Flyers' home finale made special with win over Islanders

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor

The Philadelphia Flyers brought the curtain down on the home portion of a disappointing 2013 season, but not before giving the fans one more thrill.

Ilya Bryzgalov, this publication's choice as team MVP, stopped 21-of-22 shots and rookie defenseman Oliver Lauridsen netted the game winner -- his second tally in as many games -- to pace a 2-1 win over the playoff-bound New York Islanders on Thursday night.


Despite being the subject of rampant rumors and speculation that the front office plans to use an amnesty buy-out on the 31-year-old, Bryzgalov remained sanguine when asked how tough it was with so many AHL defenseman in front of him after continual injuries to the NHL core.

"It's been hard with all the players coming here the first time. But it's always been my philosophy that everyone has to take care of his own business, he said. "You've got to prepare yourself. Not looking for a partner, not looking for somebody else (to help). If you do that, the rest of things take care of themselves. If everyone does their job well, everybody wins."

The Orange and Black (22-22-5) have one more chance to establish this truncated schedule as something less than a failure, as they can finish the year above .500 with a win at Ottawa in the season finale on Saturday.

But their presumptive starting goaltender for next season sees things differently.

"We are not going to make the playoffs. It doesn't matter whether you're two games below or two games above .500. It's pointless. Of course, it's nice to win the games, but at the end of the day it doesn't change anything.''
 
Danny Briere celebrated with his first goal since February 18 for the Flyers, who evened up the season series, 2-2-0, against their Long Island rivals.

"The last few games I had chance after chance and they didn't seem to want to go in," the long-suffering Briere said. "You start wondering what is going on exactly."

John Tavares notched the lone score and Kevin Poulin came up with 28 stops in defeat for New York, which could have taken over fifth place in the East with a win and Toronto regulation loss. However, after wins by Ottawa and the Rangers, the soon-to-be-Brooklynites fell to the eighth spot.

"It's frustrating for sure, but we're not going to blow it up into something bigger than it is," said Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic. "Look at what we've done the last 15-20 games and we've done a lot of good things."

New York concludes its season-ending five-game road swing at Buffalo on Friday. 

Lauridsen snapped the scoreless deadlock with 6:31 left in the third period when he ripped a rising shot by Poulin from the left circle. Seconds before, Poulin used his right pad to stop a pair of lightning-quick chances in close by Giroux, but the Islanders failed to clear and the Dane scored his first legitimate NHL goal.

"This one was a little different. I had a lot more time to shoot, but I'll take both of them," Lauridsen said of his goals in back-to-back games that found the net in radically different ways. "It's been the goal the entire time (since my call up). We had a lot of guys go down with injuries and I got my shot here in the last 10 games. I've been trying to make a mark for myself and hopefully put myself in position for camp next year."

Poulin was called to the bench for an extra skater with 1:43 on the clock, and the hosts survived four icings during the ensuing 5-on-6 situation to preserve the narrow victory.

The Islanders went more than five minutes from the start without a shot, in a game played at half-speed against a club already in the playoffs and one with no hope of play beyond Saturday.

Bryzgalov flashed the pad to stop a Josh Bailey bid from the right wing in the midst of the Flyers' initial power-play chance roughly midway through the first period.

At the end of the advantage, Brayden Schenn was allowed to tiptoe sideways from the left wing into the slot, where he laid a perfect pass across to Briere through Lubomir Visnovsky's legs for the easy tap-in. Briere's first goal in 19 games gave the hosts a 1-0 edge at 11:41.

"Oh yeah. It's my home, my family. It's the best place to play, you ask anyone in the NHL. The fans have been amazing, it's a special place and I've been fortunate to play for this organization," Briere said about the spectre of his being bought out of the final two years of his remaining contract he signed in the Summer of 2007.

In a nod to the fact that it may be his final home game with Philadelphia, the usually exuberant 35-year-old eschewed his famous glove sweep/arm pump gesture for a more subdued affirmation of the tally.

