Flyers/Panthers Preview

 

 

 

 

PHI: 42-19 (91 pts.), 1st in Atlantic (1st in East)
FLA: 28-32 (65 pts), 4th in Southeast (13th in East)
Where: BankAtlantic Center (Sunrise, FL)

Probable Goalies
Monday: Brian Boucher (16-8, 2.44 GAA) vs. Tomas Vokoun (21-24, 2.60 GAA)
 

Broadcast Info
Tuesday, 7:30, CSN
Radio: 610 WIP

Hot (last 5) – Claude Giroux: 1 Goal/5 Assists
Not (last 5) – Mike Richards: 4 Assists/-3

Player to Watch – Nick Boynton: With Chris Pronger being out for the next 3-4 weeks, defenseman Nick Boynton suddenly becomes a key player for the Flyers. Sure there is no way to replace Pronger with his overall skill and leadership. But Boynton played well against the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night despite the Flyers’ defensive effort overall. He registered two hits and blocked four shots in 17:52 of total ice-time. Boynton had just 11:24 in total ice-time the game before against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is a veteran that has plenty of experience and even won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks last season. I think Boynton on the back end of the defense could be a big key for the Flyers down the stretch. He doesn’t have a set defensive partner yet but has been working with all the defensemen to see who he’s the most comfortable with.

Series Overview: The Flyers currently lead the season series two games to one. The Flyers won the last meeting on the road 4-2. Danny Briere and Mike Richards each had a goal to pace the Flyers. Sergei Bobrovsky was strong in net making 33 saves in the win.

In the first meeting back on November 13th, the Flyers played a great game in which Richards and Giroux each scored two goals. Scott Hartnell also added a goal in the win. They outscored the Panthers 5-1 in the first two periods on the way to an easy 5-2 win. Bobrovsky had a great game between the pipes, making 30 saves.

The second meeting was one to forget for the orange and black. The Panthers dominated the Flyers from the jump, scoring two first period goals on their way to a 5-0 win at the Wells Fargo Center. Vokoun was tremendous in net, making 26 saves in the shutout. Bobrovsky wasn’t quite as fortunate as he gave up four goals on 22 shots in the loss.

Pronger to have hand surgery

Having surgery now is good for Pronger and the Flyers. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that defenseman Chris Pronger will have surgery on his right hand and miss three to four weeks. Pronger reportedly skated in practice today but did not participate in shooting drills.  He had a CT scan on Sunday and a small fracture was discovered according to Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. The surgery will be performed on Tuesday morning by Dr. Tom Graham in Cleveland, Ohio. The injury occurred a few weeks ago when Pronger took a puck to the hand.

It’s good for Pronger to have the surgery now before the Flyers’ playoff run. The team’s last regular season game is April 9th against the New York Islanders. This gives Pronger about a month to recover from surgery. The Flyers need him healthy for the stretch run. The defense certainly hasn’t been playing well during this current slump and they need the leadership and talent of Pronger in the lineup if they are going to make a run at Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Flyers/Maple Leafs Preview

 

 

 

 

 

PHI: 41-19 (88 pts.), 1st in Atlantic (1st in East)
TOR: 29-28 (68 pts), 4th in Northeast (10th in East)
Where: Air Canada Centre (Toronto, ON)

Probable Goalies
Monday: Brian Boucher (15-8, 2.45 GAA) vs. James Reimer (12-5, 2.52 GAA)
 

Broadcast Info
Thursday, 7:00, CSN
Radio: 610 WIP

Hot (last 5) – Jeff Carter: 3 Goals/2 Assists
Not (last 5) – Chris Pronger: 1 Assist/-4

Player to Watch – Brian Boucher: Can Boucher put the horrific mess at Madison Square Garden behind him? It was the worst game of hockey that I’ve seen in quite some time. The Flyers were just outmuscled from the jump. I think Boucher will bounce back. He has proved it time and time against this season. Whenever he has a bad start, he seems to always respond with a very strong game in net. It’s still a question of which netminder will be the playoff starter. Signs may point towards Sergei Bobrovsky at the moment but a strong rebound start by Boucher tonight would strengthen his chances to get the nod. Boucher has started all three games against the Maple Leafs and had tremendous success in the first two meetings.

Series Overview: The Flyers currently lead the season series two games to one. The Maple Leafs won last Thursday in Philadelphia despite two goals from former Maple Leaf Kris Versteeg. The Flyers blew a 2-1 lead and just couldn’t solve Reimer down the stretch.

