10/15/11 - Kings vs Flyers
Oct. 28th, 2012 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ionthesparrowWhat’s so interesting about this game?
Boxscore
What isn’t interesting about this game?
Even if you are not overly invested in the LA Kings (*ahem* *cough*), and even if you do not find yourself in the position of being unwillingly emotionally invested in the Philadelphia Flyers, following a months-long binge of watching an epic shit ton of Flyers games spanning 2005-2010 (*double cough*) - this was a great game.
First and foremost, this was Mike Richards' first game back in Philadelphia after being shipped out over the summer. When he joined the LA Kings he joined a team with Simon Gagne (LW, drafted by the Flyers, Flyer 1999-2010), Justin Williams (RW, drafted by the Flyers, Flyer 2000-2004), Colin Fraser (center, drafted by the Flyers but never played for them), John Stevens (asst coach, drafted by the Flyers in '84, played for them in '86-'88, played for the Phantoms '95-'99, coached for the Phantoms 2000-2006 [includes the year they won the Calder], coached for the Flyers 2006-2010), Terry Murray (head coach, played for Philadelphia, scouted for Philadelphia, coached for Philly '94-'97), and Ron Hextall (asst GM, legendary goalie for the Flyers, '86-'92 and '94-'99).
(there's a reason they call them the 'Flyers West')
Because it was Richards' first game back, there was a lot of this going on:
(Richie: Still making Philly girls swoon; not that it was all love - Philly was booing him hardcore by the second period)
The other thing that makes this game interesting, is that these teams are really, really good
Especially, and it kills me to say this, the Flyers.
Lines
Philadelphia
36 Rinaldo - 27 Talbot - 15 Nodl
21 JVR - 28 Giroux - 68 Jagr
19 Hartnell - 14 Couturier - 24 Read
93 Voracek - 48 Briere - 17 Simmonds
25 Carle - 20 Pronger
44 Timonen - 5 Coburn
41 Meszaros - 6 Lilja
Look at that group of forwards. Seriously. Look at it. Rinaldo is the designated hitter (despite being 5'11/180 - and that's probably with him being measured in his skates and soaking wet). Couturier and Read are the rookies (badass rookies), any Pens fan can tell you what Talbot and Jagr can do, Nodl and JVR put up decent numbers the last two years for the Flyers (although not good enough to keep from getting waived and traded to the Leafs, respectively). Hartnell is Hartnell - a guy you don't want to mess with, and whose scoring takes off this season. Briere is a tiny scoring powerhouse. Giroux is Giroux, enough said. Voracek is who they picked up for Carter (after being drafted by Columbus as the 7th overall pick), and Simmonds is who they picked up in exhchange for Richards.
The defensive core is also super impressive, although much more depressing in light of having been decimated by the end of the season. Carle is a super-steady top-tier Dman, who had a breakout year working with Pronger in 09-10 (he'll be gone at the end of the year, having been lost to free agency), Pronger is Chris fucking Pronger, enough said (he'll only last 13 games into the season before being lost to a career-ending (although no one will admit it) concussion. Timonen, at his peak, was probably one of the best Dmen in the league - but at 37, he's sort of winding down at this point, Coburn has been going strong for Philadelphia since 2006, Meszaros (decent, but will lose about 20 games of this season to injury, and tore his ACL this summer), Lilja (hip surgery this summer),
So, yeah, you can see why Philly went so hard for Shea Weber.
LA
15 Richarson - 28 Stoll - 17 Moreau
12 Gagne - 11 Kopitar - 14 Williams
23 Brown - 10 Richards - 25 Penner
13 Clifford - 22 Lewis - 19 Westgarth
33 Mitchell - 8 Doughty
2 Greene - 7 Scuderi
44 Drewiske - 3 Johnson
Note: these get mixed up a little, because both Doughty and Pens get taken out of the lineup early.
I cannot even begin to speak rationally about this team so let's just break it down like this, ROCK SOLID: 15, 28, 13, 22, 33, 7, 44. ROCK STARS: 12, 11, 14, 23, 10, 8, 2. DESIGNATED KICKERS OF ASS WHO HAPPEN TO HAVE DEGREES FROM PRINCETON: 19. NOT LONG FOR THIS TEAM: 17, 3. GUY WHO WILL FRUSTRATE THROUGHOUT THE REGULAR SEASON BEFORE SUDDENLY SHOWING UP IN THE PLAYOFFS: 25.
Does that cover everyone?
oh, right, the GOALIES.
Ahem:
(can we just take a minute and compare this with the CBJ vs Jets game I talked about last post? Those goalies were .866 and .890, respectively).
Another fun comparison? Remember how there were 23 total shots on goal in that game? Well, there were about that many in the first PERIOD of this game.
Game Notes
So Terry Murray starts Richards' line. Richie's pregame comments, BTW, were all about how this is not a big deal, I don't even know why you guys are asking. And he spent a lot of time making this face:
(Are we in Philadelphia? Whatever, I don't even care).
Drew Doughty gets the puck, and on literally his FIRST carry across Philly's blueline, he gets NAILED by Rinaldo:
(that's them, center ice, the guy in the white jersey, whose head you can't see because he's currently being decapitated by Rinaldo's elbow).
Penner immediately drops his gloves and goes at Rinaldo:
(Get him, Pens).
This is funny/sad because Pens is 6'4/245, and Rinaldo is, as mentioned above, smaller, and yet Penner doesn't manage to hurt Rinaldo, but he does manage to take himself out of the game due to a "contusion". Oh, Pens
So now LA has a short bench (because Doughty won't return, either), and Philly has a powerplay.
