What started to look like a replay of Monday’s game didn’t quite work out as the Rangers beat the Flyers 4-3 in overtime.
Mike Knuble scored twice and Jeff Carter once for the Flyers.
Two fights in the game, first was Donald Brashear vs Colton Orr which Brashear won. First fight for Brashear since December 11. Second fight was Strudwick vs Stevenson. I would have to give the fight to Strudwick. Strudwick went after Stevenson for a clean hit which resulted in injury he had on Petr Prucha. Prucha left the game with a knee injury.

Two injuries for the Flyers in the game, recently acquired Petr Nedved left the game after the first period with a groin injury. Chris Therien suffered a head injury and also left after the first period

The Flyers were playing on Therien time again, the first period lacked the energy and the emotion they needed, so again they were down a goal going into the second. After the Rangers scored their second goal making it 2-0 and the Brashear fight the Flyers woke up scoring three straight goals to take the lead 3-2 late in the game. The Rangers pulled the goalie, and scored with 28 seconds left in the game to tie. The goal was the result of a key faceoff win for the Rangers. The Flyers took a penalty at the 20 minute mark and the Rangers scored their second power play goal of the night at 1:24 into overtime.

“We’re disappointed. Our team played a great game today. We played a heck of a hockey game. We deserved a much better fate. I am sure the Rangers feel like that too. It’s the best game we played in a month and we played our two best games against the Rangers. We won one in overtime and we lost one in overtime. It was disappointing at the end to play as well as we did and lose the way we did. We lost a face off and it was on our net. We lost another face off and it was in our net. It was disappointing.” – Ken Hitchcock.

Jaromir Jagr, Mike Knuble and Mike Richards were the three stars.

The Flyers haven’t scored on the power play in the last four games.

Yeah I know I am a little late on this.

The Philadelphia Flyers lost in Buffalo to the Sabres Thursday night 4-2.
Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble each scored a goal for the Flyers.

“The first period was the one that hurt us. That had us on our heels at the start. They were ready to play and we weren’t.” – Ken Hitchcock.

So all the Flyers on Therien Time now? The Flyers looked slow, which is expected to a point since the Sabres are just a faster team. The problem was the effort. The Flyers need to start playing hard from the first drop of the puck, not halfway thru the game and not after going down by a goal. This has been routine much of the season. It’s just the past month they have stopped being able to come back.

Josh Gratton was called up from the Phantoms only to be a healthy scratch. Both Stevenson and Nedved had nagging injuries that made them questionable for the game. Usually not a big deal, but the Phantoms were off for the AHL break and Gratton and a bunch of Phantoms were kicking back in the Poconos. Being called back off vacation is bad, being called back only to be a healthy scratch just sucks.

Three stars for the game were Ryan Miller, Jochen Hecht and Taylor Pyatt
While Ryan Miller played a really good game, first star he didn’t deserve. But I contribute that to the media and the fans in the Buffalo area thinking Miller deserves to be in the Olympics and they are probably right.
Goalies on the US Olympics roster are Rick DiPietro, Robert Esche, and John Grahame. While I wont really get into who deserves to go and who doesn’t I will say this. While this year Robert Esche hasn’t been spectacular he did outstanding last season taking the Flyers to game seven of the conference finals. Team USA had to make a decision earlier in the season and since Miller did not have a lot of time in the NHL, Team USA overlooked him. If they would have made the decision closer to the Olympics he would probably be chosen.

The New York Rangers come to Philadelphia to play the Flyers later today at 5pm.
5pm??
The Flyers are coming off a 4-2 loss in Buffalo to the Sabres on Thursday. The Rangers are coming off a 5-2 win against the Islanders on Thursday.
The Flyers are 2-1 against the Rangers this season. The Flyers beat them last Monday 3-2 in overtime.

Injuries for the Flyers include Eric Desjardins, Peter Forsberg, Kim Johnsson, Keith Primeau and Branko Radivojevic.
Injuries for the Rangers include Blair Betts.

Being tied with 70 points each, this is another big division game for the Flyers. A win by the Rangers would move them into first in the Atlantic Division and third in the Eastern Conference, dropping the Flyers to fourth in the conference.

Forwards Ben Eager and Josh Gratton have been sent back down to the Phantoms. Forward Pat Kavanagh has been called up.
Robert Esche will get the start in goal.

There is a possibility that Eric Desjardins will return to the lineup before the Olympic break. He could be cleared as early as Tuesday. The Flyers have missed 254 man games to injuries this year.

The Flyers beat the Rangers for the second time this year in overtime 3-2. This was a game the Flyers really needed. Even if they would not have won, the effort was there. Hitting, hard work along the boards and energy, it was there. Giving the C to Hatcher seems to be working so far.

Scoring for the Flyers were Mike Richards and Joni Pitkanen. Pitkanen picked up two goals including the game winner in OT. The best line for the Flyers was the Richards-Savage-Brashear line. As of late Brashear is starting to impress me with his hockey skill, he is really starting to adjust to the new NHL. I still don’t think he is worth his pay against the cap. If his play continues like it is now I could see the Flyers resigning him after this year, just at a lower salary.
Michal Handzus won 71% of his faceoffs. As much as many hockey bloggers discount the Faceoff stats, one of those faceoffs did lead directly to the first goal scored by the Flyers.

Both goalies, Esche and Lundqvist played extremely well.

Stars for the game were Richards, Lundqvist and Pitkanen.

Kim Johnsson after seeing a specialist has been diagnosed with having post concussion symptoms. There is no time table for his return, but it is definitely not as bad as Primeau.
Peter Forsberg after seeing a groin specialist at Duke University has been diagnosed with having a groin strain. He should be able to start skating this weekend.

The Flyers head to New York tonight to play the Rangers. Season series tied at 1-1 between the two teams. The Flyers are coming off a 6-0 loss against the Lightning on Saturday. The Rangers are coming off a 7-1 win against the Penguins on Saturday.

Injuries for the Flyers include Eric Desjardins, Peter Forsberg, Kim Johnsson, Keith Primeau and Branko Radivojevic.
Injures for the Rangers include Blair Betts.

This is a big game with the Rangers only 3 points behind the Flyers in the division. First game for the Flyers after naming Derian Hatcher captain, we will have to see how the Flyers respond.

A couple injury notes.
Branko Radivojevic who is out with a high ankle sprain will have surgery Tuesday to remove polyps from his nasal passage.
Peter Forsberg will visit Duke University orthopedist Willam Garrett to have his groin injury examined. Garrett is an expert in groin/abdominal injuries.
Kim Johnsson will be examined by a neuro-opthamologist. He left last game with some dizziness, this from a hit earlier in the month.

Tom Layberger comes up with his list of Top 10 Agitators.

Former Flyer Ken Linseman came in at #3.
The “Rat” made sure to get in the first and last shots while distracting his opponent up and down the ice. Linseman’s antics often resulted in only the retaliatory infraction being called, further incensing his targets — who often spent the rest of the game preoccupied with trying to get even.

Bob Clarke came in at #7.
After getting under the skin of an opposing player and drawing a penalty, Clarke usually assisted on the ensuing power-play goal. If an opponent took exception to Clarke’s tactics and sought to even the score, he was usually greeted by a band of Broad Street Bullies. So, it was usually a lose-lose situation for the guys in the opposite jersey.