Game #2-2: Flyers Dome

Big win for the Flyers last night. So why is it so hard to identify the men responsible? One of those nights, I guess.

Dome hockey team
They're going into the last minute with these 6 against the Montreal Canadiens (and they're attached to the ice, so they're not coming off)...

Forwards

Jeff Carter
– I've always been a bit indifferent to Jeff Carter when I've seen him. But I will say this, on the Flyers, he is looking like a pretty classy guy. That's saying next to nothing of course. Every half decent play from the Flyers last night was a result of something Jeff Carter did. And, fault Carey Price all you want, but if Plekanec was shooting like Carter did on his goal, we'd have won - a very good corner pick from a non-angle

R J Umberger
– if I'm indifferent about Carter, I would have to take that even farther for Umberger. I won't - that's how little I care. His 2-goal performance was memorable because though he scored the game breakers, he did virtually nothing else. An indication of how badly the Flyers forwards, in particular were outplayed, is his presence in the dome despite my disdain

Mike Richards
– he played quite poorly and got away with it - a perfect representative for his team. He played dirty and got away with it - again a perfect representative of his team. Maybe he's too busy thinking about his promised $80000 a game


Defencemen

Kimmo Timonen
- played well. He played the most of any Flyer, and actually looked good while doing it. He was not on the ice for any of the Canadiens goals, though he was on for plenty of chances. Mind you, he was on the ice for 3 Flyers goals as well. He has not had the impact Chara had in the previous series, but has been the best Flyer nonetheless

Randy Jones
- in the same way Hamrlik deserves a lot of credit for playing with Brisebois, so Jones with Hatcher. Hatcher can do what he does, but then it will take him a fair amount of time to get to where he needs to be next. Randy Jones, a bit more fleet of foot has helped this pairing to be an effective one. The two of them together are the reason we're all asking what has happened to Plekanec. A +2 performance with some decent stats to go with, get him in the dome


Goaltender

Marin Biron
- I was harsh to put Nittymaki in. Biron plays a solid game. While some of his spectacular saves in fact turn out to be misses or posts, he did make a couple of enormously important glove saves to stop the Canadiens comeback in its tracks (heard of the glove hand Carey? you can move it too). What e did best last night though was to make the easy saves. Every time Steve Begin, Mathieu Dandenault or some other non-goalscoring forward took a shot, it was a Canadiens turnover. This was thanks to solid positioning and preparedness from Biron. He has shown, it takes patience to get a goal past him - something the Canadiens do not seem to have at the moment. The first star for his team for certain

Game #2-1: (Belated) Flyers Dome

Another busy day, another delay in Opponents Dome. But watching the opposition is half the fun, so keep an eye on these six to see if they can solidify their claim to dome positions tonight...

Dome hockey team
They're going into the last minute with these 6 against the Montreal Canadiens (and they're attached to the ice, so they're not coming off)...

Forwards

Scottie Upshall
– can I please just call you Scott? you are not 5, though you are on the right team if 5-year old histrionics is what you are best at. Scott played a good game in that he did what he does best. He won a lot of pucks and won a critical penalty from Mike Komisarek. In fact, I think he was the man responsible for taking Komi's head right out of the game. We need Lapierre to be more like this pest.

Jim Dowd
– probably just the Habs connection, but I really noticed him in Game 1. In terms of stats, he was the best Flyer forward by a long shot (no pun intended). In addition, he scored the only legitimate goal for the men in orange and black - a nice one at that.

Patrick Thoresen
– he made the nicest offensive play of the night for the Flyers with that pass to Jim Dowd. Other than that, he was on the best Flyers line and isn't named Downie (who I have given a lifetime suspension from all dome appearances, as should the NHL, for that hit on Bergeron).

Putting Thoresen in is also a reflection on how bad the Flyers true stars - Briere and Prospal - were on the whole, while trying to shake coverage. Stats maven Jeff at Sisu hockey shows that: "The Briere line was utterly destroyed, but through dumb luck managed to keep opponents off the scoreboard." with some crazy stats I find hard to decipher, but great to look at.


Defencemen

Kimmo Timonen
- If someone as in-tune as Jeff at Sisu hockey says so, I listen: "Timonen was dominant but through some bad luck wound up -2." Mike Boone may be ignorant about Timonen (in the puckcast he claims not to be able to tell Finnish players apart), but Timonen was the Flyers best defenceman as expected. I thought that Koivu in particular was well contained, and even Kovalev for the majority of the game barring SH breaks, PP and late faceoffs. Timonen was responsible in large part for this

Derian Hatcher
- played a solid game, that was enhanced by the fact he was allowed to get away with an awful lot. He may be slow, but on a couple of occasions he demonstrated why he is still in the league - his strength. He's also in here due to the fact that none of his compatriots did anything too exceptional over the night, he also played the most even strength minutes of any Flyer after Coburn. The best play he made was holding the puck along the boards for about 15 seconds, thereby running down the clock at the end of the period


Goaltender

Antero Nittymaki
- you can't make the dome if you play like Biron did. It's nothing personal, and it's happened to Price many times, as well. 2 posts, that Kostitsyn goal, and the tying and the winning goals could all have been saves on a better night. Stevens thought Biron was good, so we'll likely see him again. Nittymaki would start for me in a dome hockey game