They have talked about clearing the crease and making it easier for their goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to see the puck.
Over the last several games, weve seen some terrific, individual crease battles involving the Flyers defense.
Under the new rules, that kind of stuff isnt supposed to happen, but to the officials' credit its happening on both sides of the ice without penalties.
Old-time defensive hockey is back and during the final minute of play against Detroit on Tuesday night, it was in full regale as Nicklas Grossmann went toe-to-toe with Detroits Johan Franzen, clearing the crease and burying him and Bryz into the net without a call.
The Flyers won, 3-2.
Last minute of the game, if you get a penalty it doesnt really matter, you got to battle for position, Grossmann said. If he is there first, you got to push him away.
Take your ground back. Especially that last minute. They were pushing and we wanted to control the lead and clear the ice in front of Bryz so he can see everything.
NHL
Credit to them, they pushed good, but Bryz had a great game for us, putting it together back there making saves for us. Thats where it startshim at the net and then up to the defense.
Flyers forward Max Talbot said he likes the fact the officials are allowing individual battles at the net both ways without one team being placed at a disadvantage.
The last two games, I think the refs have been letting us play and you feel like the playoffs are coming around the corner, Talbot said.
I speak for myself. I don't mind it. As long as it's fair for both sides, maybe they're going to let a couple things go, but it's hockey.
Tonight it was a playoff atmosphere a little bit. the crowd was loud and i think for us to finish a game like this protecting a lead in the last minute against a team like Detroit is huge for our confidence down the road.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net