In the first meeting back on October 23rd, the Flyers played with an offensive fury and scored five goals on Jean-Sebastien Giguere on their way to a 5-1 win. They got goals from Mike Richards, Ville Leino, Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, and Blair Betts. Tgey peppered Giguere with 40 shots and seemed to play a flawless game. Boucher had 12 saves on 14 shots for the Flyers in the win.

In the second meeting on December 9th, the team got out to a hot start with first period goals from Leino and Pronger. Briere also had two goals in a 4-1 Flyers win. Boucher started once again against the Maple Leafs and had 27 saves. Mikhail Grabovski had the lone Tornonto goal in the loss.

Hamels overcomes rocky start

Cole Hamels didn’t get off to the best start in Tuesday’s game. However he did manage to regain his composure to retire 11 consecutive batters in a 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Hamels walked Randy Winn and Brendan Harris to lead off the game. That was followed by an RBI double by Jake Fox that gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

Josh Bell followed that with a sacrifice fly. It wasn’t quite the start that the Phillies’ left-hander was looking for.

Then Hamels sat down 11 consecutive batters. Overall he gave up two runs on one hit with two strikeouts and two walks bringing his spring ERA to 1.80.

Ryan Howard hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for the Phillies while Shane Victorino was two-for-three with an RBI in the win.

The Phillies were down 3-2 heading into the ninth inning. They loaded up the bases with nobody out to start the inning.

Carlos Rivero turned out to be the hero as he connected on a two-run walk-off single that scored Wilson Valdez and Josh Barfield to give the Phillies the win.

Next the Phillies will face the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday at 1:05 PM.

2B: Mayberry (2), Victorino (3) HR: Howard (3).

WP: Carpenter (1-0). LP: Rosario (0-1).

Boxscore

Blanton solid as bats come alive

Howards trots around the bases after hitting a solo home run in today's game against the Priates. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Joe Blanton took to the mound today trying to prove that he has a place in this rotation. Blanton was solid in today’s 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in Grapefruit League play.

Blanton gave up two runs on four hits with two strikeouts and a walk in 3.2 innings of work on Friday. He has been good in his first two spring training starts with an ERA of 2.70.

The Phillies got the scoring started in the first inning with back-to-back RBI singles by Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard. Howard had a huge day at the plate, hitting a home run and knocking in two runs in three at-bats.

Another encouraging sign was an RBI double by highly touted first baseman Matt Rizzotti. Wilson Valdez was three-for-four today and is looking strong playing in the outfield, which gives the Phillies some flexibility if the injury bug bites them this season.

An interesting moment took place in today’s game when the Pirates brought in pitcher Michael Dubee. Dubee is the son of Phillies’ pitching coach Rich Dubee and is in his third season in the Pirates organization.

Dubee threw allowed one hit and no runs in two-thirds of an inning.

The Phillies face the Pirates again tomorrow at 1:05 PM.

2B: Rollins (1), Rizzotti (1), Valdez (1)

WP: Meyer (1-0). LP: Nieve (0-1). S: Bastardo (1).

Boxscore

Collins Named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month

Collins has been a nice change of pace from the Eddie Jordan debacle of last season. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doug Collins was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for February. Collins guided the Sixers to a 9-3 record and their best month in eight years. It was their best month since going 8-2 in February of 2003. Collins has done an outstanding job in his season as head coach. Last season was very depressing for Sixers fans as they watched Eddie Jordan in the direction of the lottery. It wasn’t a total loss as they were able to draft Evan Turner with the #2 overall pick.

Collins has the Sixers playing well and playing above .500 basketball. The Sixers haven’t had a winning season since going 43-39 during the 2004-2005 season under Jim O’Brien. Collins preaches hard work and determination to his players. He has been around the game of basketball his whole life and it clearly shows. He was a four-time NBA All Star during his playing days. He is just a refreshing basketball mind in this city and has coached the Sixers to a winning record. He is showing that Ed Stefanski made the right hire this time around.

Phils fall to Tigers in Lee’s debut

Lee only gave up one hit in his first Grapefruit League start. (Photo by: Getty Images)

Another day another ace. Tuesday marked the spring debut of free agent acquisition Cliff Lee as the Phillies fell to the Detroit Tigers 6-2.

