There will be no sweep in this series as the Flyers were able to beat the Sabres in game 3, 4-2. Special teams won the game for the Flyers. Brian Savage scored a short handed goal in the first period to tie up the game at 1. Peter Forsberg scored twice, with the second on the power play. Overall the Flyers were 1 for 5 on the power play, but more importantly killed off all 7 Sabres power plays. Simon Gagne added an empty netter to seal the game.
Scoring for the Sabres was Alex Kotalik in the first and Tim Connolly in the third.

Robert Esche who got more defensive support in this game stopped 26 of 28 shots. Ryan Miller stopped 23 of 26 shots. Each of them let in a soft goal, overall they played about the same.

R.J. Umberger returned to the lineup after the big hit he received in game one. Umberger had 8:16 in ice time, with one hit, one shot and was minus 1. With his return Ben Eager was a healthy scratch. Also scratched was Donald Brashear in favor of Branko Radivojevic.

As if just the win wasn’t enough there had to be more controversy surrounding Denis Gauthier. Late in the second period on the penalty kill Gauthier unintentionally speared J.P. Dumont in an area that I guess was still tender from sports hernia surgery some months ago. Plenty of Sabres fans are going nuts over this since there was no penalty called, it was intentional, he should be suspended, yada yada yada. Lets not speculate what someone’s intent was especially since the players involved say there was no intent to injure which is backed up by replay. If one wanted to speculate one could also speculate the reasoning of why Dumont supposedly under so much pain and distress was down on the ice for so long, had to be helped off the ice and had to be carried back to the dressing room by 4 individuals only to be perfectly fine to play 15 minutes later picking up 7 shifts in the third period. But I won’t go there, lets stick with what we know.

Sabres fans were also upset at the booing Dumont received while he was down on the ice. Does it show class? Nope, but as I said in the game 2 recap part of home ice advantage is have to mentally deal with what fans say/chant/scream, whatever. There was applauding as Dumont was helped off the ice, the Sabres fans must have overlooked that. One thing the fans did that I thought was a little embarrassing was not paying attention to who scored the empty net goal. If Forsberg would have scored it would mean a hatrick and the hats that come with that. But Gagne scored it and the hats came anyway, hats, shirts and even a bra according to one MSG commentator.

Teppo Numminen left the game in the second period with what is being called an upper body injury. No word yet if Sabres fans are going to blame Denis Gauthier for this injury too. Late word is that Numminen left the game with an irregular heart beat. He was diagnosed with a dilated aorta in 2004. I hope it works ok for him, the heart is one thing that you cant mess around with.

Areas that the Flyers need to improve on for game four include staying out of the penalty box, they are still taking too many undisciplined penalties. The Dimitrakos-Umberger-Carter (DUC line) needs to start contributing offensively again. They really became a scoring line in the last couple months of the season. If they could get going it would really help out the Forsberg line.

Stars for the game were Peter Forsberg, Maxim Afinogenov and Brian Savage.

Keith Primeau who was expecting to make his comeback in either game 3 or 4 has suffered a setback and most likely wont be available until the second round at the earliest.
Although his status changes from day to day so really it is hard to tell what his story is.

So Game 3 of the Sabres-Flyers series comes to Philly. The Flyers down 2-0 in the series hope to make it 2-1 tonight.
After the emotional outburst by both coaches after the last game they have seem to have settled down.

Ken Hitchcock – “I guess I need to apologize, to use a word like that on television or on radio or in print is not who I am. That’s not what I’m about, so saying it was the wrong thing.”

Lindy Ruff – “I’ve got to focus on my team and how I want them to play and that’s where it’s all going to lie. I was emotional; he was emotional. I’m over it.”

Robert Esche will be back in goal. R.J. Umberger will be returning to the lineup.
Denis Gauthier will also be in the lineup since he was not suspended.

One guy that won’t be in the lineup is Keith Primeau, well that’s what they are currently saying. Game 3 was the game I figured he would make his come back in. I do think he will play in later games. The way it sounds him playing in game 4 is a decent possibility.
Other injuried Flyers include Chris Therien and Kim Johnsson.

As Jon Sim and Mike Knuble had done earlier in the year, Freddy Meyer is keeping a players blog. Here is some of his entry from April 24.

