant all night with 10 shots.
We would have liked the two points, but at the end of the day were happy that we played the whole 65 minutes, Giroux said. Any time you play with the same players for a couple games and practices, you kind of know where the players are.
Girouxs goal set up another tense finish.
Nodl, who had not scored since Feb. 16 at Florida, tied it at 9:58 in the third when Giroux caused a turnover in the Caps end. Brieres 32nd goal off a redirect of a Timonen pass gave the Flyers their only lead at 4-3.
It was too good to be true and thenMarcus Johansson forced overtime at 16:41.
Briere had encouragement for Bobrovsky.
Hell bounce back, Briere said. Im not too worried. Its not the first time. He has had a couple of bad games earlier this year, and he was able to bounce back. It happens. You get some bad breaks. Everybody has some bad nights.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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