PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Philadelphia Flyers finally put away the ghosts of Detroit Red Wings past with a well deserved 3-2 win at Joe Louis Arena Sunday to help propel the team into first place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Flyers played one of their best games of the season against arguably one of the best teams in the NHL, but on this night the Flyers made it clear they won’t be left out of the conversation, especially when you consider they were without their best defenseman in Chris Pronger.
Ville Leino
It is not a coincidence that all of the above mentioned teams are at the top of the standings. All four are in the top five in goals per game but only Pittsburgh is in the top five in goals against. The Flyers round out the top 10 lead the league in goals in goals against at 2.59 and are third in scoring at 3.33. The power play has slightly improved over the past month going from 18th to 16th but the penalty kill has slipped from 11th to 16th. While the team might be struggling on special teams, playing 5-on-5 is the teams’ bread and butter. They still lead the league in scoring with 1.42 goals a game. The Flyers are still struggling on face-offs slipping slightly from 16th (49.6) to 21st (49.0). Jeff Carter is doing well but he has fell from a 60.3 percent success rate to 56.1. Darroll Powe has stayed the same at a respectable 53.1 percent. Andrej Meszaros leads the team in the plus/minus category with a plus 25, while Sean O’Donnell is tied for fourth on the team with a plus 15. In fact, the Flyers have only two players that are a negative: Oskars Bartulis (-3) and Dan Carcillo (-6).
Scott Hartnell
Looking back at the offense, the Flyers have six players with 10 or more goals and three others with 9. Clearly the Flyers have more balanced scoring than any team in the league which will make them a tough out come playoff time. Sergei Bobrovsky has continued to slump, and Michael Leighton was put on waivers today so that leaves former first round pick Brian Boucher as the teams number one goalie. Boucher has a 2.33 goals against average and a .917 save percentage while Bobrovsky has a 2.57 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. Boucher is playing some of the best hockey of his career and unless he falls into a slump or someone begins to outplay him should be the starter for the rest of the season. The holiday break is over and so is 2010. The Flyers will look to improve their special teams between now and playoff time and establish their starting goaltender as well. Eventually Pronger will come back and the defense will improve almost overnight. The game against Detroit was one game but it meant a lot to the team. You can bet the Flyers will build off of it between now and the all-star break.
So take heart Flyers fans, April isn’t that far away. No, not the beginning of baseball season, but the real season in hockey: Playoff time. In the mean time, sit back and enjoy the ride.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com
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