The Philadelphia Flyers broke their two-game losing streak against the hardened Toronto Maple Leafs In last night’s meeting.
The off-season acquisition of superstar Jaromir Jagr was bound to pay off in terms of physical goal scoring. It has officially come to fruition as the seasoned veteran netted a pair in the game, scoring the Flyers’ first and last goals. The goals were Jagr’s first in the NHL since April 6th, 2008, and first two-goal game since April 4th 2008 – his 114th two-goal game of his career. He moves two more points closer Joe Sakic for 8th all-time in NHL points, just 35 behind the classy veteran of Quebec/Colorado. Jagr, who wasn’t pushy about his first goal vocally, said he tried to do everything to get the marker and take the added weight by media off of his shoulders.
"I changed everything," Jagr said. "The skate, gloves. I got hit in the head during warm-ups, so that helped." he joked. ".. you guys aren't going to ask me anymore," Jagr laughed in regards of the erased goal-scoring question. "I'm glad it was tonight."
Both of Jagr’s goals were finished with style, of course, as each goal was a breakaway tally that thrilled the home crowd. Jagr also had a third breakaway in the game, with his best shot at completing the hat-trick on an empty net chance, but he was swarmed too quickly to intercept the awkward pass from teammate Scott Hartnell.
Jagr split the defense at 16:22 of the first period on the powerplay as he took a clean pass from linemate Claude Giroux. Jagr bolted down the middle, and beat Gustavsson blocker side on a simple wrist shot. His second tally, and 648th of his NHL career, also came on a breakaway as Hartmell found him wide open at center ice, feeding him the puck and sending him on his way. The shot to beat Gustavsson was identical to the first goal he scored.
"I had three breakaways today," said Jagr. "The first one I scored, the second one I tried to do something different. I thought maybe if I would shoot it, I would have a chance to score (Gustavsson denied him). The third one, I said, 'Why change something that is working?' And he was cheating a little bit. I think he lifted a leg there, but I kind of waited a little longer and I had a spot there."
When the Maple Leafs pulled Gustavsson for the extra attacker, the really neat thing to see was when Scott Hartnell dug deep into the offensive zone, won the puck in the corner, and rather than shoot for his own chance at a hat-trick – he dished the puck to Jagr. The move was a classy one from Hartnell.
Scott Hartnell netted his own first of the season to break a 1-1 tie at 15:46 with a snap shot, point blank at Gustavosson, after a nifty feed pass from Briere. Claude Giroux would feed a snap shot second-tally by Hartnell at 8:34 of the third period, extending the lead to two and scoring his 200th career point as a Flyer.
"It's nice to get those guys on the board," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "Jaromir had a lot of chances in the early games and lots of opportunity and their line was good. Hartnell has now had two solid games in a row, tonight being his best one. It's good to get those guys going, sure."
23 year-old Sergei Bobrovsky also had a great night. ‘Bob’ moves to a personal 2-0-0 start in the early season after stopping His .918 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average have been a welcomed sight in Philadelphia behind their new starter Ilya Bryzgalov.
The Flyers’ victory came at a high cost. In the early stages of the first period, Philadelphia Flyers captain Chris Pronger took a stick to the eye area on a freak accident from a failed attempt on goal by Mikhail Grabovski, as Grabovski’s stick slid up the shaft of Prongers, landing directly into his face.
"He was hit on the side, and there's a lot of swelling," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. "The hope is that there's not a lot of blood buildup there where it will create issues."
Pronger was rushed off of the ice, assisted by teammate Danny Briere. Pronger’s body language was scary.
"I think he was very scared and rightly so," Holmgren said. "When something like that happens to your eye, you're worried about what's going on. I think he settled down over a period of time and was fine when he left."
Pronger, who does not wear a face shield, will apparently miss a suggested 2-3 weeks with the injury. The 6’6 220lbs. defenseman missed all of pre-season as he recovered from back surgery, and is the benchmark on the blue-line for the Flyers. Holmgren has made it clear that Pronger will not be cleared to play until the 18 year veteran wears a visor – which sparks an entirely different debate.
The Maples Leafs were without goaltender James Reimer in the contest, who is expected to miss around ten days with head and neck injuries suffered in Saturday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, which handed goaltender Jonas Gustavsson his third start of the season. He stopped 26 shots on 30 Philadelphia Flyers shots.
Phil Kessel naturally tallied again, lifting his league-leading totals to 9 goals and 15 points on the season. Kessel had the puck land at his feet after a wild bounce in front of the net, and he capitalized. The hockey gods have something going for Kessel this year. Recent acquisition David Steckel was responsible for the Maple Leafs’ second goal, which brought them within one at 11:34 of the third period. Steckel has scored in three consecutive games this year with the Leafs, and has continued his faceoff mastery as he is currently 7th league-wide, having taken over 50 more faceoffs than anyone ahead of him. To put it short, Steckel is fitting in quite well.
The Flyers are keen to continue their great start as they play the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, while the Toronto Maple Leafs meet the struggling New York Rangers on Thursday.
The Maple Leafs and Flyers come away from the game with 11 points, and sit 3rd and 4th in the Eastern Conference respectively. The trend is likely to continue, as both teams look solid.
- Kendall Grubbs
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