Flyers: period 2 recap
April 22, 2011 Leave a comment
With 12:29 remaining the period has been pleasantly uneventful. The Flyers seem to be more aggressive.
James VanRiemsdyk scores with 11:48 remaining to make the score 3-1 in favor of Buffalo. The net was pretty much wide open as Miller was just to the right of the crease leaving JVR plenty of room to net the puck.
You can physically see the amount of excitement the whole team has now after that goal. The momentum has shifted and now the Flyers are back in the game. So is the crowd not to mention. When a team is down 3-0, the crowd tends to get restless and not as enthusiastic. The chanting has started again and everyone is back in it. The building is alive again.
HERE THEY COME. Andrej Meszaros scored with a one-time laser to the net to make the score 3-2. It was deflected off of someone but it is hard to tell who. He scored with 10:03 remaining in the game.
As I said previously, whatever Laviolette said to them in the locker room really resonated with them.
Laviolette is easing up too, as I noticed he was eating a little snack right after JVR’s goal. He reserves a little reward for getting this team back into shape.
This second period feels like a completely different game than the first period. The Flyers are swarming the net and Ryan Miller doesn’t know what to do with himself. The orange jerseys are just flying all over the ice.
The hits are coming left and right. The Flyers are checking the Sabres on the boards like no other. With 6:15 left in the second the Flyers go to the PECO power play a cross checking call on Marc-Andre Gragnani. The Flyers are out shooting the Sabres 13-1 in this period.
Leighton hasn’t been getting any action this period which is a good thing. The Flyers have managed to do what they didn’t do in the first period which is not let the Sabres get close to their goalie.
Philadelphia Sixers player Evan Turner is in attendance of tonight’s game showing his support for the Flyers as they Flyers often do for the Sixers. This is the city of brotherly love after all.
With about a minute and half left in the game, this is the first time in the period that the Sabres have spent and substantial amount of the time in the Flyers zone, and it lasted about 15 seconds. The Flyers managed to get the puck back down the ice.
Some pushing and shoving in front of the net took place at the start of the remaining minute of play. The Flyers remain in control until the end of the period. I’m not going to call this a comeback because in my mind they were never out of contention they just needed to get their heads in the game.
Stay tuned for the third quarter recap and final game remarks!