The third time was indeed the charm for the Flyers.
Rebounding from a third period collapse after holding a three goal lead just two nights before against the Washington Capitals, the Flyers took home ice in the second game of a back to back affair determined to come away with more than one point, and they did just that. They scored two big power play goals in the second and eventually added another to beat the Caps by a score of 5-2.
The game featured no scoring in the first period, but despite the game going 0-0 heading into the second, the Flyers really controlled most of the first, a complete reversal from the previous contest. A pretty good sign all things considered, and it was refreshing to witness the Flyers lines firing on all cylinders, and even the fourth line was pretty productive. The new second line of Scott Hartnell-Brayden Schenn-Wayne Simmonds looked like they were finally beginning to gel, and were making pretty good advances on the ice, helping to pressure and keep the Caps from developing any forward consistency.
The second period once again proved to be where most of the action would reside, and what action it was. Alexander Ovechkin got the Caps on the board first with a tricky shot from the side of the net on a terrible rebound surrendered by Flyers goalie Steve Mason, with the second effort slipping under Mason’s leg pad. This was Mason’s only real blunder of the night, and he looked very solid after coughing up 4 goals the last two times he manned the net. That lead would not last very long however, for less than a minute later Jakub Voracek knotted things up at 1 all, a pleasant change for Voracek, who openly mentioned after the period how he is often thought of as a pass first player, and figured the Caps wouldn’t expect him to shoot as much. That logic paid dividends for Jakub, as he managed to net two goals before the night was through. A few minutes later, Eric Fehr helped the Caps regain the advantage with a great shot that Mason had little chance on, and Washington would cling to this lead for a few minutes until Matt Read struck and tied things up again by beating a seemingly lazy Braden Holtby.
The two teams would skate at even pace for a few minutes longer, until things took a turn for the ugly.
In what has become sadly expected between these clubs, there was another incident. Around the 15 minute mark, Tom Wilson of the Caps, all 6’4″, 210-220 pounds of him, decided it was in his best interests to skate at full speed from near the Caps defensive blue line, and slam himself into Flyers forward Brayden Schenn, who had just gained the puck around the Caps goal line, and was turning into the direction of Wilson just before he was leveled. Wilson’s hit, a blatant charge not to mention normally the area of the ice where boarding calls are quite common, caused Schenn to go crashing into the boards headfirst, and the results were devastating. Schenn attempted to get back up only to collapse on the ice over and over again while trying to skate to the bench. Meanwhile along the boards, Flyers defenseman Niklas Grossmann fought Wilson, and then Fehr and Hartnell decided to get into a scuffle as well. The ensuing fracas was something that has become pretty commonplace for these two teams this season, and to suggest there isn’t something of a fierce rivalry brewing between them is simply living in denial. Wilson was ejected, handed a charging call, a fighting call, a game misconduct, and rightly so.
There is no, and I mean no place in the game for these types of hits.
There was plenty of weigh in, from Chris Therien’s frustrations to the Twitterverse, to CSN’s Rick Tocchet explaining during the second intermission that he felt that Schenn saw Wilson and should have braced for the hit, players need to protect themselves a little better. It was a fair point of view from a former NHL great, and in most instances I would say he was correct.
This wasn’t one of them, though.
For starters, the velocity at which Wilson was travelling was excessive, and that’s being polite. Secondly, Wilson was moving from beyond Schenn’s point of view and by the time Schenn did see Wilson, he was already speeding like a bullet and a few feet from the contact. Lastly, it was near the boards, a dangerous area for hits even for the garden variety of them, and seeing how fast Wilson was moving plus his weight and size, Schenn might have been hurt even if he decided to stop playing hockey and square up for the contact. He was going to wind up slammed against the boards in some manner, prepared or not. The fact that Wilson had no intentions to play the puck, and there is no earthly way anyone should even convince themselves that he might have possibly had that train of thought, is what makes this hit egregious. It’s the exact type of hit that fans are now becoming accustomed to seeing almost nightly, with players going out with concussions at an alarming rate. With the debate over Shawn Thornton’s transgression against Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, little to no mention has been made in a real effort to ponder why Orpik, a man taller than Loui Ericksson, had to launch himself upward with his shoulder flush against Eriksson’s head and shoulders. It’s also worthy to note that Eriksson had just come back from a concussion issue, which makes me wonder why the NHL didn’t focus on this at all.
For all the jargon the NHL Department of Discipline likes to toss about, it all seems now like a bunch of hogwash. Making players not answer for fringe lunacy such as these hits, while the star players stress over not being safe, is hypocrisy at it’s finest. It sends a crystal clear message now that once fighting is removed from the game, lesser talented predatory characters will rule the roost, laughing off one and two gamers at a time, while the stars they will prey upon sit out for weeks, months, maybe even entire careers at a time. Even worse are the players not attempting to police themselves enough, and I’m sorry, but the “hate a guy when he plays for the other team, love him when he’s on yours” motto only carries so much weight. I’ve shunned hits that Zac Rinaldo has committed, and he’s done a couple a lot like Wilson’s, and I’ve also chided through words my opinion of other dirty hits by the team I watch and write about. (Jody Shelley’s vicious boarding of Bruins player Adam McQuaid immediately comes to mind)
The power play that stemmed from Wilson’s irresponsible play led to two Flyers scores, one from Mark Streit, and the other Voracek’s second tally. The Capitals never really recovered from that, and with the exception of Wayne Simmonds’ goal to put the Flyers up by three almost halfway into the third, the action was minimal, again a different outcome from the game before. There would be furious comeback, the fight left the building with Tom Wilson I suppose, and that as they say, was that.
Flyers officials have listed Schenn with having an upper body injury, and by all accounts, he was reported as leaving the building in alright shape, but concussion protocols are not immediate, so who knows if he’s out of trouble just yet. The Flyers get good news in knowing they have a day of rest before another back to back series, this time against new Eastern Conference rivals, the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
*Photo courtesy of NHL.com
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