New York evened the score when Tavares' redirection of a Matt Carkner pass slithered beyond the outstretched paddle of Bryzgalov and over the goal line inside the left post with 1:37 played in the second.

Neither club capitalized on a pair of power-play chances and it was deadlocked at 1-1 heading to the third.

''We came out flat again,'' Isles forward Colin McDonald lamented. ''It's just not good enough. We need to be better. It really doesn't matter that we clinched the playoffs. It doesn't really mean anything. We want to be going into the playoffs playing good hockey, so we have one game left to kind of correct it and head into the playoffs with a good feeling.''

Notes: Lauridsen became the first Dane to actually score a goal in a Flyers' uniform, after his initial tally against Boston was an own-goal from defenseman Zdeno Chara...Philadelphia completed its home schedule with a 15-7-2 record, the sixth straight year with a positive ledger as the host...In addition, this was the first year since 2006-07 the Flyers did not have a winning season-series record against the Isles, having gone 2-5-1 that season...The 2-2-0 record marked the first time since 1995 the Flyers and Islanders had a deadlocked season slate...Philly improved to 7-1-0 in home finales since 2006...Tavares sits four behind league leader Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals (32) in total goals...The Orange and Black improved to 10-7 in games decided by one goal...Prior to the contest, the organization handed out its yearly awards. The Gene Hart Memorial Award (fan picked) went to the injured Zac Rinaldo, the Yanick Dupre Memorial Class Guy Award for media rapport was given to Scott Hartnell, the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy for most improved player went to Jakub Voracek, the Barry Ashbee Trophy for top defenseman was given to Kimmo Timonen, and Voracek was a double winner, also taking home the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the club's Most Valuable Player.

Flyers can't solve problem of Nabokov, lose in shootout

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor

One of the questions asked early on in the classic film The Sound of Music, is "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"

Transfer that sentiment 47 years into the future and uproot the location from Austria to Philadelphia, then alter the query to include the New York Islanders starting goaltender, and there is still no real answer.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 45 shots in regulation and made two relatively easy saves in the shootout, while his counterpart Ilya Bryzgalov showed his weakness again by failing to stop either shootout chance.

It didn't matter that Bryzgalov also recorded a shutout in a 1-0 Islanders victory, or that he vacuumed up all 18 New York opportunities through the game's first 65 mninutes; all that was left was a bitter aftertaste and an off-key tune as the 36-year-old Nabokov worked his magic for the second straight time at the Wells Fargo Center.

As in a 4-1 loss here on January 19 when Nabokov singlehandedly put an end to the Islanders' 13-game losing streak in Philly with 40 saves, the struggling Flyers failed to mount a serious attack despite an avalanche of pucks on goal.

"They were all decent and quality shots,” Nabokov gamely admitted. “Sometimes you get a rebound, a weird bounce and they go in. That is just the way the game is.”

But for the Orange and Black, who have dropped three straight games -- all to division foes in an atypically competitive Atlantic Division -- all that was left was to play up the positives in another effort which came up short.

"I was happy with the way we played. Their goalie played really well. If we play like that, we’ll win a lot of games," said Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen. "That’s our hockey. We skate, we hit, we force teams to turn the puck over. We had chances, but he made the saves. We didn't get the extra point, but the effort was clearly there.”

While true compared with losses by a combined five goals to the Devils and Rangers over the weekend, it's tough to find true moral victories in a game where you're held scoreless.

That's where Nabokov was head and shoulders (and pads, and waffle and glove) above Bryzgalov.

In the shootout, Frans Nielsen -- he of the new four-year contract worth a reported $11 million -- took the first shot and scored with ease. Danny Briere was first up for Philly, and, in his first action since suffering a concussion at New Jersey on January 21, failed to score.

John Tavares was up next for New York and had an even easier time rippling the back of the net.

Though Claude Giroux admitted following the game that he was tabbed to be the third shooter, things never got that far. Wayne Simmonds was the second shooter in the sequence and though he worked several stick fakes into his approach, eventually pushed a shot into Nabokov's pads to end the contest.

