Manic Monday: Flyers get doses of good, bad news

Ilya Bryzgalov was rightfully honored for the tear he’d been on for the last month, named this morning as the National Hockey League’s First Star for the month of March.

Bryzgalov enjoyed the finest span in his brief Philly tenure, going 10-2-1 with a 1.43 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and a league-best four shutouts.

The 31-year-old Russian won seven consecutive starts to begin March, and posted his four whitewashes in a five-start span in the middle portion of the month. In the process, Bryzgalov set a new franchise record for scoreless play at 249 minutes, 43 seconds — snapping John Vanbiesbrouck’s franchise mark originally set in 1999.

For the season, the former Phoenix Coyote netminder is 32-15-7 with a 2.46 GAA and six shutouts in 57 appearances. He became the first Flyers goaler to record as many as six whitewashes in one season since Roman Cechmanek recorded six in 2002-03 en route to sharing the Jennings Trophy with Robert Esche.

Bryz beat out mortal enemy Evgeni Malkin and the mass-murder averse Ryan Miller for the top spot.

In addition, Wayne Simmonds was named the First Star of the past week. The former LA King put the puck in the net five times during a four-game goal streak. He scored one of the goals in memorable but painful fashion, using his face to deflect a shot past Craig Anderson in Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators.

His best performance of the last seven days came last Thursday, when he tallied twice and added an assist in a 7-1 rout of the deflated Maple Leafs in Toronto.

Then, there was a double dose of bad news, as forward Danny Briere and defenseman Niklas Grossmann will miss time in this crucial stretch with injuries.

For Briere, it is an upper-back contusion apparently suffered late in the third period of a 6-4 victory on Sunday, when he was hit hard by Penguins forward Joe Vitale at center ice and fell backwards after impact. He was listed as being out indefinitely.

Grossmann was on the wrong end of a knee-to-knee collision with Vitale in the first period and did not return to the contest. He is expected to miss 7-to-10 days.

The Flyers have three regular-season games remaining: Tuesday hosting the Rangers, Thursday hosting Buffalo and in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Bryzgalov 'First Star' once again

For the second consecutive week, Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov earned top honors, leading the list of the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending March 18.

Bryzgalov finished the week with a 3-0-1 record and one shutout, and in a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday managed to set the Flyers' all-time record for scoreless hockey at 249 minutes, 43 seconds. John Vanbiesbrouck held the previous mark of 227:40, set in October of 1999.

The 31-year-old Russian improved to 8-0-1 with a 1.20 goals-against average, .960 save percentage and four shutouts since March 1.

If not for Bryzgalov, this past weekend might have been a lot murkier than the 1-0-1 record the Orange and Black posted against two potential playoff opponents. He stopped 69 of 73 shots in 130 minutes of play, but was 0-for-3 in the shootout at Boston on Saturday.

Bryzgalov earns NHL's First Star of the Week

After pulling himself back from the brink of irrelevancy, Ilya Bryzgalov turned in his best period as a Philadelphia Flyer last week, and the effort earned him the NHL's First Star on Monday.

"For Bryz to have our back like that, he is playing his best hockey this year and we are trying to help him. He is making all the big saves for us and he has got his confidence back," said teammate Claude Giroux, who provided the shootout winner against Toronto. "It's a lot of fun to see him dominate games like that."

The 31-year-old went 4-0-0 with a 0.49 goals-against average and three shutouts to take top honors.

He blanked Washington and the Maple Leafs by 1-0 scores and Florida by a 5-0 count, and has stopped 138 of the last 140 shots he's faced.

Bryzgalov made 11 consecutive starts through Saturday's shootout victory in Toronto, going 7-2-1 in that span.