Season series: The Philadelphia Flyers scored three third-period goals to erase a 1-0 deficit and defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 at Wells Fargo Center on March 5. The Flyers received goals from Michael Del Zotto, Wayne Simmonds and Michael Raffl. Flyers goalie Steve Mason made 28 saves.
Flyers team scope: Since defeating the Blues on home ice, Philadelphia has lost three in a row, including a 2-1 home loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The Flyers have taken one of a possible six points to fall nine points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Boston has two games in hand on Philadelphia, plus the Flyers are behind the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators. "Our goal is still to make the playoffs," general manager Ron Hextall told the Flyers website. "Until we're officially out, that will continue to be our goal. ... We've shown how good we can be, and at times we haven't been very good. That's the part that's frustrating because it's there." Goalie Ray Emery is the projected starter.
Blues team scope: St. Louis had an optional skate Wednesday in preparation for the Flyers. Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (illness) and forward Olli Jokinen (upper body) each skated and coach Ken Hitchcock said if they came out of practice feeling good, they would play. "He says he feels really good today, so that's a good sign," Hitchcock said of Bouwmeester, who's missed the past two games. "I would say for sure, if he has a good day today, he's going to play [Thursday]. Same with [Jokinen]; if he has a good day today, he's going to play [Thursday]." Defenseman Zbynek Michalek (concussion) skated Wednesday and is getting closer to making his Blues debut after being acquired prior to the NHL Trade Deadline. "Definitely I'm getting closer and closer," Michalek said. "I've been skating for a while now. I feel good." Goalie Brian Elliott will make his fourth consecutive start. The Blues began a stretch of nine games in 15 days Tuesday with a 5-4 victory against the Winnipeg Jets.
Looking to return the favor at home, St. Louis goes for a third consecutive win when it faces the road-challenged Flyers on Thursday night.
The Blues (42-19-5) are enjoying a 4-1-1 stretch, with the regulation defeat coming 3-1 at the hands of Philadelphia (28-27-13) last Thursday. Jaden Schwartz provided the offense as St. Louis took a 1-0 lead into the third period before coming undone.
The Blues went on to beat Toronto 6-1 two nights later, then opened a three-game homestand with Tuesday's 5-4 win over Winnipeg. Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera each had a goal and an assist, and Barret Jackman scored the winner with 1:03 remaining after St. Louis blew a 4-1 lead.
Jackman's shot came from just inside the red line for one of the more bizarre goals this season.
"Play that good for two periods, deserve a good fate," coach Ken Hitchcock, who earned career win no. 699, told the league's official website. "I was really happy with the way we played in the second and third period. The hockey gods took care of us. Good for him; I'll go to church tomorrow."
The Blues are just behind Nashville for the Central Division lead with 16 games remaining.
"Two points out of first place," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "That's a great accomplishment right now. We've got two games in hand still (on Nashville). Couple more home games before a really long road trip, so these next two games are really important for us."
Despite last week's loss, St. Louis would appear to have an edge over a Flyers team that's dropped four straight and 13 of 16 on the road. Philadelphia is hoping to avoid a fourth consecutive loss overall after falling 2-1 to Dallas on Tuesday.
Luke Schenn scored 1:13 into the game for the Flyers, who were outshot 30-12 over the final two periods and fell nine points behind Boston for the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot.
"There's no desperation," Steve Mason said after finishing with 37 saves. "It's tough to come in a room after games like that where we just needed to have a much better effort. It just wasn't there.
"I'm embarrassed. I hope everybody else is embarrassed because we have an effort like that at home in situations where we have to come up big and we come up empty. We have to be a lot better."
Mason is 1-10-5 with a 2.76 goals-against average on the road, but he is 5-1-1 with a 1.92 GAA against St. Louis since 2010-11.
Mason stopped 28 shots opposite Brian Elliott last week as Elliott fell to 1-3-0 with a 3.90 GAA in his last four starts against the Flyers. That appearance, however, was Elliott's first against Philadelphia in three seasons.
The Blues have outscored the Flyers 6-1 during a three-game home winning streak in the series.
Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers with 67 points but has nine over the last 18 games. Claude Giroux has also been quiet with six in the last 13.
