What a game, what. a. game. The Flyers moved to 3-0-0 on the season, winning a run-and-gun with the Capitals in the home opener. After a careful and quiet first, the floodgates opened at both ends of the ice, with seven total goals in the second.
Mike Richards became the first Flyer to ever net a hat trick in a home opener, and all his goals came in the second period.
So too, did all four of Matt Carle's assists. Guess playing alongside Chris Pronger has its advantages? The Caps were far from quiet, in that period and the game overall, led by—surprise—Alex Ovechkin, and also Alexandre Semin. By now you already know though, it wasn't enough. With just seconds before a shootout (god forbid), Danny Briere netted the OT winner, on his birthday no less.
It wasn't all rosey for the Flyers, but outlasting an offensive threat like the Caps is a good thing no matter what else happens. Here's a look at the rest of the game, including injury updates to James VanRiemsdyk and Blair Betts.
First, we're just getting word on the Flyer injuries. JVR came out of the game and needed help down the tunnel after a hit in the corner; Betts was tripped on a faceoff late in the game, fell awkwardly, and didn't return. Timmy P says that JVR may have a concussion, and Betts has a separated right shoulder. He'll likely miss at least a month. Both have been huge contributors so far, with JVR contributing offensively and Betts logging a ton of PK time. It's no coincidence that Richie has gotten off to a hot start; Betts' taking over as the top PK forward let Richie focus more on scoring.
Not to be overlooked in the Flyers win and goal explosion were that some awful turnovers by defensemen resulted in Ovie being all alone against Ray Emery. Ovechkin scored twice, as did Alex Semin, including an absolute undressing of Braydon Coburn. It looked bad for Coburn, but we have to keep in mind that Semin was moving with speed, and he put a real quick move on. Could have happened to any D-man in the league. The TOs, however, sucked. Even Pronger proved human, though he also made some gorgeous plays standing up Ovechkin.
The fans got a great show tonight, with hats on the ice and the opposing goalie getting chased from the crease. The Flyers scored three power-play goals, the Caps had one, and overall, there were too many calls in both direction. Quite a few were ticky-tack, which was annoying. These aren't teams that need man advantages to score.
Emery made some great saves, but he was left high and dry a few times, resulting in easy Caps goals. One weakness he had tonight that we hadn't seen much of in the first two games was giving up some big rebounds. Overall though, he was better than the five goals against would indicate.
Weird night in the +/- column. Only three Flyers—Simon Gagne, Mika Pyorala, and Matt Carle—were in the plus column. Half the the team's goals came on the PP, so it's not totally out of the ordinary. Just interesting that Gags was in the plus. On many plays, he looked terrible tonight.
A few more notes from the box score: Richie also led the team in hits with four, and the Flyers outhit the Caps 21-11. The Caps led in faceoff wins, but again, Richards had a great night there too, winning 14/20 draws. Pronger and Coburn led the team in ice time, each with over 27 minutes. Pronger continued to see a ton of time in all situations—PK, PP, and even strength.
Another tough test comes in on Thursday. If the Flyers turn it over in their own zone like they did tonight, Crosby and Malkin won't miss either. Again though, it's tough to judge the turnovers too harshly. It was a fast-paced game, and the Caps forechecked aggressively at times. The only real downsides to the game were the injuries to JVR and Betts. Other than that, a brilliant start at home.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/10/tr...
