Bobby Clarke is in denial, Ed Snider is too pissed-off to go onto Daily News Live to talk about the season, and Ken Hitchcock is in the last year of his contract. In case you didn’t figure it out already, only one of those three statements is a good thing.

Management – Bobby Clarke is honestly a great general manager, but it’s time to realize his master plan for the 05-06 season blew up in his face, horribly. Yes, injuries were part of the problem, but not the top reason, as he would tell you. The major flaw in his plan was the speed factor. He over-estimated the value of speed in the new NHL, especially with defense. Bob, stay-at-home defensemen ARE obsolete, not close-to obsolete.

Coaching – Many fans are dazed and confused, and feel this is more of a coaching problem then management. WRONG. Coaching has an effect on management, yes, but Hitch did the best job he could do with what he was handed. I do feel that he influenced the signing of Derian Hatcher, and for that, he gets an F. Mr. Snider and Clarky need to ensure Hitch gets an extension and soon, or the upcoming season could be a disaster.

Let’s talk about moves for a second. The first moves have to be to get rid of Hatcher and Rathje. They take up 1/7 of what I believe to be a 42 million dollar salary cap this coming year. Before you criticize this, please note that Hatcher was one of my top 3 non-Flyer favorite players before he was signed here. The fact is, that his time is up in this NHL. I’m not sure what you do with Therien, since his contract is only $500k, either buy-out or move him to the minors. Desjardins is in the last year of his contract, and at his age, I’m not sure that it’s the right time to re-sign him. Brashear and Savage are already gone, so I can’t really comment on that move. I also believe Clarky is going to buy-out Stevenson’s contract (thank God!).

The rookies on this team seem to be of endless talent. I’m sure you’ve already heard of Umberger, Carter, and Richards. However, don’t forget about Freddy Meyer who could easily be the back-stop of this defense core within a year or two, and Ben Eager, a gritty forward who could take the place of Brian Savage.

With (what I hope to be) 8.2 million dollars of free cap room, the Flyers need to make 2 or 3 key pick-ups. Kim Johnsson is a question mark for this up-coming year, so you need veteran quick defensemen, at a one or two year deal. They should also pick up another defenseman, on a more long-term deal that has quickness, and scoring ability, and youth on his side. Finally, there is a need for a class-act forward still on this roster to fill in on the 3^rd line. I’m not sure where I would turn for this. At the trade deadline, I would have said Recchi, but he is now almost 40, and I don’t think that’s a risk worth taking.

So there is your food for thought, I would appreciate your comments, and before I leave you, here is my predicted Flyers depth chart for the 2006-2007 NHL season. It is my opinion that with the right management decisions this off-season, the Flyers will return and be a Stanly Cup contender this coming season.

Gagne – Knuble – Forsberg
Dimitrakos – Primeau – Kapanen
Carter – Umberger – Nedved
Richards – Handzus – Radiovojevic

Johnsson – Pitkanen
Meyer – Gauthier
? – ?

The flyers have once again disappointed in this series, with an embarrassing, and this time, home loss to the Buffalo sabers. The final score of 7-1 was bad enough, but there are other aspects that should be absolutely disheartening to Flyers fans. First, let’ recap the game.

The Flyers actually got off to a good start, they applied 10 minutes of constant pressure, and virtually no (at least not noticeable to me) turnovers. Then, it unraveled, yet again. A Forsberg pass gone wrong resulted in a 2-on-1 battle in the corner which our Desjardins lost. The puck was then brought out front, and passed to a wide open Mike Greir who deposited the puck into the gaping net. 1-0 Buffalo.

It continued from there, including the departure of Robert Esche (perhaps, for the last time) and another of his tantrums. First off, this guy is a great goaltender, but was simply hung out to dry in this series to constant odd-man rushes. Let me point out, that these odd-man rushes could have been avoided if the Flyers weren’t always behind and having to chase the game. I don’t have the exact count but at least 4 of the Buffalo goals were on odd-man rushes.

