Which is worse Bryz/Bob or the 'D' ?

[pensuck]

Yesterday Bob didn't have a chance with all the point blank shots.Today Bryz needed to make some big saves and didn't.

In both cases the defensive lapses are horrendous to say the least. If you go back and look at the 2 games Matt Carle is terrible.

He makes over 3 mil per year and will be looking for a raise? Kimmo is good defensively but he's not a #1 pp point man and getting old.

Gustafson looks smaller than Pelle Eklund. Bourdon is a rookie with some potential. Still waiting for Coburn to use his size.

I think Mez is our best all around dman right now . To go back to the question at hand. I still dont know, they both look terrible. If

I have to lean 1 way I say its the D. We rank near the top in goals for & goals against. That's not good at all. We have great young scoring talent but we need a top d man. Someting's gotta give.

Edited February 5, 2012 by pensuck

[OH1FlyersFan]

I think defensive turnovers are hurting us. But every turnover does not necessarily have to result in a goal if your goalies come up big.

It seems like with the Flyers, if there is a turnover in the defensive zone, then it's almost a guaranteed goal. Not every time, but quite often. I know the actual stats may prove something different, but that's how it feels.

We can't count on the goalies, or more specifically Bryz, to bail out the defense.

[radoran]

I think defensive turnovers are hurting us. But every turnover does not necessarily have to result in a goal if your goalies come up big.

It seems like with the Flyers, if there is a turnover in the defensive zone, then it's almost a guaranteed goal. Not every time, but quite often. I know the actual stats may prove something different, but that's how it feels.

We can't count on the goalies, or more specifically Bryz, to bail out the defense.

The defense was bailed out several times by the goalie, but when you give up 28 shots and 16 scoring chances in two periods, you're not playing good defense.

And then your goalie lets in two bone-crushing goals to top it off.

Lots of "blame" to go around. But you can't have those second and third goals go in. Just can't. Inexcusable.

[doom88]

Bryz.

[colorado_al]

Today the D made the goalie a non factor.... we have a weak, non physical defense... not at all flyers like.. someone needs to go and find some decent D mem who don't play like it's a "flag" game.

[OzFlyer]

Bryz was Extremely Good and Incredibly Bad all in the one game but you also have to keep in mind that we are playing three Rookies in place of Pronger, Brier and JVR.

Brier and hopefully JVR will be back soon so we don't have to play Renoldo, Sestito or Shelley all in the same game but we need to add something on the D and make the choice between MAB & Gus (who played nearly half the time as MAB)..

In reality Renoldo, Sestito, Shelley and Harry Z should be the spare pieces and not relied on on a nightly basis (or bloody afternoon game!).

[RonJeremy]

If you look at the Rangers defense, they dont really have any flashy "superstar" guys back there and they only have one guy who is an offensive threat, thats Del Zotto. What they do have is a collection of physical, defensively sound, tight checking defensemen, who smother our forwards and in the four games ,we rarely got the wide open shots that they did, and we barely got any second shots on Lundquist, its usually one and done.

Girardi and Stall, have all but shutdown our big scorers, and Lundquist is not going to give up any cheap goals,while our goalies do it constantly. In this last game their defenseman enabled the Rangers to score two goals due to an accurate point shot, timmo missed the net at least 4 times on wide open point shots. We have some smooth skating dmen, like Carle, Coburn, and Timmo, none of them have a real good point shot and only timmo is defensively sound, None are physical . Gustafsson is a midget and is getting manhndled, Bourdon is a rookie and is playing too many minutes. Lilja is a minor league stiff who should be released. We need to improve the defense ASAP, and good defensemen dont grow on trees. We are going to have to give up someone like JVR to get a good dmam, and then also get a free agent. Bourdon is the best dman in our system , the other guys in Adirondack are not NHL ready and not rated all that high

[doom88]

I think you guys are undervaluing Torts' system. He cares more about the back end than scoring, and with the best goalie in the league, creates a damn good combination. Torts also rotates his systems mid-game in all three zones - but specifically the neutral zone. I saw the Rags run the 1-3-1 a few times (proven Flyers kryptonite), and forecheck three at other times - forcing mistakes. The Rangers played aggressive and smart for the entire game, and its tough to beat any team who can execute that successfully.

[SoCalFlyfan]

I think you guys are undervaluing Torts' system. He cares more about the back end than scoring, and with the best goalie in the league, creates a damn good combination. Torts also rotates his systems mid-game in all three zones - but specifically the neutral zone. I saw the Rags run the 1-3-1 a few times (proven Flyers kryptonite), and forecheck three at other times - forcing mistakes. The Rangers played aggressive and smart for the entire game, and its tough to beat any team who can execute that successfully.

That's a 'dead on' perfect assesment of what they are doing right and what we are doing wrong.

I like Lavi, but his X's and O's approach is not the best fit for this team right now with the personnel we have.

[pensuck]

It looks like a good time to revisit this topic. The defense look's terrible right now.

[The Quigster]

Lavi is incapable of putting team on the ice once his model crumbles. Right now Bobbo looks pretty good,the team looks like(ho hum) except Simmonds who gives 100% every game. These guys need to pick up their energy level!