And so, Nabokov ran his record to 7-2-0 in his last nine starts and turned in his second whitewash of the season. It also pushed the Islanders to the .500 mark at 22-22-8.

Bryzgalov dropped his third straight start despite producing his second shutout of the year and first since the second game of the season, back on October 8, at Newark.

The visitors recorded the best chance early in the game, as P.A. Parenteau ripped a shot on net from a 2-on-1 break roughly four minutes in, but Bryzgalov flashed the right pad. Seconds later, Michael Grabner fumbled the puck in front and failed to squeeze off a round.

Kyle Okposo cranked a shot off the post midway through, and in a scoreless opening period the hosts claimed a 10-7 shot advantage.

Despite increased pressure, the Flyers couldn't figure out until halfway through the contest that they needed to close in around the crease to have any chance to make like Roxanne and put on the red light.

That chance finally came while shorthanded in the final six minutes of the second, as Max Talbot raced in alone and shoveled a backhander on goal that Nabokov anticipated and made a lightning-quick sprawling stop in the paint.

Then, with Parenteau off for slashing at the end of the play, Nabokov flashed the right pad to deny Jaromir Jagr from the slot.

Two more short-handed chances near the end of the period also went by the wayside, as Matt Read's blast from in close was turned away and Jakub Voracek narrowly missed the left post while cruising through the slot.

Philly had 16 more cracks at the Islanders' net in the final 20 minutes of regulation without success.

For New York, its only dangerous chance in overtime came with 1:15 gone, as Matt Moulson capitalized off some lax defense to creep in close, but he missed high and wide. Read managed to unleash one more chance off the rush in the final seconds but Nabokov saw it all the way.

While the effort behind the loss tonight was far better than the one 19 days ago, the song remained the same from a noticeably quieter Peter Laviolette, who offered little in the way of answers or insight.

"Certainly from the last time we played them, we were just able to close it down more defensively. We just couldn't get it past the goaltender again. Though we didn't score, it wasn't from a lack of trying."

Notes: The Flyers fell to 1-5 in shootouts this season and lost three straight contests for the first time all season...The Islanders have won back-to-back games in Philadelphia for the first time since taking four straight during the 2006-07 season...Tuesday's game marked the first time in this long-standing rivalry that a game finished 0-0 after overtime...The last contest between these clubs to end scoreless after regulation came on February 12, 2002 with the Islanders winning on a Mike Peca short-handed goal with nine seconds remaining in overtime...This was also the Flyers' first scoreless game decided in a shootout since a 1-0 victory over Calgary on December 6, 2005...Giroux has failed to produce a goal in 14 of his last 16 games...Philly created 45 shots from 87 total shot attempts.

Bobrovsky left out to dry as Islanders snap long skid in Philly

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Nearly five years have passed since the Islanders tasted victory in Philadelphia. On a night where they snapped that streak, you'd expect that the home team would have put up more of a fight.

But it was not to be as New York's road losing skid here ended at 13 games with a 4-1 victory over the Flyers on Thursday.

Sergei Bobrovsky was largely left to fend for himself against a swift set of forwards who are not afraid to use their speed or exploit gaps in the defense. He acquitted himself well, stopping 23-of-26 shots -- many of those wide-open chances.

“We just left him hung out to dry too many times,” a stone-faced Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We didn’t support each other well for the first two periods. We left one man to figure things out for himself. It’s unacceptable. We weren’t good enough the first two periods.”

Michael Grabner, Matt Moulson, Josh Bailey and Mark Streit provided the offense and Evgeni Nabokov turned in a 40-save performance.

Matt Read took over the rookie goal-scoring lead with his third-period tally, but Philly suffered a potentially debilitating loss heading into a huge back-to-back situation.

New Jersey is on the menu first, on Saturday afternoon in Newark, then the defending champion Bruins come to call on South Broad Street on Sunday afternoon.

After several shifts of pressure in the opening minutes, the visitors appeared to have scored first, as a Tavares centering pass redirected off Moulson's skate in the slot and hit the back of the net at the 6:44 mark. But, upon closer inspection, Moulson clearly directed the puck forward with his back skate and it shouldn't have taken as long as it did to wave off the goal.