The Philly power play - it is a thing of beauty. 
(Behold: the 6th most efficient powerplay in the league).
Part of it is because of who they can put on it (here: Pronger and Read on the points, Jagr, Giroux, and Simmonds up front). Part of it is its fluidity. If you could watch this game (and you should, if you can, watch this game), you would see that that they keep the puck moving - there's a lot of passing east-west in front of the goal mouth, and up to the points, and the skaters keep moving - as soon as someone is covered, they move, find open ice, and everyone else cycles so that there's always someone at both points, someone in front of the net, and two guys working the walls. It is phenominally difficult to defend. Add in that they have enough forward depth to put together a second amazing PP unit and you start to see why Philly scores so many PP goals.
Not that the Kings just hand it to them (fourth best penalty kill in the league, thank you very much). The picture above shows a pass from Simmonds (right at the center of the high circle), who is not open, to Read (24, at the left point), who is open. LA is already reacting: 
Here we are just two seconds later: Kopi (11) has moved to cover Read. Read passes to Pronger (20, right point), who is covered by Richards (10). Based on this picture, who do you want to get the puck to?
If you said Giroux (28, the guy on the left with a clear shot on goal, you are absolutely right). That's what they do, and they get a flurry of shots-on-net that don't go in because Quick is a motherfucking badass, and then Greene slashes Jagr's stick. Which is one way to stop play.
Philly does manage to convert on this PP, but LA gets something like 20 PIMs in this period, and that's the only goal they get, so, hats off to the LA PK.
(here is that goal, but look at what a complete badass JQuick is, even when he's being beat?).
Also, here is what the LA penalty box looked like for much of this period:
Crowded. And no, I don't know why Matt Greene looks like a zombie here. Usually it's Clifford (13) who's the scary looking one).
We also learn this period that even though Philly got Simmonds in exchange for Richards, they're really using him much more like they used Carter. Here he is, set up in front of the net, ready to bring it home:
(one '17' is just as good as another, right?)
Meanwhile, Richie, who remember, does not care at all that he is back in Philly, has been pulling moves like this:
(What? No, I have no idea how my stick got up near your face, New Captain of the Flyers).
LA also manages to score a PPG to tie the game going into the second. Here's the set up for that goal:
(Mitchell (33) to Gagne (on the wall), Gagne to Williams (14), Williams puts it away).
The Flyers are also dangerous because of how well they handle the neutral zone. A sequence:
Stolly, center ice, has the puck. He wants to take it into Philly's zone, but he's worried about getting stripped by the three Flyers converging on him. So he drops it back for Williams:
And plays the wrecking ball, presumably hoping to break up Philly's coverage. Unfortunately, he can only push one Flyer out of the way:
And the other two converge on Williams. Now he has the puck...
... and now he doesn't.
Now that is blueline management.
Meanwhile, Richie spends a good deal of the second period laying out some massive open ice hits:
(Oh, did you want to do something with this puck?)
And yapping at Simmonds:
(I'll leave it to your imaginiation as to what's being said).
(Are you still feeling mouthy, because here are my NEW FRIENDS).
Later, Westy gets some of his own back against Rinaldo:
Second period closes with no more scoring.
Third period highlights:
Giroux diving.
Pronger trying to impale Gagne on the goal post.
Quickie saves on a Jagr breakaway (god, Jagr is good. Still good).
Richie blocking shots:
(Richie, since when do you do Patrick Kane impressions? Put that back in your mouth)
The Kings score at even strength - Johnson keeps it in to Kopi working the wall, Kopi centers to Williams. Williams shoots, Bryz saves, it bounces free of Bryz, and Williams gets a second shot on the rebound which goes in:
Williams: MVP. (Also, please acknowledge that Pronger is now trying to impale Kopi on the goal post. And how tiny Chris Pronger makes everyone else look.
But right after that Courturier draws a penalty against Richards. Mike Richards makes the best faces when he gets called for penalties he doesn't agree with (ie, all of them):
The many faces of Mike Richards being called for a penalty (there is only one face)
And he should make a sadface, because this happens during the LA penalty kill:
Oh, fuck me.
Does that look like a beautiful diamond? No, it does not. LA, WTF? Why is everyone one the left? And those of you who can count I'm sure have noticed that there are four Flyers in that picture. Not five - because Matt Carle is lurking offscreen, just up and to the right. Where he proceeds to fire a shot in to tie up the game.
HOWEVER - Richie redeems himself in OT, because after JVR gets called for tripping, the Kings start OT on the power play. Richie sets them up once:
Richie to brown in front of the net
... But it's blocked. Although, can we just take a moment to appreciate Richie's snap pass:
It's a thing of beauty. He really puts his whole body into it. He does it with his wrister too, and it kills me every time.
ANYWAY.
He sets them up again:
Telegraphing the shot? No, that shouldn't be an issue, why do you ask?
AND IT GOES IN. KINGS WIN. SUCK IT, PAUL HOLMGREN.
Uh, I mean, yay!
A 3-2 game - which counts as a "high-scoring" game for the Kings and a "low-scoring" game for the Flyers. But whatever, I'll take it.
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Date: 2012-10-30 02:35 am (UTC)Man, your recaps always make me want to go watch some hockey though. Boooooo, NHL, boooooooo.
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Date: 2012-10-31 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-01 05:36 am (UTC)Also I'm replying to the comment you left on my LJ. I would love to meet up for the charity game! I think during/after would work best, but feel free to email me (bluestargirl at gmail dot com) and we can make better plans!