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cardsfan04 wrote:I expect to see them fired up tonight. Between the meltdown in Philly and the wacky ending versus Winnipeg, I think they'll be ready to go tonight.
Yeah, I'd be in 100% agreement with you there, EXCEPT....
Chris Porter looks to bring his energy to the David Backes / T.J. Oshie line tonight as Blues host the Flyers.
Goalies put on a show, mang. That's one that it's a shame one of them had to lose. All props to Steve Mason, he made some fantastic saves. But man, getting that second point is huge. And now, after a long, tough haul this season, we've climbed right smack in the middle of the President's trophy race, not to mention the race for the division lead.
Still a long ways to go, obviously, but we're giving ourselves a chance to control our own destiny.
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Again I'll emphasize the point that we're staying right in the thick of it sans Shattenkirk. When he comes back... look out, gents. Healthy and basically fresh legs going into the playoffs from a known defensively stabilizing factor who gets things going on the offense. I'll tell you what, he got injured at the right time. Last year all the injuries happened at the wrong time. not saying injuries are ever good, but they're a bit more devastating when they happen heading into the playoffs.
glen a richter wrote:Again I'll emphasize the point that we're staying right in the thick of it sans Shattenkirk. When he comes back... look out, gents. Healthy and basically fresh legs going into the playoffs from a known defensively stabilizing factor who gets things going on the offense. I'll tell you what, he got injured at the right time. Last year all the injuries happened at the wrong time. not saying injuries are ever good, but they're a bit more devastating when they happen heading into the playoffs.
Don't get your hopes up on Shatty. Coming back from several weeks off due to an injury is not unlike starting the season all over. Fresh legs - yes. Lost rhythm and chemistry - also yes. We'll see if the former can help compensate for, and quicker regain, the latter.
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cardsfan04 wrote:I thought Mason was best player on the ice last night for either team by a pretty wide margin. Happy we were able to pull out that second point.
Agreed on that one. I thought we generated more and better scoring chances throughout the game than Philly, thus Mason was forced to make the tougher saves than Elliott. Good on both goalies, and props to Ells on being equal to the task.
Awesome game to be at last night. Hope Elliott starts getting his respect. 20 shutouts tied with Halak who did it 159 games, Elliott in 131 games. At least NHL.com gave Elliott one of the three stars.
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“It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.”
“It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.”
I still think the Blues win 3-0 if the lines aren't all fucked up. Stop putting Steen on a line with Stastny to try to help the latter. Steen is the real star veteran on this team, a mostly home-grown one at that - RESPECT that and give HIM the line mates that make HIM most efficient. Stastny hasn't proven shit since he's gotten here. Let him play with Berglund and Jaskin and keep elevating their games.
Honestly, I'm pretty sour on Stastny at this point. Yeah, we're winning lots of games this year, but I feel like we're STILL hamstrung by not knowing quite what to do with him.
Agree with the comments on goaltending. Both were great, and Mason singlehandedly kept this a game through two. It does look like our shooters saw something inviting about his stick side though.
re Stastny-the only reason he seems to be a problem is because Lehtera and Backes have played well enough to strand him on the third line. Stastny is looking to approach 20 goals and 50 points-not that far off his career averages-in a less-than-complete season during which he joined a new team and got injured. His advanced stats are all good and his +/- too, whatever you think of that, and he's playing 17:30 a night while winning 58% of his faceoffs and starting half his shifts in the Blues' zone. His shooting % is better than Steen's and almost exactly the same as Lehtera's. What's getting people down is his contract but that's just market rate for a high-end FA. Thing is, he's the only one of those on the Blues. Which also makes me think of Johnny Boychuk and Alex Pietrangelo-another guy Blues fans seem inordinately down on. Boychuk just got $6M per for 7 years. This is a guy having his career year at 31 but still isn't producing as many points as Petro and don't even ask about other seasons. The Islanders will be giving him about 10% of the current cap until he's 38 and everyone seems to agree this was a good deal. This is the market. The Blues FO has been great at retaining homegrown talent at low prices. But you can't pass on what could be a piece of a great team because he isn't homegrown and you have to pay market price.
Or: the Blues probably have the best 3rd line center in the league. I know how relieved I would have been to know that at the point when Sobotka had bolted and I had no idea how Lehtera would turn out.
