Flyers woes; A look at the Letang hit
Posted 6:12 PM ET | Comments 0
It’s been a tough week for the Flyers. They played 5 games in eight days going 2-3-0. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Flyers lost Andreas Lijia to injury for six weeks, JVR for 1-2 weeks, Jagr has been Day-to-Day and Chris Pronger will miss the next four weeks following successful knee surgery. The Flyers also waived streaky forward, Andreas Nodl who was picked up by the Hurricanes, who are in transition.
The good you ask? The Flyers have five days off to heal and work on what went wrong. Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing good hockey and has the hot hand. Coach Laviolette is never afraid to send a message and bench players and ride the hot hand and this is exactly what he’s doing. Since claiming he was “lost in the woods,” Bryz posted a 5-0-1 record before hitting a skid in his last two games. Laviolette want to make sure his high paid goalie doesn’t take his foot off the gas. Lavy wants Bryz to compete every night and I’m sure Bryz doesn’t like being benched. This worked for Scott Hartnell in the past and JVR. The Flyers are really going to need Bryz to play “playoff” style hockey with two of their major D-man down for a long period of time. Defense Kevin Marshall is finally going to get a chance to prove himself after a few disappointing camps that have forced him to the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Phantoms. He was once compared to Luca Sbisa and now has the chance to show it, and perhaps earn a permanent spot with the big club.
As I reported two days ago, the Flyers would recall Schenn in which they did this morning. Flyers GM Paul Holmgrim reported that, “Schenn was in town to get his foot looked at and everything is fine.”
Schenn, who’s looked really well down in the AHL posting 11 pts in 6 games, is anxious to finally show why he was worth the trade that involved Mike Richards.
I’ve always been a fan of Scott Hartnell. (I actually wear his jersey and wig to every game.) I love that he plays “Flyers” Hockey. He skates hard, wins battles on the boards, will defend his team, and he has scoring capability. He’s no Claude Giroux, but one has to wonder, that a power forward like Hartnell, is 2nd in scoring on a Flyers team that has players like: Jakub Voracek, Danny Briere and JVR (2nd overall pick 2007). Ok so he plays on a line with Jagr and Giroux (Jagr 3rd in scoring by the way) but Jagr who’s missed three games hasn’t stopped Scotty from slowing down. Minus one season, he has consistently scored 20+ goals, (5 out of 6 seasons) and has a good eye for where to send the puck. That’s why he has 104 assists in four seasons with the Flyers. (Excluding the current season) A fun fact about Hartnell that people may not know is that he played with Oslo-Norway during the Lock-out season and posted 17 goals, 12 assists for 29 points in just 28 games! My point is, Scott has played a certain role for the Flyers since he’s come here. Now he’s been given a different role, he’s showing us talent we never knew he had. He leads the team in PPG and GWG. Hopefully he can keep it up.
NHL NEWS:
The NHL has suspended Montreal Forward Max Pacioretty for his open ice hit on Chris Letang for three games. Many fans ask the question, “What kinds of hits are illegal and what is ok?” This is a perfect example of a hit the NHL is trying to get rid of. Pacioretty made a beeline for Letang who was carrying the puck. Pacioretty hit Letang right in the head. Letang, suffered a broken nose, did return to the game and scored the game winning goal. Pacioretty, spoke with the media following the decision and said, “They’ve compared it to the Cooke-Savard hit, which couldn’t be further from the truth. He put himself in a vulnerable position. I’m confused, he had his head up and saw me coming before he took the shot. It’s a fast game and injuries are going to happen, but I don’t understand why I should give any player a free pass to come into the zone.”
