Flyers Blank Devils

Last night was a great all around victory for the Flyers.  Not only did they get the win as a team, but individuals had some standout performances as well.  Ilya Bryzgalov posted yet another shutout, Danny Briere snapped his scoreless streak, and Jakub Voracek scored in his first game back.

I was acutally at the game with one of my buddies who is a Devils fan and I got to celebrate while his team failed to even score.  It was a great game to to watch in person but it didn't look too promising to start out as the Devils got a lot of early chances.  The Devils had two power plays in the first but failed to cash in on either as the Flyers provided Bryz with some excellent defense in front.  The first period ended scoreless, and both teams were pretty much equal in their shot attempts.

The Flyers came out with a ton of energy in the second period.  The added energy and intensity eventually paid off as Sean Couturier scored on a play in front to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead mid way through the period.  Early in the third the Flyers struck again, this time thanks to Voracek who scored on a backhand.  And with a somewhat questionable decision to pull the goalie with 5 minutes remaining in the game, Danny Briere scored an empty netter to seal the 3-0 victory for the Flyers.  In Devils' coach Peter DeBoer's defense, it was 2-0 at the time and the Devils really hadn't been able to solve Bryz all night.  At the time Brodeur was pulled it was 4 on 4 with players from each team in the box.  DeBoer was trying to spark his team and just trying to get something going.  In the end it didn't pay off and the Flyers were able to cruise to an easy victory.

Although Bryzgalov only faced 17 shots, the story of the game for me is still the hot play of Bryzgalov.  Last night was Bryz's third straight shutout and his 5th in his last 7 games.  And this stat is astounding: Bryzgalov has allowed just 5 goals since February 28th.  5 goals over 7 games is good for an incredible 0.71 GAA.  I think that Bryz learned early on in the season that when you play bad in this city, we the fans will let you know it.  But now Bryzgalov is beginning to understand that on the other end of that mentality is that when you play awesome, we absolutely love you.  I think Bryz is beginning to settle in nicely as the goalie of this team, and just in time for the playoffs.

There are rumors going around that apparently Holmgren was mulling around the notion of trading for a goalie.  But those days of Bryzgalov's frustrating struggles seem so long ago, and he is looking more and more like the goalie everyone had hoped for.

A big reason Bryz had such an easy time last night was the defense in front of him.  Timmonen returned from injury and played well, Grossman played physical and blocked shots, and everyone on the defense did their part to not give the Devils any quality chances.  The Flyers also did an exceptional job on the penalty kill.  And give credit to the Flyers offense as well.  They had to be pretty frustrated after that scoreless first period, but they stuck with it and eventually solved Marty on three occasions.

The Flyers next game will be on Thursday when they travel to New York to take on the Islanders.  Hopefully they can continue to ride the hot play of Bryzgavlov and continue to rise in the standings.