Lee went two innings, allowing two runs on one hit while striking out three and walking a batter. Brian Schneider and Josh Barfield had good days at the plate, both going two-for-three.

Jimmy Rollins had his first RBI of the spring on an RBI single that scored Barfield. Ben Francisco also knocked in a run on an RBI groundout to first base.

Francisco did not register a hit, going zero-for-three today but knocked in his fifth run of the spring. He has is .400 so far this spring, going 4-for-10 with a home run and five RBIs.

The Tigers jumped out early on Lee with Ryan Rayburn hitting an RBI triple. First baseman Dom Kelly then plated Rayburn on a sacrifice fly.

Rayburn had a huge day for the Tigers. He went two-for-three with two home runs and three RBIs.

Phillies fans continue to wait for Domonic Brown to register a hit this spring. He is 0-for-12 so far this spring. It’s too early to panic about the young leftfielder. But he does need to improve his play soon since Francisco already has a leg up on him.

2B: Barfield (1)

WP: Oliver (1-0). LP: Lee (0-1).

Boxscore

Flyers Inquire About Foote

The Flyers could be making another move. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers have inquired about the availability of  veteran Colorado Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote. Foote is currently sidelined with a quadriceps injury and hasn’t been very healthy over the past few seasons. He just starting practicing today so he is getting closer to returning to live action. Foote would provide depth and leadership to defensive unit that is already missing Sean O’Donnell and Oskars Bartulis. He has no goals and eight assists in 41 games this season for Colorado. In his career, he has scored 66 goals and notched 242 assists.

I think this would be a solid move for the Flyers. No matter how long O’Donnell and Bartulis are out of the lineup, it never hurts to have an insurance policy. Foote is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer so the orange and black wouldn’t have to part with much more than a late round draft pick to get him. He would provide significant leadership and has playoff experience with the Avalanche. I think it’s a move that the team should make unless they’re content with Matt Walker as their seventh defenseman.

Zherdev Waived

Despite his offensive potential, the Flyers have decided to part ways with Zherdev. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The Nikolay Zherdev experiment has come to an end. The Philadelphia Flyers placed the disgruntled forward on waivers today. The Flyers did try to find a trading partner per the request of Zherdev and his agent Jay Grossman. Unfortunately they were unable to ship out the Russian playmaker in a deal. Zherdev had 15 goals and 4 assists in 47 games.

Zherdev has been in Peter Laviolette’s doghouse for most of the season. It has been indicated that Laviolette did not like Zherdev’s work ethic. Laziness was always the knock on Zherdev and was one of the main reasons he had to play last season in the KHL. It looks like the final straw for general manager Paul Holmgren and the front office was last Friday night in Raliegh. Mike Richards was a last second scratch due to an illness and Zherdev was no where to found. The Flyers could not get ahold of him so they inserted enforcer Jody Shelley into the lineup instead.

This isn’t the way that I thought this experiment would work out. After being exiled to Russia last season, I assumed that Zherdev would’ve gotten the message that he has to work harder and be a team player. Obviously that was a message that he never received. It’s a shame because he has a tremendous offensive skillset and can be a huge goal scoring threat in the NHL. I can’t say I blame the Flyers organization for wanting to dump Zherdev like a bad habit. However it wouldn’t be the worse idea to hang onto him. If a forward were to go down after the trade deadline, Zherdev would be an immediate upgrade over anyone on the Adirondack Phantoms. He would be a great insurance policy but you really can’t blame the Flyers for making this decision. It’ll be interesting to see if they pick up another foward before the trade deadline. I really doubt Shelley will be active during the postseason.

Justice To Have Knee Surgery

Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Winston Justice will have knee surgery tomorrow in Birmingham, Ala. Dr. James Andrews will be doing cleaning out Justice’s knee. There have been reports that he could need microfracture surgery later in the offseason and could potentially miss all of next season. These reports are just speculation at this point and is simply getting his knee cleaned out this week.

Even if Justice is back to 1oo% for the start of training camp, the Eagles still need to upgrade the offensive line throughout the draft and possibly free agency. An improved offensive line would make Michael Vick’s life a lot easier when football is played again. One potential draft prospect that could be available when the Eagles pick is Wisconsin offensive tackle Gabe Carimi. Carimi is 6-7 and weight 327 pounds and is highly touted as one of the best offensive tackles in this draft. It could be a nice pickup for a team that badly needs some help on the line.