To me, it sounds like Pacioretty doesn’t think his hit was a bad one, or that he should take the blame. If Letang is carry the puck and DOES see you coming, whether he braces for the hit or not, you are responsible for your check. The shoulder went right to the head and since the league has been cracking down, you should know better Max. You put yourself in that position not, Letang and you deserved the three games. Hits like this can and have ended careers. Hitting a player off the puck is one thing as well as finishing your check, but this was a clear case to drill Letang. You can view the hit here:[url] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRiqKUG0A8A
For Breaking Flyers News and NHL Rumors follow me on Twitter via
www.twitter.com/iban3zhead
Email me @[email protected]
The good you ask? The Flyers have five days off to heal and work on what went wrong. Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing good hockey and has the hot hand. Coach Laviolette is never afraid to send a message and bench players and ride the hot hand and this is exactly what he’s doing. Since claiming he was “lost in the woods,” Bryz posted a 5-0-1 record before hitting a skid in his last two games. Laviolette want to make sure his high paid goalie doesn’t take his foot off the gas. Lavy wants Bryz to compete every night and I’m sure Bryz doesn’t like being benched. This worked for Scott Hartnell in the past and JVR. The Flyers are really going to need Bryz to play “playoff” style hockey with two of their major D-man down for a long period of time. Defense Kevin Marshall is finally going to get a chance to prove himself after a few disappointing camps that have forced him to the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Phantoms. He was once compared to Luca Sbisa and now has the chance to show it, and perhaps earn a permanent spot with the big club.
As I reported two days ago, the Flyers would recall Schenn in which they did this morning. Flyers GM Paul Holmgrim reported that, “Schenn was in town to get his foot looked at and everything is fine.”
Schenn, who’s looked really well down in the AHL posting 11 pts in 6 games, is anxious to finally show why he was worth the trade that involved Mike Richards.
I’ve always been a fan of Scott Hartnell. (I actually wear his jersey and wig to every game.) I love that he plays “Flyers” Hockey. He skates hard, wins battles on the boards, will defend his team, and he has scoring capability. He’s no Claude Giroux, but one has to wonder, that a power forward like Hartnell, is 2nd in scoring on a Flyers team that has players like: Jakub Voracek, Danny Briere and JVR (2nd overall pick 2007). Ok so he plays on a line with Jagr and Giroux (Jagr 3rd in scoring by the way) but Jagr who’s missed three games hasn’t stopped Scotty from slowing down. Minus one season, he has consistently scored 20+ goals, (5 out of 6 seasons) and has a good eye for where to send the puck. That’s why he has 104 assists in four seasons with the Flyers. (Excluding the current season) A fun fact about Hartnell that people may not know is that he played with Oslo-Norway during the Lock-out season and posted 17 goals, 12 assists for 29 points in just 28 games! My point is, Scott has played a certain role for the Flyers since he’s come here. Now he’s been given a different role, he’s showing us talent we never knew he had. He leads the team in PPG and GWG. Hopefully he can keep it up.
NHL NEWS:
The NHL has suspended Montreal Forward Max Pacioretty for his open ice hit on Chris Letang for three games. Many fans ask the question, “What kinds of hits are illegal and what is ok?” This is a perfect example of a hit the NHL is trying to get rid of. Pacioretty made a beeline for Letang who was carrying the puck. Pacioretty hit Letang right in the head. Letang, suffered a broken nose, did return to the game and scored the game winning goal. Pacioretty, spoke with the media following the decision and said, “They’ve compared it to the Cooke-Savard hit, which couldn’t be further from the truth. He put himself in a vulnerable position. I’m confused, he had his head up and saw me coming before he took the shot. It’s a fast game and injuries are going to happen, but I don’t understand why I should give any player a free pass to come into the zone.”
To me, it sounds like Pacioretty doesn’t think his hit was a bad one, or that he should take the blame. If Letang is carry the puck and DOES see you coming, whether he braces for the hit or not, you are responsible for your check. The shoulder went right to the head and since the league has been cracking down, you should know better Max. You put yourself in that position not, Letang and you deserved the three games. Hits like this can and have ended careers. Hitting a player off the puck is one thing as well as finishing your check, but this was a clear case to drill Letang. You can view the hit here:[url] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRiqKUG0A8A
For Breaking Flyers News and NHL Rumors follow me on Twitter via
www.twitter.com/iban3zhead
Email me @[email protected]