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Bluejackets On Saturday


Guest OH1FlyersFan

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Tough loss tonight. I hate these shootouts. Looks to me like the Flyers are playing in fits and starts. We need a solid, consistent game. Good thing, maybe it's a good thing, we have the Bluejackets coming in to town for the next game on Saturday. I watched both games tonight - Flyers and Jackets. Watched the post game interviews with the Jackets. They are an extremely down and demoralized team. We let a game slip away tonight. I think we can get it back Saturday. Right game at the right time to rebound. We'll be the hungrier of the two teams for sure. This could be the game we need to get our legs back under us. But then I thought the same thing against Winnipeg.......

Love the new forum more and more!

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I see the very real possibility of Saturday's game being closer than it needs to be. No matter how down a team is, if you're making bad decisions in your end you're going to get beat. And there have been some horrible decisions made by veterans who should know better.

Too bad Carts won't be there to get his (ahem) welcome back to Philly! I have a feeling he wouldn't be as well received as Richards was a few weeks ago

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I thought it was a pretty solid game against NJ without Pronger, JVR and Read. I am a bit worried too about the CBJ game but that is probably based on last years team, lets see how this new team responds.

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I think this game will be tough as the Jackets are down but the Flyers have shown an infuriating tendency to play down to the level of their competition.

They faced a team that was down in the Devils last night and my keys to the game were to get an early lead on them and take away their will. Well they did that but again, horrible defensive zone play allowed them to get back in it.

I agree with some others about Carter's reception. I don't think he would have been received nearly as warmly as Richards.

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I totally agree. We can't take this game for granted. Look what happened to Detroit - they went to Columbus and ended up losing 4-1 to a floundering Jackets team a few weeks ago. And we do often seem to rise to the level of our opposition - which in this case isn't that high. The Flyers do have a tendency to come out real lazy. On the other hand, if they stay focused and limit bad mistakes we have a great opportunity here to pick up 2 points.

Thought this was interesting. From our local newspaper --

--Forward Derick Brassard said he planned to eat dinner with former linemate and current Flyer Jakub Voracek tonight in Philadelphia. “There is a good chance he is going to buy,” Brassard said.

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Tough loss tonight. I hate these shootouts. Looks to me like the Flyers are playing in fits and starts. We need a solid, consistent game. Good thing, maybe it's a good thing, we have the Bluejackets coming in to town for the next game on Saturday. I watched both games tonight - Flyers and Jackets. Watched the post game interviews with the Jackets. They are an extremely down and demoralized team. We let a game slip away tonight. I think we can get it back Saturday. Right game at the right time to rebound. We'll be the hungrier of the two teams for sure. This could be the game we need to get our legs back under us. But then I thought the same thing against Winnipeg.......

Love the new forum more and more!

Columbus suck so bad they're considering bringing hitch back in to finish his deal. anemic offense, pourous defense and horrible goaltending. they've really got it all.

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Surprising how bad Columbus is actually! I barely have enough time to follow the flyers so I will not claim to know a lot about the BlueJackets but man....Nash, Carter, Umberger.....these guys can't put a couple wins together!!??

Speaking of Umberger.....I know a lot of folks were sad to see him go as he was showing some real potential with us a few years back.....whats his story now? Seems to have fallen through the cracks of the NHL....Maybe Columbus is were you go to watch your career die.....OUCH. Might be a GREAT fit for Carter if that's the case.....cuz with that re-occurring foot issue (can someone say Forsberg) and his soft as cotton play and ability to shoot wide left 90% of the time.....well....you get the picture....

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I think this game will be tough as the Jackets are down but the Flyers have shown an infuriating tendency to play down to the level of their competition.

They faced a team that was down in the Devils last night and my keys to the game were to get an early lead on them and take away their will. Well they did that but again, horrible defensive zone play allowed them to get back in it.

I agree with some others about Carter's reception. I don't think he would have been received nearly as warmly as Richards.

how many games have we seen they take control of the first and then go into prevent and some players forget how to pass a puck. its frustrating

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im not gonna call it a lock down loss...but as many have mentioned before me...the Flyers always play down to the competition. Look what happen vs. MTL a few games ago. MTL had a healthy losing streak going and the Flyers allowed them to put a 5 spot on us. Same with Winnipeg. That team does not exactly strike fear in me and look what happend.

Hopefully JVR is out of Lavy's doghouse and gives it a full effort. Plus if Wellwood did get called up...I love the kids energy.

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Too bad Carts won't be there to get his (ahem) welcome back to Philly! I have a feeling he wouldn't be as well received as Richards was a few weeks ago

He traveled with the team today just in time to check out his stomping grounds. Will be at the game, just not on the ice.

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He traveled with the team today just in time to check out his stomping grounds. Will be at the game, just not on the ice.

How badly does he miss Philly!? Gotta sting being on Columbus right now. He might be justified in a prima donna move by demanding a trade before his long term deal kicks in.

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4-2 Flyers. Voracek gets 2 goals, Couturier has an assist and great PK time.