The final result, was a 7-1 loss, and the end of the Flyers season. It was a season that could have been remembered for promising rookies who stepped in to fill the roll of proven veterans, and for injuries that were overcome, and for a NHL record 12 game road trip which the Flyers dominated. Instead, it will be remembered for the way this team was heavily dominated both offensively and defensively in their first round series against the Buffalo Sabers.

This is a pathetic, yet necessary reminder that the Flyers team is NOT built for the new NHL. My top 3 favorite non-Flyers included Derian Hatcher. Unfortunately, Derian is not a new NHL player. The slow defense core of this team and it’s inability to get back cost the Flyers dearly in this series. The absence of the second, third, and fourth lines also did them in. The problem is not that these lines are not good, but that they just didn’t show up.

This Flyers fan is disgusted at the end result of this season, and that it could have been prevented with better management decisions. But, for tonight, we’ll focus on just this game, and unfortunately, it’s going to leave a bad taste in our mouths for quite some time. In the coming days, and weeks, we’ll begin to look to the off-season, and discuss what moves should be done by management.

For the first 5 games of the series each game was won by the home team. The Sabres had none of that in game 6 as they beat the Flyers 7-1.
The Flyers started the game playing pretty decent, at least positionally but they were not hitting. The lack of physical play made no sense to me. Here you are facing elimination in own building, how do you not get up for that? No hitting, no physical play. So it appears the Flyers packed it in for the game and the season very very early.

As in the other 5 games the Sabres scored first with Mike Grier picking up a goal around the 11 minute mark. Ales Kotalik and Derek Roy also scored in the first period making it a 3-0 Sabres lead after one. In the second Jason Pominville and Maxim Afinogenov scored giving the Sabres a 5-0 lead. Late in the period the Flyers finally get on the scoreboard with Branko Radivojevic picking up his first goal of the playoffs making it 5-1. Less than a minute later the Sabres push the lead back out to 5 goals with a goal by Chris Drury. In the third Chris Drury scored his second goal of the game shorthanded which was the final with the Sabres on top 7-1.

Robert Esche was pulled in the second period after giving up 5 goals on 17 shots. Antero Niittymaki played the rest of the game giving up 2 goals on 11 shots. Typical storyline a couple soft goals by Esche the rest defensive breakdowns by the guys in front of him.

There are news stories around today about how Robert Esche got a standing ovation when he was pulled in the second period. As a fan there at the rink, to me it didn’t seem like an ovation for Esche, but rather a standing ovation for Niittymaki being put in the game. It is no secret that a large section of Flyer fans prefer Niittymaki over Esche. So the articles are a little confusing to me. I do have to say that goaltending did not lose the series for the Flyers. The guys in front of him were more to blame.

Niko Dimitrakos was scratched and replaced by Ben Eager.
Ken Hitcock – “I feel there is no easy ice right now. You have to fight for space on the ice and go into hard areas offensively and defensively, and compete at a high level if you expect to get scoring chances. That’s why Ben is in there. He is a competitive player who creates space for other people. He is very strong on the puck. He is good at creating energy for us. He has decent skills.”
Eager was -3 with 7:32 minutes of ice time. Personally I don’t see how you take a guy that was called up from your AHL team, play him 25 games from November to January send him back down only to stick him in game 2 and 6 of the playoffs and expect him to contribute at all. I have always thought he should have stayed up with the Flyers the entire year.

Simon Gagne was also -3. Peter Forsberg and Mike Knuble were each -4.

Stars for the game were Chris Drury, Mike Grier and Derek Roy.

It has to be said that the better team won the series. While the Flyers do have the bigger stars, the Sabres played better as a team. Better both offensively and defensively and healthier which also was a big factor.

Some Flyers stats for the series.
Peter Forsberg had 4 goals, Simon Gagne 3 and Peter Neved 2. 5 other Flyers had 1.
Peter Forsberg had 4 assists, Eric Desjardins and Mike Knuble 3, 3 other Flyers had 2 and 4 other Flyers had 1.
Peter Forsberg and Simon Gagne were at +2, on the bottom Denis Gauthier, Mike Richards and Freddy Meyer were -5.
Simon Gagne had 26 shots, Mike Knuble had 17, Peter Forsberg and Sami Kapanen had 12. Kapanen had no goals.
Robert Esche won 2 and lost 4, faced 176 shots gave up 22 goals with 154 saves, 4.20 GAA, .875 save %.
Antero Niittymaki played in 2 games, faced 29 shots gave up 5 goals with 24 saves, 4.11 GAA, .828 save %.
For Buffalow Ryan Miller won 4 and lost 2, faced 159 shots gave up 13 goals with 146 saves, 2.02 GAA, .918 save%.