It had a galvanizing effect on the Islanders, who sprang into action and took the play to an increasingly listless home club.

Tavares was the first to really test Bobrovsky, as he just hung out a stride shy of the Flyers' blue line then broke in alone before putting an uninspiring shot into the goaltender's chest with 1:50 to play in the first.

Philly was lucky to escape with a scoreless deadlock, but the luck began to run out at the 28-second mark of the second, as a Tavares pass from behind the goal line missed Kyle Okposo, but found Moulson for an open wrister from between the circles.

Things began to unravel further after Nino Niederreiter was sent off for a high stick at the three-minute mark, and Grabner picked the cherries but was stoned on a breakaway seconds into advantage.

Later in the power play, Jakub Voracek found the best chance of the game sitting at his feet, but Nabokov flashed his pad at the right post to shunt away that shot.

Then, it was Tavares again, sitting on a great opportunity with Streit in the box for tripping and seconds after an elbowing minor to Andrej Meszaros expired. He was unable to slide the disc through Bobrovsky, who gave him little at which to shoot.

A third opportunity arose with 7 1/2 minutes remaining for Tavares, as he deked multiple times while trying to decoy a pass on the left wing, but Bobrovsky fell backwards and turned away the shot with his pad.

The luck finally ran out as Dylan Reese cooled off with a holding penalty shortly thereafter, as a cheating Bailey smartly waited until the last second to lift the puck under the crossbar for a short-handd breakaway goal at 12:58.

And then, something snapped in Claude Giroux, who threw down with Reese with 2:19 left in the second to the hoots and hollers of the suddenly-interested throng. It still wasn't enough of a shock to the system.

This time on the advantage, Streit's shot from the right circle slipped between the arm and body of Bobrovsky and it was all but academic at 7:07 of the third period which made it a 3-0 game for New York.

But consolation -- and precedent -- existed for a comeback. On March 6, 1999, the Flyers were down 3-0 to a weaker Isles club than this and pumped home three goals in the final 3:02 of regulation to escape with a 3-3 tie.

You can bet nobody with any control of the game knew it, but somehow, that three-goal margin jolted the current crop to life. Each successive shift got them closer and closer to Nabokov until Sean Couturier's floater from the left circle hit Read in front and caromed into the net with 9:12 remaining.

It seemed a comeback was in the offing as Danny Briere roared in with an odd-man break and narrowly missed tucking the puck inside the right post while following up his own rebound.

The intensity never really seemed to crest, and it caused Bobrovsky to be able to exit the net with just under two minutes left.

But the Islanders and Nabokov continued to foil each surge, and Grabner hit the empty net inside the final second.

“We played hard as we always seem to do against them, but they came in the third and they came in waves, and I thought Nabby (Nabokov) was real good, but again, special teams were a big part of tonight’s game with the short-handed goal and the power-play goal late," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. "We played them pretty good at home (in a 3-2 loss last Thursday at Uniondale) and we didn’t get the results, and it was good for the guys to get rewarded.”

Notes: The Islanders last won in Philly on April 7, 2007, the final victory in a four-game sweep at the WFC in the 2006-07 campaign...Giroux and Jaromir Jagr both finished with minus-3 and teammate Scott Hartnell was a minus-1...This was just the third win in the last 29 meetings for New York over Philadelphia...Both the Islanders' Boston College alums were unable to participate on Thursday, as forward Marty Reasoner was scratched and Mike Mottau is still battling a concussion...Tavares and P.A. Parenteau both notched a pair of assists for the victors...Couturier's five-game goal streak ended but his point streak was extended to six games.

Flyers take another one over Isles

By Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor

Sean Couturier netted the deciding goal late in regulation, as Philadelphia continued its recent run of dominance over the New York Islanders with a 3-2 decision at Nassau Coliseum.

"He looked sharp, I thought, throughout the entire game," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette of his goaltender, who has shaken off a Winter Classic loss with back-to-back wins on the road. "The second period wasn't good for us, we stopped shooting the puck and gave up too much and he was solid for us."