Meanwhile, Carter is banging some OSU chicks.

don't forget the beer!

if he attends the game ..he might have to go incognito or else he might gt lynched :)

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From Meltzer

UPDATE 12:15 PM EDT

Andreas Nodl is also out of the Flyers' tonight with a lower-body injury. Assuming JVR is out, that means Wellwood, Harry Z and Jody Shelley are all in lineup.

Playing for the third time in four nights, the Flyers (7-4-2) close out the home-heavy portion of their early season schedule tonight when they take on the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets (2-10-1) at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7 PM and will be broadcast locally on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia and in the Columbus area on Fox Sports Ohio.

In reality, however, Philadelphia has faced clubs -- Montreal and Winnipeg -- that were struggling just as badly entering the game. The results were not pretty. The Flyers need to guard against a letdown tonight on the heels of blowing leads of 2-0 and 3-2 in a shootout loss to New Jersey on Thursday.

Energy management is absolutely critical tonight for Philadelphia. Apart from the fact that this is the third game in four nights, the Flyers' top line (especially Claude Giroux) as well as defenseman Kimmo Timonen have been logging massive ice time of late. For the most part, Philly has been an excellent first period team and a decent third period one, but they have often run into trouble in the middle period.

Tonight's game is an important one for Flyers' forward Jakub Voracek. It is his first one against his former team. It would do him a world of good psychologically if he can break out of an offensive dry spell (0 goals, 3 assists in his last 10 games) on a night where his team may need a jolt of energy.

Voracek's center, Danny Briere, was out of sorts in his return to the lineup on Thursday, but has generally enjoyed good success (11 points in 12 career games) against the Blue Jackets. Meanwhile, Wayne Simmonds has been pressing offensively of late (0 points in last 6 games, 0 goals in last 8) and is also in need of a breakout game.

The Flyers top line of Giroux, Jaromir Jagr and Scott Hartnell has been on a roll of late. But they will definitely need more support from other lines, and Max Talbot (penalty shot goal last games, 2 goals in last three games) and Zac Rinaldo (scored first NHL goal last game) won't be the ones to provide it too often.

On the injury front, James van Riemsdyk (hip and groin issues, day-to-day) was a late scratch on Thursday and appears unlikely to be ready tonight. The team will also be without Matt Read (upper body injury, day-to-day) and Brayden Schenn (IR, broken foot). Top defenseman Chris Pronger (eye) has been cleared to resume practicing with the team, but will not be ready to play tonight.

Defensively, the Flyers need other players apart from Timonen to step up prior to Hartnell's return. The trio of Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle have struggled in recent games. Erik Gustafsson is a rookie. Andreas Lilja is adequate as a sixth or seventh defenseman but gets exposed if he plays too many minutes or if the game is too wide open. In goal, Ilya Bryzgalov returns to the net tonight. He has played very well in his last two starts.

In terms of special teams, tonight's game represents a golden opportunity -- at least on paper -- for the Flyers to get their struggling power play back on track. Philly has gone 1-for-22 on the power play since losing Pronger, and has fallen to 19 percent on the season after connecting at nearly 30 percent prior to Pronger's injury. Columbus's penalty kill has been a mess so far this season, killing off just 72.7 percent of their manpower disadvantages so far this season.

On the other end of special teams, the Flyers' PK has been quite good over the last three games, and the team has brought its season percentage back up to 83.9 percent after it had fallen to 80 percent last week. Columbus has scuffled on the power play, connecting on fewer than one of out of every 10 (9.5 percent) opportunities.

Even without Carter available for the Blue Jackets tonight, the club still has a couple of former Flyers who typically get up to play against their old team. Columbus' leading scorer, Vaclav Prospal, has recorded 15 career goals and 32 points in 45 games against the team where he got his start and also spent a brief stint as a trade deadline rental in 2008. Much of the damage (10 G, 25 PTS) has come in the last 6 season.

Meanwhile, R.J. Umberger has struggled so far this season, with just one goal and five points on the season. However, he has two goals and three points in the three games he's played since the Flyers dealt him to the Blue Jackets.

Columbus' best player, Rick Nash, has scored a pair of goals and three assists in six career games against the Flyers. He enters tonight's game with one goal and two points over the Jackets' most recent five games.

Starting goalie Steve Mason has not played well this season. However, he has yet to give up a single goal against the Flyers in his career. The 23-year-old netminder has made two appearances -- one a start and the other a 10-minute relief appearance -- and stopped all 27 shots he's faced from Flyers' shooters.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

Flyers

Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr

Voracek - Briere - Simmonds

Nodl - Talbot - Wellwood

Shelley/Zonierczyk - Couturier - Rinaldo

Timonen - Coburn

Carle - Gustafsson

Lilja - Meszaros

Bryzgalov

(Bob)

BLUE JACKETS

Prospal - Brassard - Nash

Calvert - Vermette - Johansen

Umberger - MacKenzie - Giroux

Bass - Pahlsson - Dorsett

Tyutin - Wisniewski

Russell - Methot

Johnson - Moore

Mason

(york)

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