Thursday, March 31, 2011
Posted: 9:42 p.m.Updated: 11:32 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
They had 43 shots on goal. In between, there were seven penalties which throttled the Flyers ability to generate sustained offensive attacks.
For whatever reason, the Atlanta Thrashers seem to give the Flyers fits, anymore. Craig Ramsays club won for the third time in four tries Thursday night, shutting the Flyers out 1-0 at Wells Fargo Center.
Thats seven shutouts against Peter Laviolettes club this season and seven homes losses in their last eight appearances.
The whole idea of capturing the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is to gain home-ice advantage. Well, the Flyers havent done much with home ice lately and the playoffs havent arrived.
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I guess when it comes to our home building and our fans, we never want to lose, Laviolette said. Concern in the big picture, probably not that much. But concern because we lost tonight and we needed two points.
Our organization, our building, our fans. Thats disappointing a little bit. Probably more disappointing and frustrating than concern. The chances were more than two-to-one in our favor. We just couldnt score a goal tonight.
The Flyers had not had a shutout themselves all season. They had their best chance to brake that in this one because it was a scoreless game going into the third period.
Sergei Bobrovsky21 saveswas on his mark, again. His teammates just couldnt buy him some goals after scoring five on Tuesday against the defensive-conscious Penguins.
What really hurts is that Nik Antropovs game-winner at 10:22 was disputed. Evander Kanes pass into the slot off the rush caromed off Antropovs skate past Bobrovsky.
The goal went to review to determine whether it was kicked in. The ruling was no, but Antropov sure seemed to make a kicking motion toward the net.
I dont know if it was intentional or not, Bobrovsky said.
Antropov thought it was clean.
It hit me in the center of the skate, he said. I was trying to stop, so there was no kicking motion obviously.
Even though the Flyers were buzzing Chris Mason the remainder of the game, he simply would not crack with several terrific stops in the final minute.
I just felt really comfortable and I felt I was tracking the puck real well, Mason said. The guys did a good job letting me see shots. I felt I had a good beat on the puck.
Most of the Flyers thought they played very well as they severely out-chanced Atlanta and didnt see this loss as a huge negative, coming off the big win against the Penguins earlier this week.
I wouldnt say its the worst feeling in the world, but its tough when you throw everything at the net and they get a lucky bounce and get the goal, said team captain Mike Richards.
Sean ODonnell backed that up.
I thought both goalies played well, ODonnell said. This easily could have been a 3-2 game instead of a 1-0 game. They only had 22 shots, but Id say Bob made five or six really good saves. Its unfortunate the one they got went in the way it did.
The Flyers started with some snap, but didnt seem to finish with any crackle or pop in what was a boring opening period. Both teams had point-blank chances and didnt do anything with them.
Such as Danny Briere getting a juicy rebound with Mason down, but failing to lift the puck on a pad save.
Or Dustin Byfuglien getting one at the other end on Bobrovsky, who made a pad stop himself. At periods end, Anthony Stewart fired a puck wide of an open net.
The Flyers had one power play that period and Mason had a good stop on Jeff Carters shot off an entry pass, but that was the only legit chance they had, too.
The games intensity picked up a few digits in the second period. After mustering just eight shots through most of the first period (finishing with 10), the Flyers got 14 in the second period.
Yet, through two periods the Flyers also took five penalties. As Laviolette said, it wasnt a chippy game where penalties should have happened.
Whenever we take penalties it impacts the game, it tires out the killers and the flow on the bench, Richards added. Once we get momentum and then take a penalty, we have to regroup and almost start from scratch and try and build momentum.
Perhaps worse was that the struggling power play went 0-for-5.
In the final 1:08, the Flyers got a power play and despite good passing, they could not complete a pass to Carter, who twice was open in the slot. Atlantas penalty killers did a good job blocking lanes directly in front of Mason.
In the second period, we had a lot of quality chances and couldnt get it done, Laviolette said. Especially, on the power at the end. We had some good looks and opportunities. We had a tough time getting it by Mason tonight.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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