Ilya Bryzgalov: ‘I Have Zero Confidence in Myself Right Now'

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In the aftermath of the Flyers' 9-8 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Ilya Bryzgalov—who didn't even start the game—took full responsibility for his side not winning. Bryz was emotional, clearly upset with himself for failing to help his team complete a monumental comeback.

"I have zero confidence in myself right now ... I am terrible. I will now apologize in front of the fans, in front of my teammates. I don't know what's going on. I have no answer for you guys. I thought in the last game against Montreal, that nothing worse was going to happen. Today was worse."

When asked by Panotch whether the game was harder because of "the mess" in front of him, Bryz didn't take the bait this time.

"You know it doesn't matter. They try and play hard, everybody. Bottom line, I am the goalie. I am the guy that has to stop the puck and clean the mistakes behind them, but I couldn't stop the simple shot. That's why maybe players make more mistakes because they don't have confidence in their goalie. Because the goalie is bad. I am the reason why we lost the game tonight."

Gotta wonder if we ever see that tiger mask again...

On the one hand, the last thing you want to see is a visibly shaken goaltender (particularly one signed for 9 years). On the other, maybe Bryz needed to push off the bottom of the pool before coming back to the surface. The defense has been bad, and especially in the Jets loss, so was the goaltending. Jeff Reese has his hands full, but it's too early to be overly worried.

Here's video from the locker room, I believe shot and uploaded by Anthony San Filippo of the Delaware County Daily Times. Drop me a line if I have the video source wrong and I'll update it.

Photo by Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

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