The refs seemed determined to reward Rangers dives with power plays, but fortunately for the Flyers, the New York power play is a joke.
The Flyers won 4-2 at home on the strength of a great day by Marty Biron, who lately looks like the guy who stole a few games for them in the 2008 playoffs. At the other end of the ice, the Flyers current third line, which consists of Giroux, Asham, and Carcillo, led the scoring. Asham had two goals, both assisted by each linemate. Double-A is definitely making the best of his time on the third line while Danny Briere gets his skates back under him on the fourth line and PP units, and G continues to show that he'll be an elite playmaker.
Scott Hartnell also had a nice game, seemingly all over the ice and playing very well with the puck. Harts and Richards were the game's non-Asham scorers.
The Flyers pressured the puck well, blanketing the Rangers whenever they gained the zone. They still gave up 41 shots, but they had every reason to let a confident Biron sit back and own the game.
A particularly frustrating aspect of this game was seen in the two times Richie was called for penalties. Both were clean checks, but each ended with a Ranger diving onto the ice. Brandon Dubinsky was the first, taking an open ice check from Richie and falling to the ground, clutching a glove to his face and kneeling down, seemingly in pain. Richie was whistled for an elbow, despite clearly tucking his arm and leading with the shoulder. Next, he went shoulder to shoulder with Sean Avery, who threw himself into the boards—in another trajectory than Richards' hit would have naturally sent him—and Richie gets a boarding call. No dives were called for either play. It's admittedly tough on the refs to judge exactly what happened when the acting is as good as the Rangers' was today, but the NHL needs to crack down on the dives like they pledged to do years ago. Because as Al Morganti and Bill Clement pointed out between periods, we'd rather see the flops removed from the game and not the clean, physical play of guys like Mike Richards. Either way, the Flyers didn't mope or whine. They just went out and killed the penalties. Diving may draw the penalties, but it shows what the Rangers lack right now, and why they're a borderline playoff team with a month left to play.
The only other blight in this game was that Rockin' Riles got beat up by Colton Orr. He held his ground despite getting pummelled, but he clearly lost the bout. We were hoping for Avery vs. Carcillo, and maybe we'll see that tomorrow.
Great game by the Orange & Black, who are now six points up on the Rangers in the standings with two games in hand. Hopefully we'll get another one tomorrow, and the Rangers come to play and not just dive onto the ice like a bunch of pansies.
Highlights on the way.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/03/ro...
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January 26, 2008
