Another Flyers season ends but the future remains bright

It really wasn't supposed to happen this way for the Flyers, at least not this season.  No, I'm not talking about how the Flyers weren't supposed to lose to the Devils; the Flyers weren't supposed to even get to the second round this season.

After making drastic changes last offseason, the Flyers instantly entered a rebuilding mode, one that will feature a number of young players who are years away from their primes.  Sure, the Flyers were still supposed to be competitive but they really weren't expected to be serious Cup contenders until the kids had a chance to develop.  Really, anything that happened this season was gravy.

So why is it still so disappointing to see them lose to the Devils on Tuesday and get ousted from the playoffs?  Mostly because of how much fun it was to see these upstart Flyers stick it to the Penguins in one of the most entertaining series of games in many years.  To follow up all of that entertainment with four straight losses to the Devils in a series of games that were very uneventful was what was so disappointing.

The future is very bright with these Flyers. Claude Giroux could still get better.  The 8 rookies that hogged all the ice time this season should only improve with even more experience.  Chris Pronger hopefully will return.  Ilya Bryzgalov will hopefully keep his head on straight.  There is a lot to like about the future of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Despite all of this, it still hurts to see them lose to a Devils team that doesn't really feel like a great team. Hey, we'll always have that Penguins series.
(Getty Images)

Flyers kick Penguins to the curb

Pennsylvania now belongs to the Flyers. 

There was certainly reason to be nervous after how Games 4 and 5 went but the Flyers quickly put any thoughts of a possible Penguins series win to bed by jumping out to an early lead in Game 6 and never looking back.  In the series that had a little bit of everything, Game 6 was fairly normal as the Flyers dominated from start to finish, winning 5-1 to send the Penguins packing.

Claude Giroux set the early tone for the Flyers, first crushing Sidney Crosby then picking up a goal 32 seconds into the game.  Giroux later added a pair of assists and continues his emergence into the upper echelon of hockey players.  In a series that featured Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, supposedly two of the top 5 players in the world, Claude Giroux was often the best player on the ice.

The series was also a coming out party for Sean Couturier, who not only had a hat trick in Game 2 but also made it his personal mission to shut down Malkin.  While Malkin had a fair amount of points, Couturier shut him down at critical moments and continually got under his skin.  It will be a lot of fun watching the 19 year old Couturier own Malkin for years to come.

With the Penguins pushed aside, the Flyers now wait for their next opponent.  Who they will play is still pretty up in the air depending on the outcomes of the Rangers/Senators and Bruins/Capitals series.  With the Flyers already having beaten the supposed Cup favorite, a deep playoff run certainly seems like a strong possibility.

Claude Giroux fights?!?

The Flyers played one of their worst games of the season on Thursday night, losing to the Islanders 4-1, but there was one interesting development in the game: Claude Giroux fought:
 
He certainly is much better with the stick than the fists.  Perhaps this will help him snap out of his offensive funk.

Shutout! Bryzgalov, Flyers blank Devils

It's been a long, long time since the Flyers had a shutout.  85 games to be exact.  It's only fitting, then, that the supposed savior between the pipes ends the drought.  Ilya Bryzgalov stopped all 20 shots he faced as the Flyers blanked the Devils, 3-0, to remain unbeaten through two games.  Here are a few of my thoughts on the game:

-Bryzgalov gets credit for the shutout but he didn't have to do much work as he had some long stretches between shots.  That is often more difficult for goaltenders to have sporadic work than to be in the middle of the action for the entire game so Bryz certainly earned his shutout.

-Plenty of credit for the shutout should also go to the penalty killers, who were a perfect 5 for 5.  The Flyers continue to give the kids, Sean Couturier and Matt Read, plenty of penalty kill time and they haven't dissapointed.  Read also notched his first career goal and will be fun to watch develop over the course of the season.

-I said after the last game that Claude Giroux would score 40 goals this season but I might amend that to 50 goals.  With the way he is already clicking with JVR and Jaromir Jagr, 100 total points really doesn't seem to far-fetched for Giroux.

-It's hard not to notice all the things that Wayne Simmonds does well on the ice.  He only got 12:52 of ice time but he made the most of it, picking up a goal, a fight and 4 shots on net.  If Brayden Schenn turns out to be the player everyone thinks he will be, the Flyers won't have any regrets about trading Mike Richards.

Two games in and 82-0 is still in play for the Flyers!  After the disappointment of the ending of the Phillies season, this hard-working Flyers team is the perfect thing to wash away the pain.
(AP PHOTO)

New-look Flyers win season opener

After knocking off the defending champs, the Flyers are on their way to a perfect season!  Ok, not really, but the Flyers did look pretty impressive in their season opening 2-1 win over the Bruins.  Here are my thoughts on the win:

-It was exciting to see all the new faces and what their contributions would be to the Flyers.  With more than half a dozen skaters suiting up for the Flyers for the first time, we almost needed a scorecard to keep up with the action.  Of the newcomers, I was most impressed with Matt Read, Wayne Simmonds and, of course, Jaromir Jagr.  Read didn't get a ton of ice time but he did play some on the penalty kill and was aggressive.  Simmonds picked up a few penalties but he will quickly become a Flyers fan favorite.

