price is a little too high for me with detroit,
but sure is a tough spot for philly today...
4th game in 6 days off 2 hard games vs ottawa and boston yesterday....
====
BOSTON - When the Flyers began their three-game road trip on Thursday, their goal was simply to accrue some points with a patched-up lineup.
They got their second point in two games yesterday, but faces hung low like wet sweaters because they lost, 3-2, to the Boston Bruins at the FleetCenter in overtime.
The Flyers are missing their top two centers, Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau, and their best defenseman, Eric Desjardins, to injuries. So any point against a quality team is good until they return. Right?
"You can't look at it like that," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Any team waiting for the cavalry to show up is making a huge mistake. You get to the playoffs and lose three guys, you still have to win the series."
A costly turnover ruined Robert Esche's first game back from a knee injury.
Glen Murray scored at 1 minute, 21 seconds of overtime to win it. Flyers defenseman Mattias Timander, under pressure from big Bruins center Joe Thornton, tossed a tough backhander around the boards for Mark Recchi to handle. Recchi couldn't.
"It just rolled to me in the slot," Murray said.
Murray fired a hard shot from 20 feet off Esche's glove hand, and the puck trickled in. Two of Boston's goals were plays Esche normally would have handled easily.
But having been sidelined for nearly a month rehabbing his left knee, Esche was rusty.
"He was OK," Hitchcock said of his starting goalie. "A few weeks from now and he would have had that third goal."
Esche agreed. He said his knee felt good, but he wasn't as sharp as he needed to be.
"I got a piece of the third goal. It hit the bottom of my glove," he said. "I'm not happy about it. I felt I played some of the pucks really poorly."
Making his first start since Feb. 2 against Tampa Bay, Esche played reasonably well, making 29 saves, as the Flyers were outshot for the ninth time in 10 games.
Recchi was handcuffed on Timander's pass.
"I tried to hold it there, and it spun off my stick," he said. "I have to hold it there or keep it on the wall."
Overall, the Flyers played a better game than they did in the 1-1 tie against the Senators on Thursday. The Flyers have 84 points, two more than Boston in the tight Eastern Conference race.
"We would have liked to have two points, but any point right now keeps us up on New Jersey," Recchi said.
Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft weathered a first-period storm that kept Boston in the game.
The Zeus Line - John LeClair, Michal Handzus and Recchi - was all over the 23-year-old goalie in that period, and the Flyers had 12 shots, five by that line. Raycroft robbed LeClair and Handzus on consecutive shots early and kept the game scoreless until the final three minutes of the period, when the Flyers put their league-leading power play on the ice.
It was a short five-on-three power play. With Mike Knuble coming out of the box to give Boston one man back, defenseman Kim Johnsson did a nice job of taking a LeClair pass and moving the puck laterally across the blue line, then dropping it off to Recchi.
Recchi skated to the top of the right circle and shot off Bruins defenseman Shaone Morrisonn for his 23d goal and a 1-0 lead. Recchi, incidentally, took a vicious hit from ex-Flyer Dan McGillis that period that knocked him and linesman Kevin Collins backward off their skates.
McGillis also had an impact elsewhere, collecting two assists.
The Flyers have been outplayed in the second period for several games now, and yesterday was no different. Boston tied it at 6:48 on Andy Hilbert's goal.
McGillis gave Craig MacDonald a nice outlet pass, and the center sped up the right side. Esche made a pad stop on MacDonald from the right circle, but the rebound ricocheted into the high slot. Hilbert had the entire left side of the net to shoot at.
McGillis also set up the tie-breaking goal in the third period. He shot the puck from the right point on the first shift of the period. Ted Donato raced to the net and deflected the puck downward for a 2-1 Bruins advantage.
"It trickled though me," Esche said. "I'm not happy with any of the goals."
That one came 14 seconds into the period. Alexei Zhamnov nearly got it back minutes later when he had Raycroft beaten in front and fired the puck over the net.
At 8:45, Zhamnov got a second chance and made the most of it. Circling wide to between the circles, Zhamnov wristed a fluttering shot that Raycroft never saw through a screen to tie the game.
The Flyers have lost six times in overtime this season. That's another reason why they weren't happy.
but sure is a tough spot for philly today...
