Stars-Flyers thoughts

I thought they played a pretty good game for the most part, but a couple mistakes led to Philadelphia goals and that ended up being the difference in a pretty evenly played game. There’s a fine line between winning and losing, and on this night they were on the wrong side of it.

It really wasn’t a Picasso on either side, especially for the Flyers early in the game. I think that’s the effect of teams playing this condensed schedule. Physical and mental fatigue is going to take its toll at times. The Flyers were close to brutal in the first with all the turnovers and sloppiness and I didn’t think they were all that much better early in the second.

That Mike Ribeiro turnover that led to the Simon Gagne-Mike Richards two-one-on that Richards finished off was a big turning point. That got the Flyers going and I thought they picked it up after that. After that it came down to one play and that was Jeff Carter getting the wide open look from the slot and the puck going in off Scott Hartnell. The Stars had some good chances after that, but Brian Boucher made some nice saves to protect the lead.

I thought Kari Lehtonen was OK in this one. I thought Boucher was a little better than OK for the Flyers. This was a big game for him and his team considering he’s the man for them with Michael Leighton out for the rest of the season and at least the first round of the playoffs and he came up with a solid performance. Nothing spectacular, but he was solid.

As for the Stars, a 2-6-1 record since the Olympic break seems to have sealed their fate for the season. Mathematically they are still in it, but realistically it’s a long, long, long shot. They’d have to go 11-1-0 over their final 12 games to hit 95 points, which is the current pace for eighth place in the West. 

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.