-Jagr and Claude Giroux are going to be fun to watch this year.  The two playmakers worked together for their first of many goals tonight and had several quality chances throughout the night.  Giroux could easily get 40 goals playing with a motivated Jagr.

-No, it wasn't that elusive shutout the Flyers have been looking for, but Ilya Bryzgalov looked solid in net.  While he only had to face 23 shots, Bryzgalov stayed sharp and buckled down after giving up the first period goal.  It's way too early to tell if he is a significant upgrade in net but that was as good a start as you can ask for.

-Waaaaay too many penalties for the Flyers.  It's an issue that has plagued this club since their inception but the Flyers continue to give their opponents too many power play opportunities.  Maybe they just wanted to test out their PK?

-I'm not a big fan of Zac Rinaldo.  At all.  I like Jody Shelley better and that's really saying something.

At the very least, this should be a very interesting season for the Flyers with all the new players in the lineup.  While I still have some worries about where the offense is going to come from (besides the top line), their defense and goaltending should keep them in most games.

Giroux the only Flyer to make the All-Star team

I guess the NHL is trying to tell us that having the best team in the Eastern Conference doesn't necessarily mean you have the best players.

The NHL announced the rosters for the 2011 All-Star game and, surprisingly, only one Flyer made the team: Claude Giroux. While Giroux is having a great season, the Flyers had at least two other players who are equally deserving in Danny Briere and Mike Richards. Given that Briere is 7th in the league in goals, it's fair to call him a snub and the only likely explanation as to why he wasn't named to the team was that he asked the league not to pick him.

Of course, before we get too angry about who was left off, it's important to give Giroux his due. The 28 year old is averaging nearly a point per game and has developed into the player we all thought he could be, already hitting career highs in goals, assists and points this season.

Still, only one All-Star from the best team in the East? Come on, NHL!

Claude Giroux signs contract extension with Flyers

We will be graced with the presence of Claude Giroux in orange and black for at least a few more years. After a hot start this season, the Flyers have smartly signed Giroux to a contract extension that will keep him with the team for three more years for 11.25 million, a cap hit of 3.75 million per year.

For the Flyers, this is the right signing at the right time for the right price. Giroux has been incredible this season, using his slick passing skills and his incredible vision on the ice to pick up 7 goals and 7 assists through 15 games. To get a player of his skill wrapped up for a few years for such a reasonable salary is a smart move no matter how you look at it.

One has to wonder what the signing of Giroux means for the Flyers plans with Jeff Carter, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and will command a much higher salary. You can bet the Flyers will now be hard at work trying to wrap up Carter, if they can even afford him.

Flyers continue to own CONSOL Energy Center

Talk about a home away from home.

The Flyers are making themselves feel right at home at the Penguins new building, winning for the second time this season at the CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night. While both wins ended with the same 3-2 score, the season opening game and the game tonight started off on completely different notes.

From the drop of the puck, this one was ugly as the two rivals went after each other right away, with Mike Richards and Matt Cooke fighting just 6 seconds into the game. Things only escalated from there, as Jody Shelley and Deryk Engelland also dropped the gloves 17 seconds later and the two teams met for another scrum just a minute and a half into the game. All told, there were 9 penalties for 30 minutes in the first 2:35 of the game.

Things settled down from there as there were just a few scattered penalties by each team from that point forward. With all the penalties early on, the Penguins had several long stretches of power play time, but the Flyers shut them down, finishing the game a perfect 6 for 6 on the penalty kill.

The player of the game for the Flyers was Claude Giroux, who continued his breakout season by scoring two goals, one of them a shorthanded tally, his third of the season. With 6 goals in 10 games this season, the 22 year old Giroux is making himself quite a highlight reel and is on pace for nearly 50 goals this season.

The other Flyers goal was scored on a deflection by Dan Carcillo, who played in place of Nikolay Zherdev, who was a surprise scratch. Zherdev had recently been demoted to the 4th line in practice for his poor defensive play and Peter Laviolette seems to be sending a message to the young, enigmatic winger. Let's hope Zherdev responds and doesn't go into a funk like he did with the Blue Jackets a few years back.

While they are still trying to find a consistent mix, the win over the Penguins was the Flyers second straight and it did push them to the top of the Atlantic Division standings. The game against the very beatable Islanders tomorrow should tell us a lot about whether this team has turned a corner or whether they are going to be complacent once again against a team they should be able to handle.
(AP PHOTO)