Obviously with the Flyers losing in the first round the way they did will raise a lot of questions about what they should do next. There will be plenty of time this summer for that discussion.

Buffalo Sabres take game 5 beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0. This gives the Sabres a 3-2 lead in the series as it heads back to Philly for game 6. Sabres scored one goal in each period. Tim Connolly in the first on the power play, J.P. Dumont in the second on the power play and Maxim Afinogenov in the third at even strength.

While officiating was bad in the game, i.e. the penalty to Savage which led to the second goal or the kneeing incident with Nedved, it was not the deciding factor in the game. The Flyers were simply outplayed.

Ken Hitchcock – “Their checking tenacity — not their speed — controlled the tempo of the hockey game.”

Agreed, I would also add hustle and heart. The Sabres were the more determined team on the ice.

Robert Esche played another solid game even with giving up the three goals. He stopped 30 of 33 shots. Ryan Miller stopped all 24 shots.

Lineup for the Flyers was the same as the last couple games. Turner Stevenson, Ben Eager, Donald Brashear and Ryan Potulny were healthy scratches. Chris Therien, Keith Primeau and Kim Johnsson injured.
For Buffalo Teppo Numminen returned after missing game 4 with an irregular heartbeat, Jochen heckt was scratched due to injury.

Stars for the game were Ryan Miller, Tim Connolly and Mike Grier.
Although Miller did get the shutout, stand on his head in goal he did not. His defense in front of him kept the pressure to a minimum.

For game 6, the Flyers need to do several things. Still, improve the penalty kill. Giving up 2 pp goals on 6 chances can not be part of the plan. Flyers need to find a way to put more pressure on Miller, three shots in the first is not good enough. Neither is 7 shots in the third when already behind. However, the biggest thing the Flyers need to do is score the first goal which has not happened yet this series.

So this is it, possibly the last game of the year for the Flyers. There can’t be anymore excuses for lack of energy, sub par play or lack of heart. There is no tomorrow, and they need to play like it.

OLN has dropped the ball with NHL hockey coverage this year. TSN dropped the ball with playoff coverage of game 2. Now NBC has dropped the ball on playoff coverage of game 5. At some point mid way thru the third period NBC decided to switch from the Flyers-Sabres game to the Avalanche-Star game. I can not put into words how pissed off I was from this bush league move. What the F were they thinking? I suspect if this ever happened with other professional sports there would be hell to pay. Total bullshit.
At least they didn’t switch to a showing of Heidi.

There have been big momentum shifts in the Buffalo-Philadelphia series. Buffalo looked so good in the first two games, Philadelphia looked good in games three and four.

And what a big change for Peter Forsberg. In the first two games, he didn’t play well at all but, back on home ice, he was absolutely dominant (back-to-back two-goal, one-assist performances), just like the Peter Forsberg of old who dominated the playoffs with the Colorado Avalanche.

How are the Buffalo Sabres going to stop him? [.continue.]

Bob McKenzie tries to figure out how Buffalo is going to stop Peter Forsberg. He doesn’t know how.

It will be interesting to see how Buffalo as well as the Flyers responds in game 5.
Each team has won their home games. Was it the fans? The matchups the home team gets that come with home ice?
Hard to say, looking at games 1 and 2, the Flyers played at 2 different levels. The fist game went well even with the loss. The second game they lost discipline and focus. Games 3 and 4 effort and play were about the same.

Can Forsberg have big games in Buffalo? For the Flyers to win the series he needs to.

Looking ahead to the next round, the next opponent for the Flyers or the Sabres look a little clearer after today.

