Postgame: Flyers at Panthers

Well, I was wrong.

The Flyers just looked disinterested for good portions of the game.  That’s never a good thing.  I know that some people have been calling for the firing of John Stevens because of lack of emotion from the team, but shouldn’t the players be banging away on their own?

The Flyers did turn it on for the second half of the third period, but by then the Panthers had already effectively sealed off the middle of the ice in front of the net.  The Flyers had sustained pressure, like they did at points earlier in the game, but they just couldn’t really get the good scoring chances.  Earlier in the game, the Flyers had chances to score, but they hit a few points and otherwise came up short.

The injury to Ryan Parent didn’t help either.  He missed the final two periods of the game.  Danny Syvret usually doesn’t get much time on the ice, and he wasn’t really used all that much after Parent’s injury.  Maybe giving him (and Ole Tollefsen if Parent missed some time) more ice time will help spell the top 4 and give them some rest.

I predicted that the layoff would help the Flyers, but after watching the game, I think it did just the opposite.  I’m not making excuses for them, but when you don’t play hockey at the game’s pace for awhile, you lose your chops.  And now they have to wait until Thursday to play another game.  Got to work hard for the week until that game, boys.

There were some positives in the game, however.  Emery made some big saves to keep his team in the game.  The Flyers also did a pretty good job of staying out of the box, only being shorthanded three times, but Pronger’s slashing penalty was completely unnecessary.  And whaddayaknow, 9 seconds into the power play, the Panthers scored.  Giroux lighting up the lamp for the first time this year was also a good thing, rifling a nice shot off a feed from Simon Gagne.  And back from injury, James van Riemsdyk made an excellent play lifting the stick of a Panther and sliding the puck over to Arron Asham who then backhanded it high into the net.  And finally, Braydon Coburn played better than he has over the last few games, breaking up some dangerous-looking plays for the Panthers.

I can handle loses when the Flyers play hard for 60 minutes and the other team is just able to scratch out a win.  But I don’t like seeing efforts, or lack there of, like I saw tonight.  Maybe it’ll be a wakeup call for the team, I hope it is.