Sunday, February 20, 2011
Posted: 3:05 p.m.Updated: 4:53 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
NEW YORK -- It was as gutsy an effort as youre going to see from the Flyers this season.
Two minutes into the game, defenseman Sean ODonnell tweaked his left knee and was done.
Five minutes into the third period, Kimmo Timonen collided with Brian Boucher, leaving the goalie withering on the ice with a stinger.
But Boucher remained in the game and the Flyers went 58 minutes rotating five defensemen en route to a tense-yet-disciplined 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
We dont like to lose a defenseman early in the game, but when you have five defensemen who take 23-25 minutes, I dont think its that big a deal, said coach Peter Laviolette. The fact that we havent had to juggle a lot and theres been some stability.
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It was simply a gutsy effort, especially by Boucher, who wouldnt come out.
Bouchers injury seemed serious as he was flailing all over the crease.
I made the save to the right and I ran into somebody Timonen and my neck wrenched to the right, Boucher said. It was a stinger.
I couldnt feel my hand. My whole right arm was numb. My neck didnt hurt.The numbness is gone, but it still feels kind of weak. I didnt feel as good as I did before, but you want to stay in there.
Its not a situation you want to put your partner in cold when theyre pressing. I felt good enough to go. I felt like it was my game. I started and I wanted to see it through.
Trainer Jim McCrossin held ODonnell out for precautionary reasons, and the rest of the defense had to suck it up. ODonnell tweaked his left knee colliding with the Rangers Mats Zuccarello.
It happened early on, so we prepared ourselves mentally for the rest of the game, Matt Carle said of ODonnells loss. We played well, managed our time and its nothing us five arent used to, playing those kind of minutes.
Laviolette had to change all three pairs.
When you know you have five, D guys arent jumping up into the play as much, Carle said. We focused on keeping our shifts short, especially, in the third, he said, the new on-ice pairings were a little difficult getting used to.
Did we mention Mike Richards played 17:03 despite some lingering flu effects?
A gutsy win for sure, Boucher said in behalf of his teammates.
Boucher had 37 saves, too.
Hes a warrior if you can call a goalie a warrior, said Dan Carcillo, who scored the game-winner. He had a great performance tonight.
General manager Paul Holmgren, who had some stingers in his day, was impressed that Boucher stayed in the game.
He wanted to stay in there, Holmgren said. He got hit in the headneck area, and it snaps you to one side creating a burning sensation down his right arm.
Soon after Bouchers injury, Derek Stepan made it a 3-2 game with an easy tap-in goal as Dan Girardi shot off the back boards took a weird bounce into the crease, past Boucher, right to Stepan.
That was all the Rangers would get.
Even harder to believe, but for just the third time in franchise history, the Flyers didnt take a single penalty in the game.
Were turning over a new leaf, ODonnell said.
Are the Flyers becoming pacifists?
Winningfists, ODonnell replied, laughing. Philly has done a good job getting the reputation it has but staying out of the box isnt gonna happen overnight, too. This isnt the exact same team as some of those Broad Street Bullies teams.
Were a little more up-tempo with certainly talent up front. This is a Ranger team struggling for goals and to keep them off the power play is a real good move by the guys.
It was a pretty clean and brisk opening period except for ODonnells collision with Zuccarello.
The Rangers struck first at 12:43 on Wojtek Wolskis follow up shot in the crease after Boucher had made the initial stop on Zuccarello. The puck got lost in there with Michael Sauer hitting the goal post and Wolski following up for a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal.
Jeff Carter tied it four minutes later with a tip-in off Claude Girouxs shot, although the puck appeared to hit Scott Hartnell on its way into the net. Thats 27 goals for Carter now and his first in five games.
Boucher had a couple of very good saves in the middle period. Early on, Richards turned the puck over and Boucher stopped Stepans shot in the slot.
Boucher had another save of Artem Anismov midway into the period off a tricky backhander to force a stoppage.
A bad boarding by Wolski on Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros, set up a power play goal from Claude Giroux at 12:52 to give the Flyers their first lead of the day, 2-1.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made a terrific save on Carter at the left post. Carter backhanded the rebound into the slot for Giroux and he snapped it over Lundqvist for his 20th goal and first in nine games.
Carter and Danny Briere are the only other 20-goal or more players on the club right now.
Its not often that Carcillo gets a goal, but like Giroux, got his first marker in nine games at 16:26 to give the Flyers a 3-1 cushion.
Carcillo took a follow-up from Braydon Coburn in the slot, wheeled around and fired a blind backhander on net that beat Lundqvist through the five-hole. It was his fourth goal this season.
Nice goal. You had to think Lundqvist wasnt expecting a backhander from Carcillo.
I tried to get my stick on the first shot that Cobie got through, got a rebound and just put it on net, Carcillo said.
No penalties in the game, too. Not even one from Carcillo.
We didnt have a penalty? Wow, Carcillo replied. Thats impressive. I dont really notice that stuff. Thats a little out of the ordinary. We kept it clean for Hockey Day in America, I guess.
Related: Flyers Notes: O'Donnell expects to play TuesdayBuy Flyers gear
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net