Goalie Problems Continue As Flyers Fall To Pens

Coming off a big 7-2 victory on Thursday, the Flyers came into today's game against the Penguins desperate for a victory once again.

The Penguins scored first thanks to a break away goal from Matt Cooke.  The Penguins led for most of the first until Jaromir Jagr exploded for two goals at the tail end of the period.  Jagr grabbed hold of the puck at center ice, skated into the slot and wristed one past Marc-Andre Fleury for his first goal.  For his second tally, the Flyers were on the power play and Jagr again beat Fleury with the wrist shot, this time sailing the puck past his left shoulder.

For much of the second, neither team could find the back of the net.  But toward the later part of the period, the Penguins cashed in on two goals to take the lead and chase Ilya Bryzgalov from the game.  The Flyers quickly responded with Eric Wellwood's first career NHL goal.  Going into the third the game was tied at 3.

In the third, the Penguins scored two quick goals against Bob to take a commanding 5-3 lead.  From there both teams tacked on another goal a piece and the game ended in a 6-4 Pittsburgh victory.

The big story of the game was the goaltending.  Ilya Bryzgalov gave up 3 incredibly soft goals.  The first goal he gave up came within the first few minutes on a break away.  Definitely a save he should have made but I'll give him that one.  The second goal came when the Flyers were on the power play.  It was a wrist shot that simply should have been stopped.  He wasn't screened or anything and he just missed it.  The third goal came when the Flyers had a two man advantage, and after surrendering the goal, Peter Laviolette had seen enough and removed him from the game.  It's becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate Bryzgalov.  Overall Bryzgalov continues to go through slumps in which he can look great one game and then look lost in the woods the next.

To make matters worse, the Flyers didn't have a hot Bobrovsky to go to in today's game.  Bob came in and allowed 3 goals in just one period of play.  The offense is not a concern at all at this point in the season.  Guys like Jagr, Giroux, and Simmonds continue to play well.  But the defense, namely the goalies, are a major problem.  The Flyers don't have a great defense, but the goalies can and should come up with some big saves every once and while.  These last few games, it seems like we would be better off with a cardboard cut-out in net.

But there were a few things that I did like about today's game.  First off Jaromir Jagr was spot on with his wrist shot.  His two quick goals gave the Flyers a ton of life and energy and it is good to see him continue to compete at a high level.  In addition, newcomer Nicklas Grossman looked pretty solid in his first game as a Flyer.  And in his first game back from his concussion injury, JVR created some great opportunities both for himself and his teammates.

But the Flyers can't win games if they can't stop the other team from putting the puck in the net; it's that simple.  Defense is already and needs to continue to be a top priority as the trade deadline approaches.