Yesterday I woke up around 9:30 or 10:00, and Joni and I went down and had some breakfast. After that we just went back up to the room and hung out. I have my computer so I just messed around online for a little bit. ….

Ah, life of a professional hockey player.

R.J. Umberger is keeping A Rookie’s Diary over at Courier Post Online.

It was really hard for me to sit there and watch that game when I couldn’t be out there, at least going through it with my teammates. I know what they’re going through and it was tough to watch that. I felt I could have helped out. I obviously wouldn’t have changed the game much, but you hate to see your team go through something like that. ….

As a Flyer fan the Flyers play and TSN bailing on the game weren’t the only reasons to be pissed at game 2. Denis Gauthier was penalized for a check from behind on Thomas Vanek. A 5 minute major and a game misconduct, he got booted. I am not one usually one to speak the French, but that was a bullshit call. Was it worth a minor penalty, eh sure, but a major and a misconduct, no F-ing way. He checked with his right shoulder into the side and back of Vanek’s left shoulder. I looked at this hit several times on tivo and pausing the replay shown from the side it looks like they are standing next to each other with their shoulders touching. If Gautheir hit him square between the numbers I wouldn’t be complaining too much. What aggravated this more for me was the rant from Bob McKenzie during the second intermission.

A player like Denis Gauthier of the Philadelphia Flyers has a reputation in the National Hockey League. When a player like that hits someone hard, many like to jump to conclusions.

That being said, Gauthier’s hit from behind on Toronto’s Kyle Wellwood near the end of the regular season was a blatant cheap shot and it earned him a two-game suspension. He can say sorry all he wants but, obviously, Gauthier didn’t learn his lesson, because on Monday night he did it again against Thomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabres. It was a dangerous play that resulted in a five minute major.

So Bob, did you actually watch the hit? Or did someone tell you about the hit to give you something to talk about during the intermission, since the way you ranted was really embarrassing since the hit really wasn’t that bad. View both hits and tell me how at all were they similar.

I think Colin Campbell and the NHL should suspend Gauthier. This guy should forfeit the right to play in the postseason. This was a nothing game because the score was so out of hand, and Gauthier went way over the line. That’s embarrassing and he should be suspended.

He should be suspended because of one hit, because of his reputation? So much for not jumping to any conclusions. This is one problem I have with the new NHL. Anyone with a reputation is getting punished. Boarding, instigating in the last 5 minutes of play is fine if you don’t have a reputation, but if you do then it will cost you.

The NHL should go to the minor hockey rule – if the referee says it’s a hit from behind, it’s an automatic two minutes and you’re out of the game.

Hits from behind happen throughout the game, the only time they get called which is usually a boarding call is when a player is a couple feet away from the boards. Sure Bob, let’s make all hits from behind illegal. I can see it now, players skating backwards down the ice. If they aren’t skating backwards they are all facing the boards so no one can touch them.

The good news though with all this ranting is that Denis Gauthier was not suspended, because simply the hit was not and should not be a suspendable hit, nor should it have been a game misconduct.

It seems that I wasn’t the only one a bit unhappy with TSN bailing on game 2 of the series.
Here is an email a Sabres fan received back from the NHL about this issue.

Thank you for your email.
NHL Center Ice took the TSN feed of the Buffalo-Philadelphia game. Unfortunately, when the score of that game got out of hand, TSN decided to switch to Devils-Rangers. We were unaware and unable to switch feeds quickly. In the future, we will be taking feeds from the local RSNs instead of the national networks to avoid this problem.
Thanks,
NHL Center Ice
******************
http://www.nhl.com/nhlhq/centerice/index.html

This isn’t the fist time I have seen TSN change games this season. I am glad Center Ice has decided to go with more reliable feeds.

The Flyers got thumped by the Sabres in game two of the playoff series 8-2. The Sabres scored 5 goals on 10 shots in the first period. This led to Robert Esche being pulled after the first and Antero Niittymaki playing the rest of the game. Although Robert Esche was for the most part stellar in game one stopping 55 of 58 shots, he couldn’t get it going in game 2. To be honest most of those goals you really can’t pin on Esche. Defensive break downs in front of him led to the scoring chances, whether it is Desjardins trying to pinch, Rathje not covering his man on the power play or Pitkanen being out of position leading to another odd man rush. It was not just them, the entire team play very poor defensively.

