Saturday, May 7, 2011
Posted: 12:06 a.m.
By Sarah BaickerCSNPhilly.com
BOSTON -- It was everything but goaltending that led to the Flyers demise Friday night at the TD Garden.
There were defensive turnovers, bad penalties and a shortage of shots sent in Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, but through it all, Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall. The Flyers rookie netminder didnt put in a perfect performance, but he cannot at all be faulted for his efforts in Game 4.
On its surface, the 5-1 loss that eliminated the Flyers from Stanley Cup contention tells a story of a team that struggled in every possible wayoffensively, defensively, in netbut in reality, Bobrovsky made the kind of saves his team had gone without for far too many games. The Bruins final two goals were scored on an empty net.
In fact, it was in great part because of Bobrovsky that the Flyers even had a sliver of a chance to come away with a win.
I thought he did a good job, coach Peter Laviolette said. I mean, he gave us an opportunity to win the game. It was 1-1 in the third period. From there, they seemed to get a little momentum. But I thought he played a solid game.
For weeks, the Flyers have insisted they play their best hockey when their backs are against the wall. That was certainly the case in the later games of the opening series against the Buffalo Sabres, but it was far from what occurred on the ice Friday night.
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Instead, the Flyers once again lacked fire, passion and hunger. They were flat through the first half of regulation, especially the first period, during which they registered just six shots on net and took five penalties.
It was Bobrovsky who kept them alive and within fighting distance. Whereas Brian Boucher seemed, at times, incapable of coming up with a clutch save in his last outing in Game 3, Bobrovsky made them over and over againand was easily the best player on the ice wearing orange.
I thought Bobrovsky played really well, Sean ODonnell said. He made some big saves tonight on the PK. We took a lot of penalties early on, maybe four, five in the first two periods. And they were shooting them off the half walls and tips, and he was real big in the net, I thought.A lot of pucks were hitting him. You cant fault him tonight.
Playing in his first complete game since the playoff opener April 14 against Buffalo, Bobrovsky stopped 22 of the 25 shots sent in on him. The first and third goals he allowed occurred only because of defensive miscues. Milan Lucic was left alone on Bobrovskys doorstep for the first goal, and a turnover by Matt Carle led to the third.
Had the players in front of him mirrored their efforts from Game 2 of this series, the team could potentially have lived to play another day.
He played well, obviously, Claude Giroux said. He kept us in the game. He had some great saves. But like I said, its a team effort and I dont think we played the way we should have.
And now, theyll have a longer summer than hoped for to think that over.
The one takeaway from Fridays lossif you can call it thatis Bobrovsky stood up impressively well to a lot of pressure. The 28 wins he collected during his rookie year were more than Pelle Lindbergh and Bernie Parent had in theirs, combined. Adding that to his credible performances in pieces of six playoff games could mean good things for the 22-year-olds NHL future.
It could mean good things for the Flyers postseason future, as well.
He played great, Scott Hartnell said. He made a lot of first saves, he played hard, hes going to be a great goalie in this league, and were excited about the future with him.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com
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