Bakanekimiwa

oh you pens fans... always looking for the easy way out.

Mason's younger and had a few more weeks rest right before the playoffs... I'm not worried about it. He's in a groove, he's probably chompin at the bit to get back out there. I was ready for gm7 to start immediately after gm6. lol.

The entire hockey world wants a Flyers/Pitt matchup. Except the Penguins.

period 2 and 3 were the Flyer's A game. I've been saying it all along, we haven't seen much of their A game this series. That also might have been the Rangers first time showing their C game this series. Good combo for us! Tonight.. it's hard to know what to expect. I mean, I want to think we have all the momentum, but yah... I think we'd all feel a lot better if this was a home game. I'm sure the Rangers are really gonna bring it 1st period, so we'll have to weather that storm. Last night was just wild, though. It almost looked as if the Flyer's finally figured something out about the Ranger's 'system'. I'm pretty optimistic for tonight.

Couldn't agree more... I'm preparing myself for a step back as early as next season. But, I'll be ok with it to see some of young blood come up on D.

This is what i'm having trouble with... If they are gonna key in on G and shut him down... well, we're supposed to have some depth that can give them problems with that strategy. It has not played out that way. I'm not totally sure why either. I guess it's either that the Rags are that good defensive team... OR... we're just not executing. I suppose we should leave open the possibly that it's just both of those things. Still... Flyers should be playing better hockey than they are. I expect them to come out fighting tonight... it's pretty simple now, DO or Die. If they can't bring it tonight, well they don't deserve it anyway then.

I'm not sure it's time to give up on VLC already. It was not a good signing, I agree, but only in the sense that he never did really fit into our plans. It was just totally incongruent to bring him in and plan to play him on the wing when he's like... never done that.

Lol... I have done that. Actually, just today as well. It's hysterical.

it is hard to see the forest for the trees right now, but Rad makes a good point. These guys are mostly still very young. I think our core is pretty good and *should* get better with more experience. It's frustratingly slow... for us, but if the Flyers *really* wanna do something different.... they'll let them develop together. But, we're basically then saying that no one gets moved for upgrades on D. So we circle back again to our biggest problem right now.... the D. We're still haunted by the loss of Pronger and there's really no way to fix this fast.

The one intangible thing that this team has has been it's resiliency when their backs are against the wall. They're gonna need to rely on that tonight if they're gonna keep this going. Honestly, I don't believe they can win this series. Why am I gonna bother watching? Well, I also don't believe they can possibly win the cup this year... but, that's never stopped me watching the games before!

Everything works fine when you're winning. However, the Rangers did dress J.T. Miller.

It could be long past time, but my point is... nothing else seems to be working. They are laying down and dying a slow death right now. They say the effort was there in the 3rd period. Well, if that's true, then everyone should be much more concerned cause I certainly didn't see it. Well, not until the goalie was pulled anyway. Waay too late at that point. I'm looking at this as a 7 game series. Whatever we 'think' we're giving up of value with sitting Hartnell or Vinny, it's my contention that we're not losing anything by trying out a rookie. In Hartnell's case, I really do think it's addition by subtraction with him right now. I'm just saying... from peewee on up, from time to time(even in the playoffs), the most effective way to 'motivate' a team is sometimes to sit someone who's been **** ting the bed. Players realize that they have to pull more weight than just their own. As an ex. Teemu Selanne's benching. Check out what he did on his return.

^THIS... exactly.

I agree... right now Hartnell IS garbage. He's not playing 'his' game. He's not really doing anything... well, except going offsides on line rushes and falling down while the puck goes the other way. At this point... addition by subtraction would be my plan. SIT Hartnell for gm6. Honestly, I'd like to sit Vinny too, but it's probably too much to sit 2 vets for a big game, in favor of rooks. But, pick one... sit them... send the msg. Guys need to step up and guys need to be held responsible. Sit a leader and guys will get the msg. Hartnell has been so bad that I think he's a safe candidate.

