Flyers battle hard, but still lose

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The first star of the night could have gone to Flyers’ sophomore forward, James van Reimsdyk, who scored his team’s only two goals.   Instead, Bruins netminder, Tim Thomas stole the show and the game by stopping 52-of-54 shots faced, on his way to an overtime victory.   The Bruins are now up in the series 2-0.
After a miserable game one, on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers hit the Wells Fargo Center ice with plenty of jump.   It took only 29 seconds of the first period for them to pot their first goal.   It came off the stick of van Reimsdyk off of a fanned shot by Claude Giroux.   The goal was only the beginning of the young wingers’ night, as he’d pot his second at 9:31, on the power play, driving hard to the net.
Things were looking positive for the home team, as they held control and looked poised to score more.   But lapses in defense would cause havoc in their own zone.
Just over half-way through the first, veteran defenseman Sean O’Donnell, pinched in the Bruins zone and allowed a Bruins rush to breakout against his defensive partner, Andrej Meszaros, and forward Mike Richards, who was covering for him.   With players out of position, Bruins forward Chris Kelly slid in behind the defense, and pounded in his own rebound to get his team within one.
Less than two minutes later, Patrice Bergeron fed forward Brad Marchand in the slot for the Bruins second goal of the night, to make it 2-2.
Even with the score knotted, the Flyers looked in control.   They moved the puck well, closed up the defense, and made things difficult for the Bruins in the neutral zone.   All the while, van Reimsdyk put on a clinic against the Bruins D, and forced Thomas to make some brilliant saves.   The young winger was all over the ice, moving the puck from the left side, the right side, and firing wristers from the slot.   He played the body, skated hard, and never stopped until he heard the whistle.
The Flyers’ veteran netminder, Brian Boucher, had a strong night of his own, including a save on a Daniel Paille breakaway, while both teams were down a man.
A little more than half-way through the second period, Boucher stopped a rocket from the top of the circle from Johnny Boychuk.   The shot stunned his hand and he left for the remainder of the period, to be replaced by Russian rookie Sergei Bobrovsky, who hadn’t seen any action since being pulled in the first period of the second game in round one.   In the Flyers 2011 playoffs, this was the fourth goaltending change for the team, but only the first due to injury.
Bobrovsky came in and played well, stopping all 6 shots he faced to close out the second period.   And although he’d likely have played strong for the remainder of the game, Boucher was back to start the third and finish the game.
In the third, the Flyers dominated the ice, and looked to be the stronger of the two teams.   They shot from everywhere and had sustained pressure in the Bruins zone.   But they couldn’t capitalize on any shots fired, including a point blank shot from Danny Briere that Thomas saved just before the third period buzzer.
As the overtime period started, both teams played cautiously, but eventually, the Flyers regained their momentum and fired a barrage of shots on the Bruins goaltender.   They had great pressure, but couldn’t beat Thomas.
Nearing the end, a shot off of the Bruins’ stick rang off the pipe, but never went in.   And just a short while later, David Krejci, fired a shot so hard it went in and out quicker than the referee could see it.   The play carried on until an icing was called and it went to the war room in Toronto, where the shot would be deemed the game winning goal.
The Flyers are now in the hole, 2-0, and there’s no room for error.   They don’t have star defenseman, Chris Pronger, on the bench anymore, as he’s likely re-aggravated his hand injury.   He was replaced by Danny Syvret who’ll likely play out the rest of the series.
One of the biggest areas the Flyers improved upon was their physical play.   In game two, they led the Bruins in hits, 39-21.   They threw hits at every chance, in their own zone and the neutral zone.   But what changed the game the most was how physical they were in the offensive zone.   They weren’t easily knocked off pucks and they broke through the middle of the ice.
One play in particular saw Richards behind the Bruins’ net handling the puck.   Defenseman, Adam McQuaid, took a run at the Flyers’ captain, and missed, sending himself crashing hard head first into the boards.   He didn’t return to the game, and will likely not return in this series.
The Flyers came to play in game two, but were stonewalled by likely Vezina winning goaltender, Thomas.   They could only beat him on a few cases of getting great screens or chances at rebounds, and even then Thomas had a chance at making the saves.   The elder netminder has been around the block now, and he knows how to handle the pressure.   There’s not much the Flyers can do to beat him, but they’ll need to dominate in the remaining games, and not allow anymore defensive slip ups, or they’ll be swept in four straight.
Game three comes Wednesday at 7:00PM at TD Gardens in Boston.   They’ve proven to be stronger on the road than at home, so hopefully they can get things turned around quickly.
Contact Chuck.Tay@prohockeynews.com
Photographer Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com