[Boxscore] – [Wire Recap] – [SBN Game Page] – [Carolina Reaction]
[Shift Charts] – [Head-to-Head TOI] – [Corsi and Fenwick] – [5-on-5 Faceoffs]
It’s appropriate that the Whalers changed their name to the Hurricanes, because tonight the windows were blown out of the RBC Center.
Ville Leino set up two beautiful goals (only one of which counted) and Jeff Carter scored thrice (his second career hat trick) before the game or the scoring was half done.
Justin Peters then got off to a great start after replacing Cam Ward following Carter’s third. Peters held strong for over twenty minutes before giving up an absurd shortie on a Flyers 1-on-0 that led directly to a Flyers 2-on-1, with Claude Giroux selflessly handing Mike Richards a goal. But then he cleared a puck from the corner straight to Scott Hartnell, and goals from Danny Briere and Nikolai Zherdev followed before the bell finally tolled.
This was not a bad Hurricanes team the Flyers took on tonight. They were over .500, and 4-2-0 at home before tonight. But the Flyers true are an elite National Hockey League team right now, and it’s a lot of fun to watch them do this on a fairly regular basis.
Leftover bullets, because the Flyers fired surprisingly few shots in this one:
- Right to that point, the Flyers were outshot 36-26 in this game. Has any team ever outshot the opponent by ten and yet lost by seven? I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer was no.
- I am not one for getting involved in too many comment debates here (not that there’s anything wrong with them), but I really hope this was a mind changer of a game for a lot of Jeffie’s detractors out there. It’s not ironic when he scores–he’s only a season removed from being one of the top three goal scorers in the league, and he’s on pace for about 42 this season.
- Stopping 35 of 36 is good for a 97.2% save percentage, yet Sergei Bobrovsky manages to be an afterthought in this story. I said it in the game thread and I’ll say it again: I am more confident and calm with Bob in net than I have ever been with a Flyer goaltender in decades of fandom.
- Whatever the opposite of a silver lining is, it has to be the continued bad luck of Andrej Meszaros. Again, for the second straight game, Meszaros looked to have scored for the first time in ages, only to have a tip-in determined later. The guy deserves his own offensive dynamo moment.
- This win, a six goal drubbing, is worth the same points-wise for the Flyers as a shootout win would’ve been. Fix that, NHL.
I am just about utterly convinced that the Philadelphia Flyers are the best team in hockey right now. And that makes me happy.
After the jump, questions answered, a comment of the night, and your giddy comments. Keep them coming ’til sunrise and beyond.
Questions Answered:
- The Flyers have points in 16 straight against the Hurricanes. Does that continue tonight? And then some. They practically scored 16 points tonight.
- Wanna stop shooting yourselves in the foot with penalties, Flyers? Four penalties, not bad. The only goal against was on the PK, though.
- Does Bob keep it up? (of course he does). Of course he does.
- How big of a difference does having Cam Ward in net, not Justin Peters, make for the Canes? Flyers dropped four on each. So there you have it.
- Claude Giroux’s first game since his contract extension. What’s he do to impress? He hit a post, and set up an incredible shortie for his captain. You hear it here first: the guy is gonna be an all star.
Comment of the Night:
who wouldn’t want to block a shot when you know there is a nice asstap coming your way. —KyDi
The Kittens fall into The Well Saturday. Go Flyers.