I agree... none of these guys is realistic. Especially Stasny. Stasny will get paid big bucks somewhere, if not the tight pocket Avs, he'll be testing the market and well paid for sure. IF that were to happen with the Flyers, I can only imagine the terms and the $$$, but I need NO imagination of the amount of b*tching that will be happening on this board.

murraycraven, on 28 Apr 2014 - 1:00 PM, said: I think the Rangers would expose the Rangers weakness and the Rangers would def come out of this in 7 games. But, they'd be beaten and bruised.

I see that we've already started a post-mortem thread here... but, I'll play along. I think we have a very solid core of good, talented, players. Their development seems slower than we'd like it... but, yah.. our kids are not the Avs kids. We had hoped they'd really step it up here this year, but that is most def NOT the case in this series thus far. Yet, I'm still reluctant to give up on any of them yet. They're still young enough that there's promise. So, it seems bleak, but a lot can change next year and I think our main focus, as always, should be to figure out something...anything... for our D. Again... no STILL, our D is the biggest problem with have. There's no easy answer to that either, unfortunately. D men are highly coveted. We could make a big trade, but that will possibly hurt our core Fwd group. We could bring up our prospects and hope for the best, but there really doesn't seem to be a clear cut answer here. Timo is pretty much done... GrossmanN is hitting the injury bug hard and we still don't really know what we have with Schenn. That's not even addressing the other 3, whom are NOT perfect. So we have hot probs on D and we're gonna need some luck... or *something*. Anyone?

It's message sending time. Sit a veteren leader. Oh, I dunno but hartnell comes to mind. Sit him, play another rookie. I don't even care who. Teeny selannes was a healthy scratch the other gm. That's how you send a msg.

I would have felt that way too.... earlier in the season. Gus was really making a lot of obvious mistakes out there toward the end of the season. I'm just talking about the eye test, I'm not looking at any numbers. But, He seemed to be a liability. He hasn't looked great since coming back from that sprained knee... at least from what I've seen.

John Gianetti(sp) is the worst. Thankfully they've limited his air time.

wow.. didn't realize their numbers were that bad. I still find it hard to really pinpoint any one or pair at this point. I mean, it's a fair argument to make, but i'm just disappointed in the team play overall. Collectively, they are playing their B, and at times, C game. We have only seen their A game for maybe like the 3rd period of gm2. That's all I can recall right now. It seems, to me, that the Rangers are playing their B game, but very consistently. Good news is that the Flyers have another gear they haven't really reached much in this series. Let's just hope they can shift to it before it's all over. For me, it's over if they lose tonight. THIS is THE game... they need it.

I don't totally dismiss Emery's experience in G1 and G2, but I do think it's been overstated by a few. I probably understated it more than I actually believe... for argument sake. As an aside... How much does it suck that we have to deal with the Rangers local broadcast for the entire series!? I really dislike that group... it's amazing how much just the play call can distort your perception of the game itself.

It's all B.S. I think Mason is still not 100%, but he's reached 'close enough'. I'm guessing that's why he was backing up. I don't blame Emery for any of this really. Do I think Mason would play better? yes i do. Do I think the series result would be the same.... most likely. Going forward, though, I'll go back to what should be considered fact... Mason is the better goalie and, Ipso facto, gives us a better chance to win. Anyone who says anything different is entering a grey area of logic that I like to call... 'wrong'. Aziz is easy to agitate and he starts leaving his comfort zone when he can't back up his ludicrous statements with numbers. He can't do that here because Mason's are obviously better. So, he resorts to basically making **** up. That's all well and good, it's a fan forum FCOL, so have at it. However, for a guy who likes to 'attack'(my opinion) posters with stats, numbers and other 'scientific' reasoning... well... to me turnabout is fair play.

I agree... I mean, he threw Akeson out there, I wouldn't have a problem seeing what the kid can do. He obviously thrives under pressure... I doubt they could ruin him with throwing him in at this stage.

Let's just switch him over to wing or something... what could possibly go wrong with playing out of his natural position?