With Ottawa eliminating Tampa Bay and New Jersey eliminating the Rangers, the next round opponent for the Flyers or Sabres will be either one of two teams.

If Carolina wins their series over Montreal, then the Flyers would face Ottawa. If Montreal would win over Carolina then the Flyers would face New Jersey.

Personally, I would rather the Flyers face Ottawa. So go Canes! 🙂

The Flyers hold on to win game 4 by the score of 5-4. Sabrespeed failed Buffalo again.

Sabres score the first goal again as they have done all series with a great deflection by Thomas Vanek on the power play. Daniel Briere scored with a lot of help from Eric ‘Mr. fall down’ Desjardins giving the Sabres a 2-0 lead. Robert Esche stopped Briere on a breakaway only to have Desjardins fall, slide and push himself, Esche and the puck into the goal. Two minutes later Desjardins vindicates himself with scoring the Flyers first goal of the night making it a 2-1 Sabres lead. In the second period Peter Forsberg picked up his 3rd goal of the playoffs to tie the game at 2. Derek Roy was awarded a penalty shot for the Sabres, but he missed. In the third Petr Nedved picked up a power play goal giving the Flyers a 3-2 lead. Later Daniel Briere scored his second goal of the night on a 5 on 3 Sabres power play to against tie the game at 3. R.J. Umberger then scored a soft goal giving the Flyers back the lead at 4-3. Umberger’s goal was the first by a Flyers rookie in this postseason. Peter Forsberg scored his second of the night at 19:11of the third period, an empty netter. Sabre’s goalie Ryan Miller was caught heading off the ice for a potential extra man advantage. This gave the Flyers a 5-3 lead and with Rory Fitzpatrick taking a hooking penalty at 19:31 the Flyers on the power play, mentally started celebrating too soon. Sabre’s Mike Grier scored short handed at 19:41 pulling the Sabres within a goal with the score 5-4. The Flyers were able to survive the last 19 seconds winning a couple critical face offs and having the Sabres take another minor penalty.

R.J. Umberger after scoring his goal, “I’ve seen that hit enough. So you guys can stop showing that and show the goal over and over now.”

Yeah that’s not going to happen.

While Peter Forsberg was the man for the Flyers offensively, Robert Esche deserves equal praise for his work in goal. The only goal I would fault Esche for is the Grier goal, but I suspect mentally his mind was elsewhere, like the majority of Flyers and fans at that point. He was clearly better than Miller last night. I have heard some rumblings from the Buffalo faithful that Martin Biron should get the start in game 5.

Although the Flyers did give up 2 power play goals out of 4 kills, they are playing a more disciplined game. They did not go after Sabres taking bad penalties as in previous games. Unlike one Paul Gaustad of the Sabres. I am not seeing any Flyers fans demanding suspension and such, just a few commenting on what he did was wrong. Like ripping off Umberger’s helmet and giving him a good face wash when it is well known his nose is broken. I could understand if Umberger was involved in some sort of scrum, but he wasn’t, just standing there. Then there is the Gaustad’s charging penalty on Gauthier. While I am sure many of Sabres fan enjoyed it and didn’t think it was a penalty, it most obviously was. It wasn’t really charging, more like checking from behind. And if Gauthier was a foot or two closer to the boards, it would have been a much more dangerous hit. This makes me wonder though, if he was closer to the boards, would have Gaustad been served a major and tossed from the game. I also wonder if Sabres fans would be calling for his suspension with as much energy as they called for Gauthier.

Healthy scratches again for the Flyers were Turner Stevenson, Donald Brashear Ryan Potulny and Ben Eager. Chris Therien, Kim Johnsson and Keith Primeau still injured for the Flyers. For Buffalo Teppo Numminen was out with his heart condition. Jochen Hecht left the game with an upper body injury in the second period after mixing it up a bit with Forsberg.

Peter Forsberg, Robert Esche and Daniel Briere were the three stars of the game.

The series is tied at 2 games a piece. So it’s a best of 3 now. For the ‘idiots’, I mean Flyers, they need to win at least one game in Buffalo to win the series. Also for a chance to see the Captain back on the ice this season.