It’s safe to say Kimmo Timonen isn’t all too thrilled about the 5-3 powerplay for nearly two minutes which could’ve led to a goal in the 4-3 loss against the Boston Bruins on Sunday. While missed calls are still in debate it’s no question that the Flyers powerplay quarterback wishes he had another crack it. It’s not that the Flyers played badly during the 2 minute stretch, but Tim Thomas proved to be a brick wall. In fact nearly the entire 2nd period was a barrage on the Bruins’ Vezina candidate. A few more lucky bounces and the Flyers likely win that game easily.
The schedule though gets easier for the Flyers now with their biggest competition out of their way. Only 2 more games out of the 7 left are against competition that have found their way into the top 16 teams likely going to the playoffs. Those games happen to both be against the rival New York Rangers. The powerplay will need to find twine for the rest of the season, and based on their play when up at least a player last night it shouldn’t be a problem.
James van Riemsdyk – After a beauty of a game on Saturday afternoon between the University of New Hampshire and North Dakota, JVR’s team tied the game with 0.1 seconds left. They then won it all in overtime. On Sunday it was their turn for heartbreak as Boston University ousted them from the tournament by breaking a 1-1 tie with under 2 minutes left in the game on a fluke goal. For both games there was a scout from the Flyers’ organization in the stands. While it is entirely likely that he was scouting some of the players that performed well during the game, he was also there for another reason. As soon as UNH lost he was going to try to convince arguably the league’s most prominent prospect not yet in the NHL to sign a contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.
While no official word is in yet, JVR has mentioned that he won’t take long to make his decision known. His team was just ousted from the dream of a national championship, but he’s got other things to worry about.
“Probably sooner rather than later,” he said, “as soon as the season’s over, so no matter what happens, the staff here has a chance to respond and do what they need to do to move on and move forward.”-source
While his head coach at the University of New Hampshire is waiting to know about his star player’s status for next season as well he seems to understand that his star forward will likely not return to UNH for his senior year. If JVR does return to college for another season it will likely be his last.
OTHER NEWS:
Luca Sbisa will be full time Flyer next season.
per-Flyers.NHL.com: Sbisa Shines…
“[Holmgren] wanted to let me know that he was very happy with the way I played this season, and the way I carried myself,” Sbisa explained. “He said I wasn’t just there because the team had injury problems.
“I hadn’t been playing as much as I had earlier in the year and both Paul and [head coach] John Stevens felt it would be better if I was back in Lethbridge playing regularly.”
Said Holmgren of his decision at the time: “I struggled with it and how it would affect his development. But when you weigh it against not playing at all, I don’t think we had a choice.”
This news almost assures that Randy Jones or Matt Carle, two similarly tooled defensemen with a lower upside and higher salary, will be moved this offseason to make room for Sbisa who is still working on his cheap entry level contract.
Jack Edwards makes a fool of himself during NESN broadcast of Flyers v. Bruins. NHL fines coming?
per-TheHockeyWriters.com: NHL Officiating Hits All Time Lows
Jack Edwards displayed one of the most classless games of commentary many Flyers fans have ever heard. Now many are wondering if the league will take action.
Remaining Schedule
- Flyers @ Maple Leafs – Wednesday, April 1st
- Flyers vs. Maple Leafs – Friday, April 3rd
- Flyers @ Senators – Saturday, April 4th
- Flyers vs. Panthers – Tuesday, April 7th
- Flyers @ Rangers – Thursday, April 9th
- Flyers @ Islanders – Saturday, April 11th
- Flyers vs. Rangers – Sunday, April 12th