That was a pretty fantastic game...and an absolutely huge two points.
I just wish the Blues could have won in regulation to help with the tie-break situation should that arise.
ecbm wrote:Agree with the comments on goaltending. Both were great, and Mason singlehandedly kept this a game through two. It does look like our shooters saw something inviting about his stick side though.
re Stastny-the only reason he seems to be a problem is because Lehtera and Backes have played well enough to strand him on the third line. Stastny is looking to approach 20 goals and 50 points-not that far off his career averages-in a less-than-complete season during which he joined a new team and got injured. His advanced stats are all good and his +/- too, whatever you think of that, and he's playing 17:30 a night while winning 58% of his faceoffs and starting half his shifts in the Blues' zone. His shooting % is better than Steen's and almost exactly the same as Lehtera's. What's getting people down is his contract but that's just market rate for a high-end FA. Thing is, he's the only one of those on the Blues. Which also makes me think of Johnny Boychuk and Alex Pietrangelo-another guy Blues fans seem inordinately down on. Boychuk just got $6M per for 7 years. This is a guy having his career year at 31 but still isn't producing as many points as Petro and don't even ask about other seasons. The Islanders will be giving him about 10% of the current cap until he's 38 and everyone seems to agree this was a good deal. This is the market. The Blues FO has been great at retaining homegrown talent at low prices. But you can't pass on what could be a piece of a great team because he isn't homegrown and you have to pay market price.
Or: the Blues probably have the best 3rd line center in the league. I know how relieved I would have been to know that at the point when Sobotka had bolted and I had no idea how Lehtera would turn out.
Yeah I think you and I are agreeing - there's nothing WRONG with Stastny. He doesn't NEED new linemates. He just is what he is on this team - we went form an impoverished set of centers to an embarrassment of riches, and he fits in where he fits in. That happens to be the 3rd line. It happens to be with Jaskin, a young player, and Berglund, a perpetual has-been. Both are playing really well with Stastny, so just leave it the (Frank) alone. Stop jeopardizing our OBVIOUS top 2 lines (Oshie/Steen/Backes and STL). If Stastny can't handle being on the 3rd line, trade him next season, (Frank) him then.
ecbm wrote:Agree with the comments on goaltending. Both were great, and Mason singlehandedly kept this a game through two. It does look like our shooters saw something inviting about his stick side though.
re Stastny-the only reason he seems to be a problem is because Lehtera and Backes have played well enough to strand him on the third line. Stastny is looking to approach 20 goals and 50 points-not that far off his career averages-in a less-than-complete season during which he joined a new team and got injured. His advanced stats are all good and his +/- too, whatever you think of that, and he's playing 17:30 a night while winning 58% of his faceoffs and starting half his shifts in the Blues' zone. His shooting % is better than Steen's and almost exactly the same as Lehtera's. What's getting people down is his contract but that's just market rate for a high-end FA. Thing is, he's the only one of those on the Blues. Which also makes me think of Johnny Boychuk and Alex Pietrangelo-another guy Blues fans seem inordinately down on. Boychuk just got $6M per for 7 years. This is a guy having his career year at 31 but still isn't producing as many points as Petro and don't even ask about other seasons. The Islanders will be giving him about 10% of the current cap until he's 38 and everyone seems to agree this was a good deal. This is the market. The Blues FO has been great at retaining homegrown talent at low prices. But you can't pass on what could be a piece of a great team because he isn't homegrown and you have to pay market price.
Or: the Blues probably have the best 3rd line center in the league. I know how relieved I would have been to know that at the point when Sobotka had bolted and I had no idea how Lehtera would turn out.
Yeah I think you and I are agreeing - there's nothing WRONG with Stastny. He doesn't NEED new linemates. He just is what he is on this team - we went form an impoverished set of centers to an embarrassment of riches, and he fits in where he fits in. That happens to be the 3rd line. It happens to be with Jaskin, a young player, and Berglund, a perpetual has-been. Both are playing really well with Stastny, so just leave it the (Frank) alone. Stop jeopardizing our OBVIOUS top 2 lines (Oshie/Steen/Backes and STL). If Stastny can't handle being on the 3rd line, trade him next season, (Frank) him then.