4th game in 6 days off 2 hard games vs ottawa and boston yesterday....
====
BOSTON - When the Flyers began their three-game road trip on Thursday, their goal was simply to accrue some points with a patched-up lineup.
They got their second point in two games yesterday, but faces hung low like wet sweaters because they lost, 3-2, to the Boston Bruins at the FleetCenter in overtime.
The Flyers are missing their top two centers, Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau, and their best defenseman, Eric Desjardins, to injuries. So any point against a quality team is good until they return. Right?
"You can't look at it like that," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Any team waiting for the cavalry to show up is making a huge mistake. You get to the playoffs and lose three guys, you still have to win the series."
A costly turnover ruined Robert Esche's first game back from a knee injury.
Glen Murray scored at 1 minute, 21 seconds of overtime to win it. Flyers defenseman Mattias Timander, under pressure from big Bruins center Joe Thornton, tossed a tough backhander around the boards for Mark Recchi to handle. Recchi couldn't.
"It just rolled to me in the slot," Murray said.
Murray fired a hard shot from 20 feet off Esche's glove hand, and the puck trickled in. Two of Boston's goals were plays Esche normally would have handled easily.
But having been sidelined for nearly a month rehabbing his left knee, Esche was rusty.
"He was OK," Hitchcock said of his starting goalie. "A few weeks from now and he would have had that third goal."
Esche agreed. He said his knee felt good, but he wasn't as sharp as he needed to be.
"I got a piece of the third goal. It hit the bottom of my glove," he said. "I'm not happy about it. I felt I played some of the pucks really poorly."
Making his first start since Feb. 2 against Tampa Bay, Esche played reasonably well, making 29 saves, as the Flyers were outshot for the ninth time in 10 games.
Recchi was handcuffed on Timander's pass.
"I tried to hold it there, and it spun off my stick," he said. "I have to hold it there or keep it on the wall."
Overall, the Flyers played a better game than they did in the 1-1 tie against the Senators on Thursday. The Flyers have 84 points, two more than Boston in the tight Eastern Conference race.
"We would have liked to have two points, but any point right now keeps us up on New Jersey," Recchi said.
Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft weathered a first-period storm that kept Boston in the game.
The Zeus Line - John LeClair, Michal Handzus and Recchi - was all over the 23-year-old goalie in that period, and the Flyers had 12 shots, five by that line. Raycroft robbed LeClair and Handzus on consecutive shots early and kept the game scoreless until the final three minutes of the period, when the Flyers put their league-leading power play on the ice.
It was a short five-on-three power play. With Mike Knuble coming out of the box to give Boston one man back, defenseman Kim Johnsson did a nice job of taking a LeClair pass and moving the puck laterally across the blue line, then dropping it off to Recchi.
Recchi skated to the top of the right circle and shot off Bruins defenseman Shaone Morrisonn for his 23d goal and a 1-0 lead. Recchi, incidentally, took a vicious hit from ex-Flyer Dan McGillis that period that knocked him and linesman Kevin Collins backward off their skates.
McGillis also had an impact elsewhere, collecting two assists.
The Flyers have been outplayed in the second period for several games now, and yesterday was no different. Boston tied it at 6:48 on Andy Hilbert's goal.
McGillis gave Craig MacDonald a nice outlet pass, and the center sped up the right side. Esche made a pad stop on MacDonald from the right circle, but the rebound ricocheted into the high slot. Hilbert had the entire left side of the net to shoot at.
McGillis also set up the tie-breaking goal in the third period. He shot the puck from the right point on the first shift of the period. Ted Donato raced to the net and deflected the puck downward for a 2-1 Bruins advantage.
"It trickled though me," Esche said. "I'm not happy with any of the goals."
That one came 14 seconds into the period. Alexei Zhamnov nearly got it back minutes later when he had Raycroft beaten in front and fired the puck over the net.
At 8:45, Zhamnov got a second chance and made the most of it. Circling wide to between the circles, Zhamnov wristed a fluttering shot that Raycroft never saw through a screen to tie the game.
The Flyers have lost six times in overtime this season. That's another reason why they weren't happy.