Hitchcock talks about playing good positional hockey which can offset the Sabres speed and I believe it can. However the pace the Flyers play at needs to pick up. When the Flyers have the puck they need to move it more quickly and when they don’t have the puck they need to pressure the puck along with the defense being more aware of the Sabres forwards. The Flyers don’t have to try to match the Sabres skating speed, but they do need to make decisions quicker and respond quicker to things happening on the ice. For some including Philly media who view the Flyers as the glass half empty, their predictions so far have unfortunately turned out to be true.

Scoring for the Flyers were Simon Gagne a minute into the 2nd period and Petr Nedved about 6 minutes into the third. The Flyers managed 22 shots on goal, 8 in the first, 4 in the second and 10 in the third.
For the Sabres Jea-Pierre Dumont and Jason Pominville both picked up hat tricks. Chris Drury and Ales Kotalik also scored.

Robert Esche game up 5 goals on 10 shots. Antero Niittymaki gave up 3 goals on 18 shots in the 2nd and 3rd period.

Chants of USA went up during the first period from Buffalo fans. For those that don’t know. Robert Esche was picked as one of the goalies for Team USA in this past Olympics over Ryan Miller. The picks were made early in the season at the time Miller was really an unknown at least on the NHL level outside of Buffalo. But as the season progressed Miller’ stats were stronger than Esche’s and probably the other two goalies picked. So Buffalo fans thought he should have been picked decided to make themselves known with the USA chant. I agree with the TSN commentators that the fans weren’t showing much class with the chant. However this is playoff hockey and anything fans can say/yell/chant that gets the other team off their game is fair game. It just shows the Sabres fans don’t forget. In other news Brett Hull has announced that he is coming out of retirement to play for the Flyers for the rest of this series. But seriously, this game wasn’t about goalies. If one could pickup and swap the two goalies, putting Miller in the Flyers net and Esche in the Sabres, the results would have been about the same.

Although Robert Esche only played a period he did get some Hextall type action in. While skating toward the bench for a Sabres penalty call Esche went after Derek Roy for going after Forsberg which to be honest was quite funny. I always enjoy a goalie mucking it up.

R.J. Umberger who was expected to play was scratched since he didn’t pass his baseline test. In the beginning of each season each player has basically head tests done to create their baseline. So when they get wacked in the head the trainers can run tests to see how the hit to the head has affected them. Umberger failed the memory portion of the test. He will be retested before the next game. Branko Radivojevic got the start replacing him. Ben Eager also got some playing with Donald Brashear a healthy scratch. Eager had 6 minutes of icetime picking up 2 roughing, 1 tripping and 2 10 minute misconduct penalties. Even with Eagers penalties I like his speed and offensive skills over Brashear.

Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock and Sabres coach Lindy Ruff got into a little war of worlds.

Lindy Ruff – “The more they acted like idiots, the more we wanted to play.”
Ken Hitchcock – “That’s Lindy’s opinion. I’ve seen his teams do the same thing. He ought to not talk about that. . . . Tell Lindy to (expletive deleted) off. Mind his own (expletive deleted) business.”

That’s good stuff, all the emotional stuff of playoff hockey. Although quotes today from both of them backing off their comments.

Hitchcock is taking the blame for the game. “Look, it’s my responsibility to get the team ready, OK? This is on me. We were embarrassed for our fans and for the city of Philadelphia with the way we played. We’ve got to make amends when we go back home and get this series back even. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

As much as there was as a Flyer fan to complain about I also have to bitch about TSN and a lesser extent about NHL Center Ice. As I have mentioned before I have NHL Center Ice. This gives me access to all the games that are not nationally broadcasted games in the US. Center Ice picks a feed, how they decide which one, I don’t know. But last night’s game they went with TSN. Besides having to watch Canadian commercials this is really not a big deal, until last night. The Sabres were up 5-0 at the end of the first period. I am sure many fair weather fans, like Shawn decided just to turn it off. But a fan like myself although irritated at the Flyers for their play was still very interested in the game. Several minutes into the second period TSN decided that since the game was a blowout at that point they were going to cut to another game, which they did. TSN stopped showing the Flyers game and started showing the OLN feed, the Rangers vs Devils. As much as this pissed me off, this had to piss off Buffalo fans watching TSN even more. TSN did come back to the game late in the second period when the game started to get ‘chippy’ as they say, only to breakaway again during intermission. Thanks a lot TSN for showing less than half the game you were scheduled to broadcast. Center Ice apparently asleep at the wheel took them quite a while to switch to another feed, MSG with about 6 minutes remaining in the game. Thanks for the effort TSN!

