Bryzgalov beats former team in tight win

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – In a game that saw Flyers’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov face his old team for the first time since coming to Philadelphia, and rookie Matt Read further set himself up as a candidate for rookie of the year, the Flyers beat the Coyotes 2-1, with great goaltending and last minute heroics from the aforementioned Read. It took more than a period and a half before the first goal of the night was scored off of a feed by rising superstar Claude Giroux to a racing James van Reimsdyk, who took the puck through the neutral zone, looked off defenseman Kimmo Timmonen, and fired a laser passed Mike Smith, into the short-side high. Early in the third, the Coyotes tied things up, when the Flyers’ defense failed to get to a rebound around the pads of Bryzgalov, who’d gone down into the butterfly. Coyote forwards banged away at the loose puck, until the third try by sophomore forward Mikkel Boedker saw it sneak through the five-hole.Lucky for the Flyers, the 25-year-old Read doesn’t miss under pressure, as he hammered home a rebound off of a Max Talbot shot with only 18.6 seconds remaining in the game, and not enough time for the visiting Coyotes to mount another come back. It was a great win for a team that’s won its last three games by tight margins. They also haven’t lost a game in regulation, since October 27, in Winnipeg, when they lost 9-8, in a goal scoring free-for-all. Part of the team’s success should be attributed to their penalty kill, which has only allowed one-goal in the last eight games. It’s been huge, since many of those games saw a good number of Flyers march to the box. Most notably, against Florida and Tampa Bay, where they had to kill seven penalties each, allowing only one goal against the Lightning.Two forwards, in particular, should be commended for their penalty kill abilities–Talbot and rookie centerman Sean Couturier, who lead all Flyers’ forwards in shorthanded time-on-ice, at 79:24 and 64:47 respectably. Their abilities and where-with-all, while shorthanded, have kept the team from allowing bad goals in untimely situations. This was particularly true against the Coyotes, Thursday night, when in a few penalty kill situations the Flyers looked to be the aggressors and kept the puck down at the Coyotes’ end for long stretches at a time. The Flyers penalty kill handled all four penalties on the night, including a four-minute double-minor to Danny Briere in the first, when his stick came up viciously cutting Coyote defenseman Rostislav Klesla. Another guy, who’s trusted in all situations, has been Read. He sees time on the penalty kill, power play and key even strength time, and it was his execution that fired in the game winner with seconds ticking off the clock. In only 15-games, he has 6 goals, 5 assists, and 11 points, placing him fourth among all rookies in points, third in goals, and tied for second in game winning goals with 2.Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren is looking more and more like a genius for landing the college graduate from Bemidji State to a three year one-way contract. Although Read looks like the underdog to Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the rookie of the year, Read has other intangible qualities that Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t possess, such as his defensive abilities and maturity. It’s possible, along a long 82-game season, Read could outplay the younger Oiler star, and take home the hardware. A sour note on the night was an injury to 39-year-old superstar Jaromir Jagr, who played only 1:22 on the night before leaving with what Holmgren called a lower-body injury. The Flyers’ GM wouldn’t offer any details, but said the aging star would not travel with the team to Winnipeg, for their rematch on Saturday. The last time the Flyers saw the Jets, there were 17 total goals scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky, the starter that night, was pulled after just 3 of them. Afterwards, Bryzgalov made his announcement that he felt, “Lost in the woods.” Look for the Flyers to enter the great white North with authority on Saturday night and redeem themselves against the newly relocated Jets. Contact Chuck.Tay@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com