Scott Hartnell and Wayne Simmonds also scored for the Flyers, who have won four of their last five overall and eight straight over their division rivals. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 33-of-35 shots as Philly improved to 26-2-0 against the Isles since the start of the 2007-08 season.

Kyle Okposo and John Tavares tallied for the Islanders, who have dropped three of four. Evgeni Nabokov allowed three goals on 22 shots, falling to 6-11-0 on the year.

Okposo spoiled Bobrovsky's shutout bid, putting the Isles on the board at the 22-second mark of the third by slamming home a puck that deflected off teammate Matt Moulson's skate.

The hosts escaped a short-handed situation after New York defenseman Steve Staios elbowed Max Talbot with 4:25 remaining but was not penalized, then Bobrovsky made a point-blank save on a Milan Jurcina drive seconds later.

Couturier finally bailed out his backstop on a rising shot from the left circle with 90 seconds to play for a 3-1 Philly edge.

With Nabokov on the bench for an extra skater, Tavares hit the net on a backhander with 15.7 seconds to go, but that was all the Isles had in the tank.

"When we play as well as we did tonight, you'd think we'd come out on top most times," Islanders defenseman Andrew MacDonald said. "The fact is, when we play them, we don't always play that well. I think if we continue to play the way we played tonight, we're going to have success."

Michael Grabner was given a penalty shot after he was taken down from behind by Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen on a short-handed break with 2:49 played, but Bobrovsky turned aside the chance with his blocker.

It was 1-0 for the visitors as Hartnell was credited with a redirection of a Jaromir Jagr shot for a power-play goal with 2:40 left in the first.

Grabner was denied again on a clean breakaway near the midway point of the second period, and Simmonds managed to slip a shot from behind the goal line through Nabokov at 13:08.

Notes: Bobrovsky improved to 7-0 lifetime against the Islanders...Jagr upped his career total to 142 points (59G, 83A) in 93 games against the Isles...With a secondary assist, Flyers forward and leading scorer Claude Giroux avoided going pointless for the first time since Novembe 24-December 1, 2010...Tavares, who was voted the lone Isles representative to the All-Star Game, extended his point streak to seven games (4G, 9A)...Danny Briere played in his 300th game with the Flyers...Giroux and Timonen were voted as All-Stars while Matt Read and Couturier were named to the rookie squad...Simmonds snapped an eight-game goal drought.

NHL hands down decision on Islanders' Gillies

Toronto, Ontario - The National Hockey League on Friday suspended New York Islanders forward Trevor Gillies 10 games for his illegal hit to the head of Minnesota Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck.

The incident occurred at the 2:23 mark of the second period in Wednesday's 4-1 Islanders victory, when Gillies leveled Clutterbuck with a hard check from behind and into the boards after play had stopped.

Gillies was given a major for checking from behind and a game misconduct for his actions.

"By targeting his opponent's head, three shifts into his first game back from a suspension for a very similar action, Mr. Gillies has forfeited his privilege of playing in the league for 10 games," said NHL discipline czar Colin Campbell.

"While it is fortunate that there was no injury on the play, there can be no justification for a player delivering a dangerous check to an opponent in this manner."

As a repeat offender, Gillies forfeits $60,975.60 based on the number of games (82) in the season rather than the number of days (186). The money goes into the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. He will not be eligible to return until March 26, when the Islanders play the Philadelphia Flyers.

It is the second lengthy punishment in less than a month for the feisty 32- year-old.

On February 13, Gillies was given a nine-game ban and fined more than $24,000 for his role in a brawl during the early stages of the third period in a 9-3 Islanders win over Pittsburgh two days prior. Gillies was judged to have begun that fracas with an elbow to the head and several punches on Penguins forward Eric Tangradi.

Chris Botta, the New York Times NHL blogger, reported after the suspension was handed down, that the Islanders failed to send team representation with Gillies to the hearing. It is customary for any player facing a hearing and possible suspension to have at least one team rep along for the trip.