Nedved scored 9 seconds after Gagne had a goal disallowed when a video review showed the net had been dislodged, which I really can’t talk about since the game wasn’t important enough for TSN to finish showing. Also missed Eagers first 10 minute misconduct and some of the ‘chippy’ play.

Just like an octopus being tossed at The Joe or tossing hats after a hat trick, there is another tried and true tradition in hockey: the mullet.

We’re not talkin’ fish here, people. We’re talkin’ hair. Big hair from the neck down.

It’s the only cut that we know that has its own motto: “business in the front, party in the back.” The only hairdo to earn a line in one of the best movies of all time, “Cool Hand Luke.” You remember, don’t you? When Dragline yelled out “mulletheads!”

We got to thinking. Who is the most famous mullethead? With all due respect to David Bowie, we say it’s Barry Melrose. And what better time to salute the mullet than the playoffs, when all that’s good and pure about hockey will shine through.

So, here is our First (and maybe only) Melrose Mullet Madness Gallery. Mr. Melrose gives his own commentary and insight as only he can. But don’t get too excited, Barry’s hair care secrets will not be revealed here.

As I expected Michal Handzus gets the nod for head of hair at #6.

The Sabres beat the Flyers 3-2 in double overtime in the first game of their playoff series.
For the Flyers Mike Knuble and Simon Gagne (power play) scored. For the Sabres Tim Connolly Jay Mckee and Daniel Briere scored.

First the bad. Peter Forsberg giving up the puck right in front of Esche leading to the first goal. Robert Esche in the first part of the game looked a little shaky. Defensively giving up 58 shots while only getting 32. Flyers took too many penalties. R.J. Umberger leaving the game. Slow start and overall being outplayed.

Now the good. The Flyers came very close to winning even though they were outplayed. The penalty kill was outstanding. Overall good energy the entire game. Robert Esche keeping the Flyers in the game. R.J. Umberger will be back in game 2. I also have to add in Over Time playoff hockey. No commercials during the period, the way it should be.

While the Sabres do get the win, the game could have easily gone either way. The Flyers need to find a way to get more pressure on Sabre’s goalie Ryan Miller. Sabres outshot the Flyers 14-6 in the first, 15-6 in the second 12-9 in the third and 17-11 in OT.

Mike Richards and Petr Nedved both were minus 2. Mike Knuble led the Flyers with 6 shots, Peter Forsberg had 2. Joni Pitkanen led the Flyers in icetime with 34:04, Donald Breashear had the least with 4:20.

Daniel Briere, Robert Esche and Jay Kckee were the three stars.

The Flyers are staying at the Millennium hotel up in Buffalo. The same hotel the Flyers stayed at for the 1975 finals. The Flyers are carrying 3 goalies in the playoffs, Robert Esche, Antero Niitymaki and Scott Munroe. Instead of calling up Jamie Storr, the Flyers went with Munroe who signed an amateur tryout contract with the Phantoms.

Ken Hitchcock has commented that there may be a few lineup changes for next game. Most people are pointing to Ben Eager who might see some ice time, which I think would be a good thing. The Flyers are carrying 31 players with them for the playoffs as compared to 24 for the Sabres. One player has traveled with the team is former captain Keith Primeau. While some has speculated that he will be back this series, what he and Ken Hitchcock has been saying is that he will not. But it is really hard to tell. Primeau states that he is 85-90 percent, but when asked if he needs to be 100% to return he says this.

“What is 100 percent?” Is 100 percent next week? Next month? . . . I’m working toward a goal. The goal is to get back. But I don’t know when that day is.”

Speculate what you want.
So next game is Monday Night, still in Buffalo. Robert Esche will be back in net, Umberger will be back, Eager might play and we get to watch some great playoff hockey again.

