OH1FlyersFan

.....wish he had sucked tonight.

He did okay tonight. One soft goal - the one that squeezed through between his arm and body, but considering the three breakaways he had to stop plus all of the other great saves he made, we should cut him some slack. He looked sharp. The score could easily have been 7 or 8 - 0, probably higher if Bryz had been in the net. The defense on the other hand, was pretty much non-existent against a team tied for last place in the Eastern Conference. So was the offense, for that matter. Way too many turnovers. Bob gave us a chance, the rest of the team left him hanging this time. We've got a rough weekend coming up. New Jersey, Boston, Florida. This is going to be brutal. And then way too much time off between Florida and Winnipeg. We won't be up for that game and the Jets have had our number this season. I'd be happy if we stole two out of the next four games.

I don't have to post anything now, because you summed up perfectly exactly what I was thinking. I'll just go with - what he said!

I agree and have zero confidence that Bryz is going to be the one to rise to the occasion. The more I watch, the more he just looks lost. Doesn't seem to know where the puck is going to be or going to go or has gone. His positioning is way off. He's always looking around, behind him, left to right, he seems totally unfocused. Bob looks lasered in and gives the impression of confidence and control.

This is a quote from my wife, who is only a very casual follower of the game and humors my obsession with the Flyers. Just finished watching the game from last night on DVR. It was her observation of Bryz's game compared to what she's seen from Bob. I know it's totally uniformed -- heck, she only knows the guys by the "expensive goalie" and the "cheaper goalie" -- and she's definitely not an "expert" on the game, but I thought her innocent impression was fascinating. I have a hard time disagreeing with her.

Great minds think alike!!

Bryz is our backup, isn't he?? I think this creates a hole at the number 1 position.

That's how it works here in Ohio too. I got the game on Center Ice last night, though it was just one feed - I got JJ and company. Most of the time they have both the home and away. Edit - it's also the case that the Columbus Blue Jacket games are blacked out on Center Ice. I normally just watch them on Fox Sports Ohio. Though I do seem to recall seeing the Jackets on Center Ice - it may have been the away feed.

Send him to the Blue Jackets. They are desperate for a number 1 goal tender. They can blow up the team, dump some salary, and do us a huge favor.

I came across this in Yahoo Sports today. Thought it was pretty telling. "G Sergei Bobrovsky's penalty shot save was the first of his career. He had been 0-for-3 on penalty shots. Bobrovsky has been in the net for the last four Flyers penalty shots against. It was the first saved penalty shot by any Flyers goaltender since Martin Biron stopped Tampa Bay's Ryan Malone on Dec. 2, 2008—opponents had scored on five consecutive penalty shots since then. Before that five-shot streak for shooters, Flyers goaltenders had stopped 14 of 15 penalty shots from 1998 to 2008." Here's the link to the full story: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/phi/report#notes_quotes Ah, the good old days. But all credit to Bob last night. He was amazing.

And wait until the opposition goaltending tightens up in the playoffs. If we're still as leaky as we are in goal and we can't put pucks in the back of the net, it's going to be a very short ride for us.

I actually don't have a problem with that, with being agressive and not going into defensive mode, as long as they can score, or keep scoring. But you're right -- to keep pressing on offense, but not score any goals of our own, and then to give up goals against because we haven't clamped down defensively -- that is killing us. Play agressive but score some freaking goals! You'd think 4 would be enough though. They need to be in the 5-7 goal range to win apparently. Ha.

Definitely exciting. Love watching that 4th line. Our rookies are amazing. But my heart can barely take it and the disappointment at the end is overwhelming!

We got a great deal on these two trades. And we're going to need all the scoring we can get if 4 goals isn't enough to get us a "W".

A Guide to playing defense in the NHL By the Philadelphia Flyers Saves I made By Ilya Bryzgalov

I've mentioned this several times too. I don't know what it is. I'd like to pin it on Bryz, but the defense leaves him high and dry sometimes. Not all the time. The offense is capable of scoring, but also struggles. You'd think 4 goals would be enough to win you a game. I'm not really comfortable with any Flyers lead unless they have 5 or 6 goals on the board.....and even then I still get butterflies. It is ridiculous. The 3rd period was an epic collapse. The other thing I see is that whatever team we're playing, its goaltender just always seems to stand on his head making amazing saves. It seems like no matter who the opponent is, the goaltending is ridiculously awesome. The opponents goaltending seems to rise to the occassion and we struggle.

Talk about BS! Sounds like indentured servitude! The League really does own these guys. Huh.

It's got to help his confidence, even if they were served up on a platter. This could provide the spark for him to put those 10 games together. And since we apparently need 4+ goals a game to win, I'm all for that! Hehe.

I'll split the difference. I acknowledged the defense had it's lapses, so totally agree with you there. That said, Bryz had a perfect line of site and time on that 4th goal. It was a great shot, but he had time to get himself in a position to make the save. He needs to make those saves. I just can't put all of those 4 goals on the D around him tonight.

Agreed, Spin.

Z looked really good tonight too. Nice problem to have -- trying to decide which young, well-playing forward to sit or send down. All these guys are only going to get better. We're going to have a decent team in a couple of seasons. Hopefully next season. Need some work on "d".

I know the defense had a couple of lapses there at the end, but can Bryz stop nothing??? When you can see the guy setting up to shoot, you should have a pretty decent chance to stop the puck. There was no deflection, no traffic. That Seabrook shot looked really weak too.

Interesting article. I don't think it's time to panic - but maybe get a little nervous. In an earlier post I had said something like we don't win unless we score 5 or 6 goals. I'm glad somebody actually did the research to loo at our record and pin it at 3 goals. It just FEELS like we need 5 or 6.

That's true. I've just never heard of the League firing a coach. I can understand the fine (because there are rules, etc.) as much as I may not like it, but I didn't think they could interfere like that with the hiring and firing of staff or had that much control over the indivdual hockey operation. I wonder if Torts could claim "whistle-blower" status and seek protection for disclosing this "conspiracy" were he to be fired. Ha.

That rant was about as good as mine! Well done. I still think his comments were refreshing. I agree he went a little over the top - and I think he admitted that he did too, that what he said was tongue in cheek. Besides, everyone knows the only conspiracy in the League involving officials is the one being perpetrated against the Flyers. So Torts was way off on that one. It's just too bad you have to be on Versus to call a spade a spade. The officiating was bad. Luckily, I as a fan, can actually voice that opinion.....for now. Who knows, maybe Bettman and Campbell will find a way to fine me too. Ha.