First game of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals has the Flyers in Buffalo, the team everyone said the Flyers don’t match up well with. The Sabres are too fast, the Flyers are too big and slow. Eh, I don’t buy it. Yeah the Sabres won 3 games out of 4, let’s look at those.
A 2-1 shootout win by the Sabres, sorry no shootouts in the playoffs. Injuries, the Flyers were missing Simon Gagne, Keith Primeau, Joni Pitkanen, Eric Desjardins, Mike Richards, Robert Esche, Turner Stevenson and Ryan Ready.
A 2-4 win by the Sabres. Ah yes, the Miller vs Esche game where all the Buffalo fans were chanting USA since they thought he deserved to be in the Olympics and Esche didn’t. Flyers had a bad period, Sabres played well. Injuries for the Flyers included Keith Primeau, Kim Johnsson, and Peter Forsberg.
A 6-5 win by the Sabres. Flyers gave up 4 goals in the second period and lost the game with 28 second remaining. No effort in the second half of the game. Injuries included Michal Handzus, Derian Hatcher, Kim Johnsson, Chris Therien and Keith Primeau.
A 4-2 win by the Flyers. Flyers played well enough to win even without Peter Forsberg, Petr Nedved and the other usuall suspects of Keith Primea, Chris Therien and Kim Johnsson.

Back in 2000/2001 the Flyers swept the Buffalo Sabres in the regular season. The Sabres took out the Flyers in the first round in 6 games. So to me that means regular seasons series doesn’t mean crap. So all that stuff above is worthless.

So let’s compare them as they are now. While Buffalo’s speed over the ‘slow’ Flyers is usually mentioned, the fact is the Flyers are much faster this year than in recent times. Carter, Richards, Umberger, Meyers, Dimitrakos, Gagne, Kapanen and Pitkanen are not slow guys, not at all. The Flyers get in trouble when the three slow defensemen get caught up ice. If they play smart defensively and pair up a slow guy with a faster guy this shouldn’t be a problem. The Flyers have also looked slow at times when it came to effort. There is no reason to have low energy play in the playoffs.
The Dimitrakos-Carter-Umberger line has really come on offensively lately, the Flyers are not a one line team anymore. Big games, star players, Peter Forsberg and even Petr Nedved.
So who is definitely not going to be in game one? Keith Primeau, Kim Johnsson and Chris Therien. Robert Esche gets the start in goal vs rookie Ryan Miller. Esche’s play will depend on how solid the Flyers defense is in front of him. Sure the Flyers are banged up a bit, but with 3 days off they should be ready to go. Of course I’m picking the Flyers to win the series. But many other people are thinking different.

Who is picking the Sabres in this series, John Buccigross, Bob McKenzie, Pierre McGuire, Bill Berg, Maggie the Monkey, Bill Clement, habs blog, HockeyAnalysis, Tim Panaccio, Hockey Country, Hockey Dirt, Sabres Report, Tom Benjamin, the habs.

Who is picking the Flyers in this series, Darren Pang, Canucks Hockey Blog, James Mirtle, Jes Golbez, The Puck Stops Here.

So the first round for the Flyers have them matched up against the Buffalo Sabres. The schedule is as follows.

Game One – Saturday, April 22
Philadelphia at Buffalo – 7:00 p.m.
TV: OLN,TSN,CSN,MSG

Game Two – Monday, April 24
Philadelphia at Buffalo – 7:00 p.m.
TV: TSN,CSN,MSG

Game Three – Wednesday, April 26
Buffalo at Philadelphia – 7:00 p.m.
TV: TSN,CSN,MSG

Game Four – Friday, April 28
Buffalo at Philadelphia – 7:00 p.m.
TV: OLN,TSN,CSN,MSG

If necessary – Game Five, Sunday, April 30
Philadelphia at Buffalo – 2:00 p.m.
TV: NBC,TSN

If necessary – Game Six, Tuesday, May 2
Buffalo at Philadelphia – 7:00 p.m.
TV: TSN,CSN,MSG

If necessary – Game Seven, Thursday, May 4
Philadelphia at Buffalo – 7:00 p.m.
TV: TSN,CSN,MSG

There will be a Flyers Pep Rally in the Rotunda of the Shops at Liberty Place on Friday at noon. Bob Kelly, Bernie Parent and Lauren Hart will be in attendance. Playoff tickets and other prizes can be won at the pep rally.